I do not consider myself a journalist. Nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer even though i have a day job of running a private equity firm. How do you define leadership . What is it that makes somebody tick . He is widely known to be the wealthiest man in africa. Is that a title you are proud to have . Sothat one where you get many people calling you for money that you were not that you wish you were not the wealthiest man in africa . Know, when they call you the wealthiest person in africa, it comes with a lot of baggage. Summary demands. So many demands. But it is good because i like to give back to society. David you are involved in many philanthropic endeavors. Lets go through some of them before we go to how you made this money. Recently, you had an event in and billwith mo e bram gates in which you provided a fair amount of money to the African Center in harlem. What is the African Center and why did you do that . , chelseaea started. Linton make it a reality. For us to be able to project africa in a better light. Bring africa to the west rest of the world. September, we have the United Nations general assembly. To tell want to do is the real narrative of africa and tell the rest of the world what africa is all about. This has to do with policy, business, and culture. Sometimes, you know, especially americans, they do not understand much about africa. What kind of aunt language do you speak . African speak about 2000 different languages. David that is a lot. One of the big problems in africa is health and you have been involved in trying to eradicate polio in nigeria along with bill gates and his foundation. What is the progress you have made to date . The progress has been tremendous. Hopefully, we will work hard in the next between now and the next six months. Continent african will be polio free. David one of the things youre doing is building a hospital in nigeria. Why do you feel the need to build a new hospital . We need to build a worldclass hospital. Abroad forople go medical checkups and medical operations. What we are trying to do is to give the population nigeria is the most populous country in africa, is that right . It is. David it is growing at a large rate. About 3 . David at the current rate, at some point, more people will be in nigeria than the United States. 2050, 450 million. Three, aftermber china and india. David you could be the thirdbiggest country in the world at the Current Population growth rate. Does that make you nervous about whether you can house and feed all of these people . It does not make me nervous because we have a lot of water. We have the right climate. Majorou look at it, the bute is to our gdp contributor to our gdp is agriculture. We need to change to agriculture and manufacturing. David nigeria is known for having large oil deposits. Is that a major contributor to the economy . It is not the major source is 90 of the Foreign Exchange that we have. 60 the government is doing quite a lot to grow the economy by trying to structure the taxes. David as the wealthiest man in africa, do get pressure to run for Political Office . Would you like to be president of nigeria . I i am doing a good job where am right now so i dont think i need to be in the political space. Some of us, we need to lead in terms of the trajectory through the business not through the political leadership. David lets talk about how you made this amount of money, which is the largest amount of money any individual has in africa. You came from a wealthy family or not a wealthy family . I came from a wealthy family. Grandfather on the thes in the 1940s was richest west african. My grandfather was one of the wealthiest nigerians. My father was rich and was in business and politics. Of, iing i am very proud did not inherit any money for my father. I built everything from scratch. David your father died when you are relatively young. When i was eight years old. David he did not leave in his will a large amount of money for you . I have given that to charity since then. David did you go to college in nigeria . Egypt. David what did you study . Business. David you graduated at what age . 20 years old. Do . D what did you uncletarted work with my and then i started my own business. It was a lowkey business. David you are 20 years old and you are a trader. Cement is your main business. Part ofement such a big africas wealth . Cement is what builds infrastructure. We need a lot of infrastructure. Have 17,000 units of housing. Nigeria, itted in was imported. It is a long story. David you are trading cement and was it hard to get the money to keep that business going . At that time, i was buying domestically. By 1980, it started a rise. Cement was not an import business. Cement tradinga business. Somebody thought of buying it. You decided not to sell it. You decided to build your own cement manufacturing business. 2003 to build my own cement. We were only producing about 1. 8 million tons. But then 5 million tons. David what year was that . At the end of 2003 and we finished in 2007. David you are the largest cement and effects for in nigeria. Manufacturer in nigeria. The largest manufacturer in subsaharan africa. Subsaharank at africa, we have only two working refineries. David the cement business is the core of your wealth and you are now building other things. You are building a refinery in nigeria. Why does nigeria need another refinery . Aliko let me give you a little bit of history. Use businesses to build the future of the business. The sugar profit we used in building cement. With cement, i have built the petroleum products. Refinery, why are we building refinery . When you look at subsaharan african, we have only two working refineries. Almost all of the subsaharan , the modernityes of the foreignexchange was petroleum. Youthey have to buy are building one of the largest refineries in the world. , 650 thousandgest barrels a day. David do you have to borrow some money . Where did the money come from . Borrowing from the commercial banks. We all are are also bartering some money borrowing some money from financial. Nstitutions we are borrowing david Many Companies outside of africa like to invest in would like to invest in africa. Where do you where would you recommend they invest . Nigeria, south africa, kenya . Investmentood opportunities for nonafricans in africa . As we speak, let me give you an example. In nigeria, if i have a , we willip with you not have minimum taxation. That is quite a lot in terms inviting those to invest in africa. One of them, of course, nigeria. Kenya is also a very good place to invest. David i first met you when i was raising my firms African Investment fund and you invested in it. The bloom seems to be off the rose and african private investing. Today, it seems to be less attractive. Is that because economies in africa have gone down a bit . Has to dot of that with lack of understanding. Look at the investments that were made. I think it is where you should invest. Choosy ofbe very where i invest. There is a lots of wrong perception. People read newspapers and they believe what they are reading. I think, you know, as we go along, quite a lot of changes in most african countries, trying to change in terms of the focus on the economy. David you live principally in lagos. How any people are there in lagos . About 25 million. In terms of population. Around in lagos is not that easy. Getting around in new york is not that easy either. You have special police cars that take you around . Lagos,i get around in sometimes i have a Police Escort but not all the time. I can drive myself. David you drive yourself . Do people stare at you . There is the wealthiest man in africa driving himself . When you go to a restaurant by yourself, do they come up for selfies or do they ask you for money . They dont really ask me for money. , in i go to places to eat get a lot of requests for selfies. David you have some outside interests. I think you are interested in soccer. The arsenal team. Is that a team you would like to buy someday . Aliko it is a team that, yes, i would like to buy someday. We have 20 billion worth of projects. That is what i want to concentrate on. Im trying to finish building a company. Finished david so you are not buying a team right now . Aliko i am trying to take the company to the next level. David what are the attributes you think you have brought to the table which make you successful . Aliko if you are going into any business, you must understand the business. You must know that business. David in terms of africa itself, are you bullish on africa itself for a place for people to invest . Aliko i think i am very, very bullish when it comes to africa. We have 20 billion i invest at home. I am very, very blish. Have very i have done very well in africa. If we continue with what we are doing today, based on our own projections, we will be able to within the next five years, the fortune 500. Time, i seetime to company. Ments for your why do you advertise in the United States . Aliko it is a brand building. I want to invest outside of africa. Now,we are doing right investing in subsaharan africa. Company that has billion. Of 4 in the next two yrs, we will have a company wita revenue of 30 billion. Will ve quite a lotf money. What we are trying to do is use a major part of that money and maybe outside africa and 40 david you are in your early 60s. Aliko 62. David that is pretty early 60s. Do you intend to keep doing this for 20 more years, 30 more years . Work for the maybe next 15 years. Lets say somebody is watching this and says i want to be a successful businessman in africa. What are the attributes you think you have brought to the table which make you successful . Intelligence, hard work, persistence . What are the most important attribute was to mark aliko attributes . Aliko if you are going into a business, you must understand the business. You must know the business. You have to understand the business in and out. That is the difference with me. I know my business in and out. You can ask me about fertilizer, anything. The other one is to work very hard. Ou have to have the tenacity you will have some hiccups here and there but you have to be focused in terms of what you are doing. David i never seem to get you to yell or scream. You seem very lowkey. You do not use the technique of yelling and screaming at people. To what do you attribute that . Or am i wrong . Aliko you are not wrong. That is my nature. Im quiet and very calm. I get upset sometimes when people try to outsmart me. I dont like people who will not tell me the truth. Were you investing any and United States . Aliko we are going to start investing in United States. Office in newn an york and london. As you know, i have discussed this with you before, sometimes in africa, you have issues of valuation. We want to preserve. David sometimes wealthy people collect art, cars, other things. With some of your wealth you are not using for philanthropy . When i have excess money, i like to put more into charity. David the great pleasure pleasure of your life is building your company and giving away extra money . Aliko yes. David it is a very good Success Story and i know a lot of people wanted to hear how you have done it and i guess you are saying it is hard work and persistence, a little luck maybe from time to time. Much for coming today. I appreciate you giving us your insights. Aliko thank you so much, david. 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