Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote has unveiled an ambitious plan to invest up to $50 billion across Africa by 2030, doubling the $25 billion his conglomerate spent over the previous five years, in a bold push to accelerate the continent’s industrialisation and reduce its reliance on raw material exports.
The announcement came as Dangote broke ground on the $16 billion Dangote East Africa Refinery in Lamu, Kenya, on Wednesday, a 700,000-barrel-per-day facility that will replicate the industrial model developed around his flagship refinery in Lagos.
Speaking at a fireside chat with the Nairobi Securities Exchange ahead of the groundbreaking, Dangote said Africa could no longer afford “baby steps” if it intends to compete globally.
“We have already invested more than $25 billion, but right now, we’re going ahead to invest an additional $50 billion,” Dangote said. “We want to create and generate wealth for Africans, to make sure that we defend our markets. And the only way to defend the market is not to do baby steps. It’s better we do big scale”.
The investment forms part of the group’s Vision 2030 strategy, which targets more than $115 billion in annual turnover and approximately $35 billion in annual profit by the end of the decade, with the ambition of becoming the first African company to surpass $100 billion in revenue.
The Lamu refinery, expected to process crude from Uganda and other African producers currently exporting their oil, is projected to create 60,000 jobs and is part of a broader effort to process the continent’s natural resources locally rather than continue exporting raw materials and importing finished products.
Kenyan President William Ruto’s Chief Economic Adviser, David Ndii, said the project emerged from discussions among African policymakers, financiers, and business leaders on how the continent could deploy its natural resources for industrialisation rather than extraction.
According to Ndii, a closed-door meeting in April examined the East African market for finished petroleum products, estimated at about 20 million metric tonnes yearly, with the potential to rise to 30 million tonnes. Ruto subsequently reduced the proposition to three questions: whether there was a market, whether African capital was available, and whether there was an entrepreneur capable of executing a refinery of that scale.
Dangote Group’s Vision 2030 includes plans for an $8 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, as well as opportunities in port infrastructure, gas infrastructure, upstream oil and gas, power, and mining. The group is also expanding its fertiliser operations to approximately 12 million tonnes capacity, which would make it the world’s largest producer.
At the Lamu facility, Dangote said the project would include a power plant larger than the one at his Lekki complex in Nigeria, with a capacity of about 1,000 megawatts, and approximately 500MW would be sold to the Kenyan government.
The group said it has financing arrangements for the equity component of the $50 billion programme, while commitments have been received from financiers for the debt component. Internal forecasts show revenues and cash flows from existing assets will fund equity for the investments.
The announcement comes as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos launched Africa’s largest share sale yet, an initial public offering targeting as much as $2.1 billion, which Dangote has marketed as a “people’s IPO” aimed at democratising wealth creation.
Dangote said the proposed Lamu refinery should be listed in Kenya when it becomes ready for public ownership, rather than automatically being listed in Nigeria, reflecting his vision of ensuring African ownership of the continent’s industrial assets.
“We want to make sure that, for the first time, an African company will actually be out there with over $100 billion of revenue,” Dangote said. “This thing is possible”.
The groundbreaking ceremony proceeded despite a legal challenge over portions of the proposed project land in Lamu, where the Malindi Environment and Land Court ordered the status quo be maintained pending resolution of a petition by 133 residents. Dangote told investors his company was “ready” to respond to legal challenges.
