The President of the Dangote
Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has given insights into the drive behind the
success of his businesses.
This is contained in the 2017
KPMG CEO Outlook, which profiles CEOs from leading corporations around the
world to assess their perception of the global economy, their top concerns and
their expectations for the near future.
Dangote Group, one of the leading
diversified business conglomerates in Africa, generates revenues in excess of
US$3 billion and employs more than 26,000 people, with business interests as
diverse as cement, sugar, pasta, natural gas, and telecommunications.
“I think really, the future is looking very,
very bright,” the business mogul said.
Dangote rather than entering a
new market via acquisition, he said, was always focused on building a business
from scratch and then “start competing with a lot of existing players.”
“Areas where some of our
competitors have been, for 50 years before us, we’ve gone there, we’ve
struggled with them, we’ve taken more market share..with no advertisements,
nothing,” he added.
Africa’s riches man said another
key element behind the group’s impressive growth is its relentless focus on
quality.
“What we’re doing is making sure
the quality is unquestionable,” he said, adding that when “you’re providing the
highest quality product in the market, you’re able to attach a very good price
to that product.”
Dangote recalled that when he
entered the cement business, he realised the burning question was whether
they’d be able to produce cement that rivalled the quality of the established
and only other cement producer operating in Nigeria at that time.
He said: “We concentrated on
quality. We knew customers would not trust our brand because they’d been used
to one brand for over 50 years. That’s how we came out to have the best quality
ever.”
Dangote revealed that he rises
before 5:30 a.m. every day and after prayers and run 10 kilometres.
He is at the office by 8:30 a.m.
putting in 18-hour days on a regular basis.
“I don’t really take my job as
something I have to do, it is my hobby. Twenty-four hours in a day really is
not enough,” he added.
On the topic of leadership, for
any company to be successful, Dangote said: “The main objective for any CEO is
to make sure there’s ownership.
“Some of our competitors are not
doing well because there’s nothing like ownership in their businesses.
“What we try to train our people
on is that they must be committed and they must have ownership of the business.
“Don’t take it as something that
you’re doing just to earn a salary. I think that kind of outlook can bring a
major change in any business that you operate.”
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