Claim: A viral WhatsApp image has a claim that Africa’s business magnate, Aliko Dangote, is investing 60 percent of his assets in The United States over the next few years to protect his family wealth in the long term.
While it is true that Aliko Dangote is opening a family office in New York, it is false that he is investing 60 percent of his assets in the United States. His interview with David Rubenstein reveals that he is planning to invest ‘a major percentage’ of his company’s future revenue outside Africa. Investing outside Africa could be anywhere in the world, not necessarily the USA.
Full Text
An image shared on WhatsApp, on May 28th, has a quote by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. He was quoted as saying; “I am opening a family office in New York City to invest 60% of my assets in the United States over the next few years to protect my family wealth in the long term”.
A close look at these words means that there will be a large impact on the economy of Nigeria and Africa as a whole if the business mogul’s conglomerate in Africa is moved to the USA.
Dangote is well known for his production of essential household commodities such as flour, sugar, salt, pasta, and condiments in addition to the large number of employees on his payroll.
There is no doubt that Africa will lose a great deal if Dangote moves its investment outside Africa. This is what sent Dubawa on a fact-checking mission on whether it is true that Dangote is investing sixty percent of his investment in the USA.
Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian billionaire business magnate. He is the wealthiest man in Africa, with an estimated net worth of 11.1 billion as of May 2021. Aliko Dangote owns the largest cement plants in Sub-Saharan Africa located in Nigeria and Ghana.
Verification
In the bid to fact-check this claim, Dubawa conducted a google search and found the David Rubenstein interview where Dangote established that he has an office in London and is working towards having a family office in New York, United States.
The 24 minutes long interview posted on YouTube in January 2020 captured Dangote telling David Rubenstein, the host, that he plans to expand ‘outside Africa’ but not specifically to the United States as claimed by the viral WhatsApp image. In his actual words, “We are not going to remain dominant only in Africa, we are going to invest outside Africa’’
While talking about his plans to invest outside Africa, he mentioned that his company at the time of the interview has a 4-billion-dollar revenue and plans to grow it to about 30 billion dollars in two years. It is from this money that Dangote plans to invest outside Africa.
Although he mentioned that a major percentage of that money will be invested outside of Africa, he did not state where exactly and he wasn’t specific about the percentage he will invest outside Africa. However, he said that 40 percent of the money will be used to continue investment in Africa.
As quoted from the interview, Dangote said, “We have a company that has revenue of four billion dollars. In the next two years we will have a company that has revenue of about 30 billion dollars, so with that we will have quite a lot of money. What we are trying to do is to use a major percentage of the money to invest outside Africa and use about 40 percent of it to continue to invest in Africa because we have invested very heavily in Africa.”
Conclusion
Contrary to the claim that Dangote wants to invest 60% of his assets in the United States, Dubawa’s findings show that Dangote has a plan to invest a major percentage of his company’s revenue outside Africa. The business magnate did not state where exactly he wants to invest in and the precise percentage he wants to invest. However, he made known that ‘a major percentage of his revenue will be used.’
