Aliko Dangote
What I always say is that money doesn't have colour. It doesn't matter whether you are from Africa or anywhere in the world. The colour of money is the same.Collection: Money
I used to own two homes in Atlanta. But it was a lot of trouble. There are leaky roofs; you have to call people. It takes up too much time to own property everywhere. Now I stay at the St. Regis. I used to like cars a lot, too. I had 25 of them: Porsches, Ferraris.Collection: Car
The most dangerous thing for an entrepreneur to do is to actually go into a business that he does not understand fully.Collection: Business
I'm not in it for the money. No, no. I like to run a business that's successful... I'm a very creative person.
If bad and inexperienced politicians control power in Nigeria, my wealth may turn into poverty, and I am not ready to become a poor man.
The number one thing that kills businesses in Africa is power - or the lack of power.
I always tried to move up the food chain. I started with cement and then moved into textiles and banking. When I was trading sugar, I added salt and flour so that then we could do pasta. And then I thought, why not make the bag for it, too? So, we started making packaging.
I always make sure I hire people smarter than me.
The gas, which is our main source of power, is priced in dollars.
My love for Arsenal dates back to when I went to watch them play with the then-largest shareholder David Dein. I developed a likeness for the team, and I have been a supporter of the team since then.
If you don't have ambition, you shouldn't be alive.
If I had challenges in my company, I would not hesitate to sell assets to remain afloat, to get to the better times, because it doesn't make any sense for me to keep any assets and then suffocate the whole organization.
My great-grandfather was a kola nut trader and the richest man in West Africa at the time of his death. My father was a businessman and politician. I was actually raised by my grandfather.
I've run a very successful business, and I think I can also run a very successful team.
Where the foreign exchange is not available, we are cutting down our operations. For example, we had a vegetable oil refinery; we have shut it down. We had a tomato-based processing plant; we have shut it down.
Where the assets of Facebook were hype, we have real assets.
If I have an idea, I can actualize it through our political leaders.
The people who were supposed to invest in refineries, who understand the market, are benefiting from there being no refineries because of the fuel import business.
In the journey to success, tenacity of purpose is supreme.Collection: Journey
Endeavor to work as hard as possible to attain a new aim with each day that comes by. Don't go to bed until you have achieved something productiveCollection: Bed
To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big.Collection: Dream
I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me 30 years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.Collection: Dream
When you have made it in life, you must give back to those who made you.Collection: Giving
I enjoy myself a lot but I derive more joy in working. I believe in hard work and one of my business success secrets is hard work. It's hard to see a youth that will go to bed by 2am and wake up by 5am. I don't rest until I achieve something.Collection: Believe
Passion is what drives me forward. Passion is what makes me go to bed at 2am and wake up at 6am.Collection: Passion
Don't kill the competition. Competition is healthy for businesses. It keeps you the entrepreneur on your toes.Collection: Entrepreneur
If you don’t have ambition, you shouldn’t be aliveCollection: Ambition
In whatever you do, strive to be the best at it.Collection: Perfection
To succeed in business, you must build a brand and never destroy it. One competitive advantage I had when I ventured into manufacturing was my brand “Dangote,” which I diligently built in the course of my trading commodities.Collection: Succeed
Africa's risks are mainly perceived and not real. Unfortunately for us in Africa we are not really very good at telling our own story. But things are changing and people are beginning to understand that things are going very, very well.Collection: Real
Let me tell you this and I want to really emphasize it...nothing is going to help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back their money. If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work.Collection: Giving
Every morning when I wake up, I make up my mind to solve as many problems, before retiring homeCollection: Morning
You could easily tell that hardwork and perseverance go hand in hand with patience. We often hear people say patience is worth it, yet we don't practice it. I did and look how well it worked out for me.Collection: Perseverance
Manufacture, don't just trade. There is money in manufacturing even though it is capital intensive. To achieve a big breakthrough, I had to start manufacturing the same product I was trading on; which is commodities.Collection: Commodity
After my death, I want to be remembered as Africa's greatest industrialist.Collection: Want
Nigeria is one of the best-kept secrets.Collection: Best Kept Secrets
I need a visa in almost 38 countries, which means an American has more access into Africa than myself.Collection: Country