Dangote Ranked Sixth in Global Manufacturing Billionaires List

Dike Onwuamaeze

The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has been ranked the sixth wealthiest manufacturing billionaire in the world.

The ranking was done by Insidermonkey.com, an American firm that uses a hybrid evaluation system to track insider transactions and other market anomalies, and educate investors about the intricacies of investing.

The Insidermonkey.com estimated that with a net worth of $14.3 billion, Dangote, was the founder of Dangote Cement, the largest cement producer in sub-Saharan Africa, in which he holds an 85 per cent stake.

It added that Dangote also founded the Dangote Fertilizer and owns the Dangote Refinery, which is the world’s largest single-train refinery.

In a similar report in 2023, Dangote was ranked the ninth on the list of top 10 wealthiest manufacturing billionaires in the world by the CEOWorld magazine.

The CEOWorld magazine commented that with a net worth of $10.5 billion at that time, Dangote was the only African on the list, which was dominated by billionaires from Asia and Europe.

Currently, Dangote, who is Africa’s richest man, still stands as the only African among the top 25 billionaires worldwide.

Dangote described manufacturing as one of the potent ways of lifting people out of poverty through the creation of gainful employment.

He added: “It is evident that manufacturing is pivotal to industrialisation. No country in the world has ever industrialised or attained ‘developed nation status’ without having a thriving manufacturing sector.”

Dangote stated that countries smaller than Nigeria, such as Singapore and South Korea, had an average per capita GDP of 65,233 dollars and 31,846 dollars, respectively, due to their level of industrialisation.

However, the report ranked Reinhold Wuerth, as the richest billionaire in the manufacturing industry with a net worth of $35.3 billion.

The second richest person in the manufacturing sector was He Xiangjian, who is worth $26.1 billion while Michael Hartono holds the third position with a net worth of $23.1 billion.

Hartono and his family made a huge fortune from the tobacco business and are still one of the biggest clove cigarette makers in Indonesia. He also has investment in the Bank of Central Asia (BCA).

The fourth place in the global manufacturing billionaires was occupied by Takemitsu Takizaki with a net worth of $20.7 billion. 

Takizaki founded Keyence Corporation, a company that manufactures sensors and electronic components for factory automation systems.

The fifth richest billionaire, according to the ranking, was James Ratcliffe, who is worth $16.2 billion

Ratcliffe is the founder, chairman, and majority owner of the chemical powerhouse, Ineos Group.