“I always tried to move up the food chain… When I was trading sugar, I added salt and flour, so that then we could do pasta. And then I thought, why not make the bag for it too? So, we started making packaging.” – Aliko Dangote “To build a successful business, you must start small […]
2.3 – When Conglomerates Lose
“Don’t kill the competition. Competition is healthy for businesses. It keeps you the entrepreneur on your toes.” – Aliko Dangote Despite the strengths of conglomerates, they can be challenged by anyone that can master what they do. The conglomerates accumulate capabilities and they use them to compete. I will use an illustration of a Nigerian company that took […]
2.2 – Dangote Conglomerate Tax
“Manufacture, don’t just trade. There is money in manufacturing even though it is capital intensive. To achieve a big breakthrough, I had to start manufacturing the same product I was trading on; which is commodities.” – Aliko Dangote Dangote Group is one of the most successful companies in Africa. It has the operational quality and scale […]
2.1 – Winning Through Accumulation of Capabilities
“Nigeria is one of the best-kept secrets…A lot of foreigners are not investing because they’re waiting for the right time. There is no right time.” – Aliko Dangote Companies win by accumulating capabilities. From Google to Dangote Group, when companies accumulate capabilities, they operate in domains that generate higher value, usually upstream, compared with where […]
1.3 – Aliko Dangote
“I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me 30 years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a […]