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Made In Africa: Cement Is The New Oil For Dangote And Others

Made In Africa: Cement Is The New Oil For Dangote And Others

In the wake of a stocks slump in China on Monday Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, lost as much as $710 million off his fortune in just one day.

But that does not concern Dangote, 58, whose net fortune is estimated to be worth $15.4 billion according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. Only last week the same index showed that his wealth had grown by 79.2 million between Thursday and Friday.

For a billionaire like him and other around the world, including Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest man, whose net worth worst fell the most on Monday, this is just a paper wealth that doesn’t concern them at all.

Either way they are still rich.

What concerns Dangote more is how his series of cement factories, that he has worked so hard to expand across Africa this year, are doing.

His listed firm Dangote Cement, which has expanded five-folds in just four years, has a potential to produce up to 43 million tons annually, according to a Bloomberg report.

The company plans to double its production capacity over the next one year as it commission at least five of plants across Africa. This will make the company Africa’s top cement producer, beating French-owned LafargeHolcim Ltd.

Earlier this month, Dangote opened a new factory in Ndola, Zambia’s third largest city. He also has other plants under construction in Ethiopia, Cameroon, Tanzania and The Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dangote believes that Africa’s future growth is tied to cement as the continent builds the infrastructure that will serve a growing middle class.

Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world and urbanization is quickly taking shape in cities across the region as a generally young population, with 60 percent of the people living there being below the age of 25 years, move to urban area for better jobs.

The regions is also one of the fastest growing in terms of cement consumption and that is what Dangote and other cement giants on the continent, including Dangote Cement, LafargeHolcim and Johannesburg-based PPC Ltd,  are counting on as they inject more funds into new production plants.