Billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote has described his $23 billion Dangote Refinery as the most significant risk he has ever taken, highlighting the immense challenges he faced in bringing the project to completion.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Forbes on Monday, Dangote reflected on the high stakes involved in the massive venture.
“It was the biggest risk of my life. If this didn’t work, I was dead,” he said.
The refinery, with a production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day—making it Africa’s largest—faced numerous obstacles, including securing financing, navigating regulatory bottlenecks, and ensuring a stable supply chain.
Despite these difficulties, Dangote reaffirmed his commitment to Africa’s industrialization and self-sufficiency.
“We have to build our own nation by ourselves. We have to build our own continent by ourselves, not [rely on] foreign investment,” he stated.
He criticized Africa’s long-standing dependence on imported products, stressing that the refinery is “a pivotal step in ensuring that Africa has the capacity to refine its own crude oil, thereby creating wealth and prosperity for its vast population.”
Although he has set up a family office in Dubai and engaged his three daughters in various roles within the family business, Dangote remains deeply involved in Nigeria. According to Forbes, he frequently meets with engineers and managers to oversee the refinery’s operations.
Beyond the refinery, Dangote is driving other ambitious projects, including constructing a subsea pipeline to transport natural gas from the Niger Delta to Lagos and expanding the refinery’s fertilizer plant.
Looking to the future, he revealed plans to take the refinery public within the next one or two years.
“I’ve been fighting battles all my life and I have not lost one yet,” he declared.
