My greatest risk was building refinery, fertilizer plants, says Dangote
The President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote on Tuesday revealed that building the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE emerged as his greatest risk, stressing that the risk has paid off since nobody gave the group a chance. .
Speaking on AriseTV, he noted dollarized businesses amid foreign exchange loss was another risk the company took.
“This risk really paid off, especially to do with the refinery. Nobody ever gave us a chance that this refinery will ever work, but we took the risk.
“I believe so much in the refinery working and gave all my assets as collateral for just loan of $3.7 billion. Banks required I should give a personal guarantee and I gave it to them.
“I was very confident that the refinery was going to work,” Dangote said. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE is currently on Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) for N2.15 trillion Initial Public Offer (IPO).
The IPO comprises of 4.1 billion ordinary shares offered at N525 each, with the offer targeting about N2.15 trillion. The IPO that opened on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), according to numerous speculations, drew about N1.5 trillion in subscriptions in the early opening of trading on the bourse.
The offering that closes October 13, 2026 is being described by market stakeholders as the largest IPO in Africa.
On biggest mistake, the billionaire revealed that the textile industry was biggest mistake.
He revealed that government policies did not protect the textile industry.
“We were swamped by Chinese dumping and India dumping. So eventually we closed down and laid up almost 8000 workers. We had to pay up to N1 billion to workers, “he said.
He disclosed that in the 47 years history of Dangote, the Group has not defaulted on any loan.
“We have never had an issue with any bank that we had to go to court. The greatest problems facing businesses in Nigeria are inconsistency in government policies and lack of interest,”he said.
He, however, urged the government to provide policies to attract more businesses into the country.
