Secret Of My Success: I Put In 18-hour Of Work Daily –Aliko Dangote

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Africa’s richest man and President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said that the drive behind the success of his businesses is as a result of his total commitment to leading by example and putting in 18 out of 24 hours daily to work.

In an interview for the 2017 KPMG CEO Outlook, Dangote disclosed that he is a big believer in leading by example as he rises before 5:30 a.m. every day and after prayers and running 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. 24 hours in a day really is not enough,” he said.

For the third year in a row, KPMG has surveyed 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 was one of the CEOs that were specially profiled in the global report.

The 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, telecommunications, real estate, haulage, port management, oil and gas – united by one purpose: to meet the ‘basic needs’ of Nigerians with local, value-added products and services.

In most of its markets, Dangote has a share in excess of 35 percent. It claims 65 percent of the Nigerian sugar market, despite two large competitors, while its flour-milling business is set to process over 1 million tonnes of wheat.

The company’s various businesses are growing at paces that would make most CEOs envious.

But Dangote said the group was focused on aggressive growth as he is predicting fourfold growth over the next three years.

“I think really, the future is looking very, very bright,” he told KPMG CEO Outlook.

When it comes to entering a new geography or a new business line, Dangote said he has a very specific point of view.
In Africa, where new technologies don’t reach every country at the same time, the CEO likens buying a company to buying a new home.

Rather than entering a new market via acquisition, he said the company is always focused on building a business from scratch and then start competing with a lot of existing players.

According to him, taking on a business whose facilities are out of date, and you will have to work harder to make money.

His words: “Most assets in Africa are old assets that people sweat to make money. When you move in, you see a lot of leaks and burst pipes. Our strategy has been to go in as a greenfield project and build from scratch. We build the company, get into the market, then we compete.”

To guarantee quality – especially in new markets – Dangote invests in its own high-tech equipment, infrastructure and logistics.

According to him, that is an approach that continues to generate wins for his organisations.
“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 boasted.

Dangote also revealed that 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. When you’re providing the highest quality product in the market, you’re able to attach a very good price to that product,” the Kano-born billionaire stressed.

Dangote can be flexible. At one stage, the company sold its food business Tiger Brands, but bought it back after it floundered. It’s now doing nicely again.

As diverse as the group’s portfolio is, Dangote said: “We never go into a business that we don’t understand. We study the business first, and learn about it until we believe we are competitive, then we invest.

He explained that when the company entered the cement business, he realised the burning question was whether they would be able to produce cement that would rivalled the quality of the established and only other cement producer operating in Nigeria at that time.

“Can we produce the same quality cement as Lafarge [the biggest rival in Nigeria]? In areas where some competitors have been there for 50 years before us? We knew customers would not trust our brand because they had been used to one brand for over 50 years. We concentrated on quality and we’ve taken market share, with no adverts – nothing. That’s how we came out to have the best quality ever,” Dangote explained.

Reacting to the topic of leadership, Dangote said for any company to be successful, the must be issues of ownership and sense of belonging.

“The main objective for any CEO is to make sure there is ownership. Some of our competitors are not doing well because there is nothing like ownership in their businesses,” he declared.

“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,” he added.

With the Nigerian economy enduring tough times, Dangote said: “The key thing for us is to interact with the government to develop policies that allow the economy to grow. If that happens, we will grow as well.”

He added; “With our refinery and petrochemical plant, we want to export within West Africa and Central Africa. The same with rice – even if we plan to produce five times what we do now, Nigeria will consume it all, or we can export to ECOWAS.”

The business mogul said he doesn’t expect events such as Brexit to hurt the group. If anything, Dangote sees opportunities: “Prime Minister May has been very busy trying to find new partners. President Trump is changing a lot of things, such as NAFTA. Eventually Africa will benefit. It offers more advantages going forward.”