Even Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, sometimes battles to wrap his head around the vast wealth he has created for himself.<\/p>\n
Speaking in an interview with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Dangote said that in recent times he doesn’t pay attention to his bank balance – but that wasn’t always the case.<\/p>\n
“When you first start a business your target is to make your first million,” he said. “After a year or so I realised that I have much more than that, however, all these numbers were just written out.”<\/p>\n
Wanting to see the money for himself, Dangote went to a bank and wrote and cashed a cheque for $10 million.<\/p>\n
“I put it in the boot of my vehicle and I went home and looked at it. Now I believe I have money,” he said.<\/p>\n
Dangote then took the money back to the bank the next day and deposited it all back.<\/p>\n
Africa’s richest man<\/strong><\/p>\n Dangote has a net worth of approximately $16.4 billion as head of Dangote Industries, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.<\/p>\n He is among just a few Nigerian billionaires, most of whom accrued their wealth by coming into possession of lucrative oil blocks or, in the case of telecom magnate Mike Adenuga, providing services to a fast-growing population.<\/p>\n The Lagos, Nigeria-based Dangote Industries owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, which had revenue of 805.6 billion naira ($2.4 billion) in 2017.<\/p>\n It also has interests in sugar, salt, flour, fertiliser and packaged food.<\/p>\n You can watch the conversation on Dangote’s wealth below:<\/p>\n