Invest at Home for Industrialisation, Dangote Tells Africans

By Oluwakemi Kindness

Africa’s top industrialist, Aliko Dangote, says the continent must take a bold stand on economic self-reliance and industrialization, calling for an “Africa First” approach, similar to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s America First policy.

Speaking at the ongoing Afreximbank conference at a session themed The Path to Making Africa Great Again, Dangote compared Africa’s stagnation to Asia’s rapid economic rise.

He argued that while many Asian economies have grown through strong domestic investment and entrepreneurial reinvestment, African wealth is too often taken out of the continent rather than reinvested.

“Asians believe in their own content,” he said. “They invest their money at home. But here in Africa, people make money and take it out of the continent. That’s why we are not growing.”

Dangote stated that meaningful investment will not come to Africa unless Africans themselves show confidence in their own economies.

“If I want to invest at home, how do I convince someone else to join me when we ourselves don’t believe in our markets?” he asked rhetorically.

He stressed that African leaders must be willing to take tough decisions, including imposing protective tariffs where needed, if the continent truly wants to industrialise.

“You don’t open your windows and go to sleep—you’ll be bitten by mosquitoes,” he said, comparing unregulated open markets to exposure to harmful competition and dumping. “When countries bring in their surplus and sell it at lower prices, it destroys our ability to produce.”

Dangote praised former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s cement policy for enforcing backward integration—an approach that required companies to establish local factories before being allowed to import.

“If you don’t set up a factory, you cannot import. That policy turned Nigeria from a net importer to Africa’s largest cement exporter. We now produce over 16 million tonnes annually,” he said.

Citing the Dangote Refinery and Fertilizer Plant as examples of what bold local investment can achieve, he said Nigeria is now exporting jet fuel to the United States and Asia, and that 37% of the company’s fertilizer is currently being sold to the U.S.

“This proves that Africa can produce and export value-added goods,” he said.

Reflecting on the challenges of building the refinery, Dangote admitted it was an uphill task. “If we had known how tough it would be, we might not have started. But today, it’s a reality—thanks to support from institutions like Afreximbank,” he said.

Dangote also addressed the issue of corruption, saying Africa’s problem is not unique but is more destructive due to the capital flight it causes.

“There’s corruption everywhere—in Asia, in Europe, in America. But in Africa, our corrupt people take the money abroad. That’s what kills the economy. If they invested it here, at least the economy would grow.”

He called on governments across the continent to prioritise domestic investors, describing them as the true catalysts for growth.

“Foreign investors don’t come easily. What brings them is seeing local investors succeed. We must stop chasing only international capital and start supporting our own.”

On the current global political climate, Dangote criticized the lack of Western commitment to Africa, urging African countries to rethink their dependency.

“Why bother with the U.S. if they’re not interested?” he asked. “Africa has the land, the minerals, the market. We must give the world conditions—don’t just take raw cocoa and come back to sell us chocolate at 20 times the price.”

He argued that Africa’s transformation will not depend on the West, China, or Russia, but rather on strong African-led institutions. “We need more African financial institutions like Afreximbank. If we had ten of them, we could transform the continent in five years. The key is to think big.”

Despite the obstacles, Dangote expressed strong optimism about the continent’s potential. “Africa will not grow by aid or dependency. We must believe in ourselves, invest in ourselves, and stop waiting for others. The job of people like us is not just to work—it’s to create work,” he said.

Concluding his remarks, he underscored the importance of mindset. “Think big, grow big,” he said. “That’s the mindset Africa needs right now.”