Cement business is the core of your wealth. You are building other things. You are building a refinery in nigeria. Why does nigeria need another refinery . Bit, we useve you a our businesses to build the future of the business. Used. Gar profits were event, fertilizer, petroleum. Also, chemicals. Why would building a refinery . We have only two working refineries. The other one is in south africa. Thesedernity of all of theyde african countries, export their oil but import products. Modernity of the foreign was petroleum for imports. Nigerias exporting oil and has to refine products back and import. Youre building one of the largest refineries in the world . Aliko it is the largest in the world, 650,000 barrels a day. David 650,000 barrels a day. To do that, do you have to borrow some money . Where did the money come from . Aliko we are borrowing from the commercial banks. We are also borrowing some money from, you know, some financial institutions, like, you know, the african deployment bank, financial deployment, you know, bank. We are going from the african bank. David Many Companies outside of africa like to invest would like to invest in africa. Where would you recommend they invest . In nigeria, south africa, kenya . Obviously, you are probably partial to nigeria, but are there good Investment Opportunities for nonafricans in africa . Aliko there are opportunities for everybody. And i think protection for everybody. As we speak today, even following let me give you an example. In nigeria, if i have a partnership with you, and i am investing, i will not have what you call minimum taxation. The companys formed by myself alone, as a nigerian owner, a nigerian entity, i have minimum taxation. That is quite a lot in terms of inviting those to invest in africa. There are many countries in which to invest. One of them, of course, nigeria. Ghana is also a very good place to invest. You know, kenya, kenya is also a very good place to invest. David i first met you and number of years ago when i was raising my firms African Investment fund, and you invested in it. Today, the boom seems to be off the rose in african private investing. It was more attractive 5, 6 years ago. Today, it seems to be less attractive. Is that because economies in africa have gone down a bit . Or what would you say is the reason . Aliko most of that has to do with lack of understanding of where to invest. Look at the investments that were made. I think 90 of whatever we invested, they were. I think it is where you should invest. Even myself as an african, i cannot invest in every single sector, so i have to be very choosy of where i invest. There is a lot of wrong perception. You know, people read stories from newspapers, and they believe what they are reading. But i think, you know, as we go along, you know, there are 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. Is that right . Aliko yes, i do. David how any people are there in lagos . Aliko we have about 25 million. David 25 million people. Aliko yes, in terms of population. It is a very small david getting around in lagos, which i have tried to do, is not that easy. Getting around in new york is not that easy, either. Do you have special police cars that take you around . How do you get around in lagos . Aliko i get around in lagos, sometimes i have a Police Escort but not all the time. I can drive myself. David you drive yourself . Aliko yes, i do. David do people stare at you . There is the wealthiest man in africa driving himself . Aliko they do sometimes. David when you go to a restaurant by yourself, do they come up for selfies or do they ask you for money . Aliko they dont really ask me for money. Even here, any time when i go to places to either eat, you know, i get a lot of requests for selfies. It is normal. David you have some outside interests. One of them i think you are interested in, what we call in the United States, is soccer. What other people call football. 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. But also i keep saying today, we have 20 billion worth of projects. I think that is really what i want to concentrate on. You know, i am trying to finish building a company. After we finish, maybe sometime in 2021 david but you are not buying a team right now . Aliko i am not buying arsenal right now. I am buying arsenal because i am trying to take the company to the next level. David what are the attributes that you think you have brought to the table which make you successful . Aliko i think the most important, number one, if you are going into any business, you must understand the business, a to z. You must know that business. David in terms of africa itself, generally, are you bullish on africas prospects as a place for people or Industrial Companies to invest . Aliko i think i am very, very bullish when it comes to africa. It is the main reason we have 20 billion i invest at home. In the first quarter, just in the next two years. I am very, very bullish. I have done very well in africa. You know, i can tell you, if we continue with what we are doing today, based on our own projections, we will be able to be, you know, within the next five years, the fortune 500. David from time to time, i see on Television Networks advertisements for dangote, for your company. Is that general brand building . Why do you advertise in the United States the dangote brand, when most of your businesses are not in the United States . Aliko it is a brand building. We are not going to remain dominant only in africa. I want to invest outside of africa. Because what we are doing right now, you know, we are investing mainly in subsaharan africa. But if you look at what we are building today, we have a company that has revenues of 4 billion. In the next two years, we will have a company that will have a revenue of about 30 billion. So with that, we will have quite a lot of money. What we are trying to do is use a major part of that money and invest outside africa. And maybe 40 i have invested very heavily in africa. David you are in your early 60s. Aliko yeah, i am 62. David 62. That is pretty early 60s. Do you intend to keep doing this for 20 more years, 30 more years . Aliko i dont like to commit, but i think i will maybe work for the next, at least, very active in the next 15 years. David lets suppose somebody is watching this and says, i want to be like mr. Dangote. 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 . Is it intelligence, hard work, persistence . All of those things . What are the most important attributes . Aliko i think the most important, number one, if you are going into a business, you must understand the business. You must know the business. You should not invest because somebody said, there is good money in cement and you jump into cement. You have to understand the business in and out. That is the difference with me. I know my business in and out. You can wake me up anytime and ask me about fertilizer, anything that we are doing. The other one is really to work very hard. You 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 now, i have known you for a while, and 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. You are just very lowkey and even keel . To what do you attribute that . Or am i wrong . Aliko you are not wrong. That is my nature. I am very quiet, and i am very, very calm. I get upset sometimes when people try to outsmart me. I dont like people who will not tell me the truth. I like people to look at me and tell me the truth. David were you investing any in the United States . Aliko we are going to start investing in the United States. We want to open an office in new york. We already have an office in london. It has been operating for the last 30 years. We want part of that to be the family office. As you know, i have discussed this with you before, sometimes in africa, you have issues of devaluation. So we really want to preserve. David right. Sometimes wealthy people collect art, they collect cars, other things. What do you do with some of your wealth that you are not using for philanthropy . Aliko i am not really a collector of art. Any time when i have excess money, i like to put more into charity. I dont really have an expensive lifestyle. David and the great pleasure of your life is building your company and giving away extra money . Aliko yes. David well, 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. Aliko luck must be there. If there is no luck, you cannot make it, of course. David thank you very much for coming today. I appreciate you giving us your insights. Aliko thank you so much, david. Haslinda hello, im Haslinda Amin in bangkok. It looks like another tough year for the bank of thailand. A strong currency, slowing growth, Interest Rates at record lows. So not much room to move, and geopolitics are not helping, either. This is a conversation with veerathai santiprabhob, governor of the bank of thailand. Governor veerathai santiprabhob, thank you so much for joining us. Id like to start with the thai baht. What a spectacular rally in 2019, the best in asia for the year. It also caused a huge headache for the b. Pr