The African richest man and President, Chief Executive of Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has taken his crusade for job creation for the Africans to the headquarters of Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Dangote, during the visit, struck a deal with the bank to boost job creation in Africa.
Dangote, who has been listed by Forbes magazine as the 23rd richest person in the world with fortunes worth US $25 billion is a manufacturer with presence in 16 African countries producing cement, sugar and other value-added products.
The Dangote’s Cement Plant in Obajana, Nigeria, is reputed to be one of the single largest cement plants in the world with an estimated capacity of 13.25million metric tonnes per annum.
The Chief Executive told the President of IDB, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali that the aim of his visit was to strengthen relationship with IDB, where he once took loan from, through the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), one of the financing arms of IDB, and he has since repaid the loan.
Dangote said that he is set to invest US $ 1.2 billion in his Foundation to work in various sectors, such as education, health and job creation in Africa and other parts of the world.
“I am really amazed by the amount of work IDB is doing. I believe we need to work together to create jobs. China developed because the Chinese invested in the country. America is successful because the system is tied to job creation, so we must invest in Africa in order to create jobs” he told the IDB staff during a town hall lecture.
He called on IDB to increase its publicity so as to attract more entrepreneurs for the development member countries.
Dangote stated that if the growth of Africa continues at the current rate, and electricity supply improves, by 2050, Africa will be a US $19 trillion economy.
In his welcome address, the President of IDB, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali said he was happy to receive the CEO of Dangote Group, and suggested that there are areas like bilingual education, Waqf (endowment), and education where both parties can work together to change the lives of people in Africa and beyond.
Dr. Ali suggested that all efforts should be made to come up with innovative projects in partnership with Dangote Group so as to maximize the impact of development in IDB member countries, even as he expressed his appreciation over the philanthropic activities of Dangote.
