Aliko Dangote was born in Kano, Nigeria, on 10 April 1957. He graduated from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, began trading commodities such as sugar, salt and rice in the late 1970s, and later moved into manufacturing. He founded the Dangote Group, now Dangote Industries, and serves as its chief executive.

He is known for a conglomerate whose core is cement, through Dangote Cement, which is the continent's largest cement producer. Other main pillars include sugar, salt, fertilizer, packaged food and a large oil refinery in