Top! Starting a business when he was still in elementary school, this man has assets of IDR 252 trillion

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Aliko Dangote is the richest person in Africa. Forbes noted that he had assets of US$ 15.9 billion or Rp. 252 trillion. He achieved this nominal amount of wealth thanks to a long journey in starting a business, namely since he was 8 years old or during his elementary school days.

Aliko Dangote was born in Nigeria and comes from a well-off family. His grandfather was a rice trader and one of the richest people in Kano, a city in Nigeria. Even so, his grandfather taught Dangote hard. Dangote is not allowed to ask the family for money for things they want. The point is he has to earn his own money.

On this basis, at the age of 8, he started a candy business. To Forbeshe said that the business was run using pocket money given by his parents.

“I would use it to buy sweets, and I would give it to some people to sell, and they would give me a profit,” Dangote said.

Since then, his entrepreneurial skills began to be honed and continued until he grew up. When he graduated from Egypt's Al-Azhar University in 1977, he returned to Nigeria and worked in Lagos, one of the richest cities in Africa and the country's largest financial center.

In Lagos, Dangote started his own business as an adult. He didn't have any difficulties at all because he had been in business since he was 8 years old. In that city, his first business was cement and agricultural goods, such as rice from Thailand and sugar from Brazil. The business was running thanks to a US$ 500 thousand loan from his uncle.

His business strategy is to sell goods retail to consumers in villages at cheaper prices. Practically, this low price means that many people buy the goods, so it can provide profits for them. In fact, through this business, he was able to pay his uncle's money back within three months.

After a successful cement and agricultural business, Dangote turned to manufacturing in 1999. He built a large-scale flour and sugar factory in Nigeria called Dangote Flour and Dangote Sugar. This company would later become a machine for gaining wealth for him.

When the company floated on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2010, its sales quadrupled to US$450 million. At the time, Forbes noted that the Dangote company is the largest in Africa, even the second largest in the world. Thanks to this, the company's revenue increased to US$ 270 million and in 2017 it reached US$ 4.1 billion.

Of course, the size of the company made Aliko Dangote's assets increase. He also succeeded in having assets of IDR 252 trillion and became the richest person in Africa. Like other rich people, he is also active in the philanthropic sector.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(mfa/mfa)