LAGOS, Nov 13 – Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has raised Dangote Industries’ planned investment across Africa to approximately $70 billion by 2030, up from an earlier target of $50 billion, as the industrial group seeks to expand its operations and strengthen its presence across the continent.
The group’s President and Chief Executive, Dangote, announced the revised investment ambition during a media engagement with journalists and creative industry stakeholders in Lagos on Thursday. The increase follows an earlier upward revision of the group’s investment plans.
“I think we are pushing it up to $70 billion in terms of investment in Africa between now and 2030,” Dangote said.
The expansion forms part of the group’s Vision 2030 programme, which is intended to increase production capacity, broaden its industrial footprint and generate additional revenue across African markets.
Alongside the investment target, Dangote outlined plans for a separate 10,000-megawatt electricity generation intervention across Africa, potentially including Nigeria. The initiative is intended to address persistent power shortages and support industrial activity.
Dangote said the group’s existing electricity generation capacity of almost 1,500MW could increase to between 4,500MW and 5,000MW by the completion of Vision 2030. He distinguished this captive generation capacity, which supplies the group’s own operations, from the proposed continental power initiative.
“Across the group, we currently have almost 1,500 megawatts. By the time we complete Vision 2030, that could rise to between 4,500 and 5,000 megawatts,” he said.
“That is captive power, electricity for our own operations. Separately, part of the vision is to intervene in power generation with 10,000 megawatts across Africa, potentially including Nigeria,” he added.
Power shortages remain a constraint on industrial growth
Dangote identified unreliable electricity supply as a major obstacle to business expansion, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that depend on petrol and diesel generators to maintain operations.
He argued that the cost of self-generation makes it difficult for smaller businesses to remain profitable, while individual investments in alternative energy sources such as solar systems do not resolve the wider electricity supply deficit.
“Installing solar power for yourself does not mean the wider problem has been solved. Other people may not have that option,” he said.
“A vibrant economy is driven by small and medium-sized enterprises. Large companies such as ours help sustain those businesses, but SMEs are essential to economic activity. When you generate electricity using diesel or petrol, it becomes very difficult to make money.”
The proposed 10,000MW intervention would represent a separate investment from the group’s internal power expansion. Further details on its financing, project locations, generation technologies and implementation timeline were not disclosed.
Local processing and industrial production at the centre of expansion
Dangote also identified agriculture and solid minerals as sectors offering substantial investment opportunities, particularly in Northern Nigeria. He called for greater domestic processing of raw materials to reduce dependence on exports of unprocessed commodities and imports of higher-value finished products.
“It is not only about us; it is about Nigeria and the African continent,” he said.
“We should not simply export raw materials and then buy back the processed products at many times the price. That is the pattern we want to change. Without production, we will continue to face economic difficulties. We must build a productive economy.”
He said government policy should focus on creating a stable and enabling environment for private investment, while businesses take responsibility for expanding production and employment.
“Government’s principal responsibility is to create an enabling environment through good policies. With the right policies, businesses can invest and create jobs,” he said.
Dangote attributed the group’s expansion from trading into manufacturing to financial discipline, reinvestment of earnings and a strategy of moving into production activities where it already had market knowledge and distribution networks.
“The logical next step was backward integration: producing the things we were already importing,” he said.
He also advised entrepreneurs to assess the commercial viability of their investments carefully and avoid spending profits before they had been realised. Businesses, he said, should be prepared to withdraw from ventures that no longer make financial sense.
“Give it your best effort, but when you do the numbers and they are not adding up, you must be willing to leave,” he said.
Dangote said the group would continue investing and encouraged smaller businesses to position themselves within the supply chains created by large industrial projects.
“People like us will continue investing. People like you can build businesses around those investments, as suppliers, producers and service providers,” he said.
The revised $70 billion target and proposed power generation intervention place electricity, local processing and industrial capacity at the centre of Dangote Industries’ continental expansion strategy. Their implementation will depend on project development, financing arrangements and the creation of viable operating conditions across the markets in which the group intends to invest.
