Dangote Group has emerged the Investor of the Year. The company won the award in the Investor of the Year category at the Nigeria at 50 Investors’ Awards organised by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), in Abuja.
According to a statement by the company, Dangote beat Indorama, MTN Nigeria, Eleme Petrochemicals and Glo, to clinch the highly competitive award, which was used to recognise Nigeria’s corporate elite, successful entrepreneurs and outstanding Government functionaries for their contributions to the economic development of the country.
In his remarks at the occasion, President Goodluck Jonathan said Nigeria has recorded sustained economic and democratic development over the last 10 years, adding that the nation has an abundance of significant opportunities to be explored for development.
“The country has an abundance of investment opportunities and wishes to welcome a select audience to develop mutual benefit, assisting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the benefit of all Nigerians,” said Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, at the occasion.
The President, who noted that the Nigerian International Investors’ Forum coincided with the nation’s 50 years anniversary, expressed the hope that it would create new initiatives, which feed into the formal celebrations in October.
Executive Secretary, NIPC, Engr. Mustafa Bello, reiterated the commitment of the commission to attract investments into the country. Dangote said in line with its ongoing expansion plan, it recently announced plans to merge its cement production subsidiaries, Dangote Cement Plc and Benue Cement Company Plc (BCC). The merger, it said, would result in the listing of Dangote Cement with a valuation of N2.13 trillion on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). This, it also said, would be one of the largest transactions ever done in the history of the exchange and it has the potential to increase market capitalisation to about N8 trillion with Dangote Cement contributing about 30 percent.
“The Group’s core business focus is to provide local, value-added products and services that meet the ‘basic needs’ of the Nigerian population. Through the construction and operation of large scale manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and across Africa, the Group is focused on building local manufacturing capacity to generate employment, prevent capital flight and provide locally produced goods for local people. The Dangote Group has a workforce of over 14,000 employees,” the statement stated.
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