By Kunle Benga,Lagos
Africa’s richest businessman and President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that he acquired his first private jet at the age of 22 and a half, offering a glimpse into the remarkable pace of his rise in business.
Dangote disclosed the revelation while speaking about his entrepreneurial journey and the growth of his business empire.
The disclosure has attracted attention because of the age at which the billionaire said he was able to acquire the aircraft, coming decades before he emerged as the owner of one of Africa’s largest industrial conglomerates.
Dangote began his business career as a young entrepreneur in northern Nigeria, initially trading commodities and consumer goods before gradually expanding into manufacturing and large-scale industrial investments. His business interests today span cement, sugar, salt, fertiliser, petrochemicals, oil refining, power generation, logistics and shipping.
Dangote’s business journey dates back to his youth, when he started trading before building what would eventually become the Dangote Group.
His early focus on commodities provided the foundation for the expansion of his business interests into manufacturing. Over the years, he moved increasingly towards domestic production, adopting an import-substitution strategy aimed at producing in Nigeria goods that the country had historically depended on imports to supply.
That strategy became particularly prominent in the cement industry.
Dangote Cement eventually grew into Africa’s largest cement producer, with installed capacity of about 51.8 million tonnes annually across several African countries. The group has announced plans to increase its total cement capacity to 80 million tonnes by 2030.
His investments subsequently expanded beyond cement into sugar, salt, fertiliser, petrochemicals and, most significantly, petroleum refining.
The revelation about his first private jet at 22 comes as Dangote’s business empire reaches another major milestone with the planned public offering of shares in his oil refinery.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, located in the Lekki area of Lagos, has a refining capacity of about 700,000 barrels per day and began operations in 2024. It has become one of the most significant industrial projects in Nigeria and is designed to produce petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and petrochemical feedstocks.
The refinery is currently at the centre of what is being described as Africa’s biggest initial public offering (IPO). Dangote is offering shares in the refinery to members of the public in a move aimed at raising about $1.6 billion for expansion.
Reuters reported that the refinery is valued at approximately $47.6 billion, while the proceeds from the share sale are expected to support plans to increase its capacity to about 1.4 million barrels per day.
The IPO marks a major change in the ownership structure of a project that has been wholly associated with Dangote’s private business empire.
Dangote’s latest disclosure about his early acquisition of a private jet also provides an interesting contrast with comments he has made in the past about luxury spending among Nigeria’s wealthy.
In December 2025, the industrialist criticised wealthy Nigerians for spending heavily on luxury vehicles and private jets instead of investing in industries capable of creating employment.
He argued that wealthy Nigerians should channel more resources into productive investments that could create jobs and strengthen local communities.
His comments reflected a philosophy that has increasingly characterised the Dangote Group’s expansion: investing heavily in large-scale production rather than depending solely on imports.
The Dangote business model has largely been built around identifying products for which Nigeria has traditionally depended on imports and developing domestic production capacity.
The strategy has been applied to cement, sugar, fertiliser and petroleum products.
The refinery represents the most ambitious expression of that strategy. Its development was aimed at reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products while creating an integrated industrial complex capable of supplying both the Nigerian market and international markets.
The complex includes refinery operations as well as associated fertiliser and petrochemical facilities. A nearby fertiliser plant has an annual production capacity of about three million tonnes of urea and ammonia, with products supplied to Nigeria and exported to countries including Brazil, India and the United States.
The billionaire’s business empire is now entering a new phase as he seeks to mobilise public capital for further expansion.
The refinery IPO, which opened on September 14, 2026, is expected to broaden public participation in one of Nigeria’s biggest private-sector investments. The offering is targeted not only at institutional investors but also at ordinary Nigerians, with the minimum purchase set at 10 shares.
The move comes after Dangote’s refinery raised $2.5 billion through an earlier private placement involving institutional investors.
The company plans to use additional capital to expand the Nigerian refinery and support further investments, including plans for another refinery project in Kenya.
Dangote’s account of buying his first private jet at 22 and a half therefore offers another perspective on a career that began with youthful commercial ambition and evolved into one of Africa’s most influential industrial enterprises.
From commodity trading, his business expanded into manufacturing, infrastructure and energy, eventually producing a conglomerate with operations across more than a dozen African countries.
Today, the 69-year-old businessman is preparing to take one of his biggest ventures to the Nigerian capital market, with the refinery IPO potentially becoming the largest share offering in Africa.
The development underscores the extraordinary transformation of Dangote’s business interests—from the early trading ventures of a young entrepreneur to a multinational industrial group whose investments now span cement, fertiliser, food products, energy and petroleum refining.
For Dangote, the journey from acquiring a private jet in his early twenties to building one of the world’s largest refineries represents not merely personal wealth accumulation, but a decades-long push to establish large-scale industries in Africa.
