Africa and Nigeria’s richest businessman, Aliko Dangote, is set to land at the Harare International Airport today on a two-day visit where he is expected to seal several
business deals and probably breathe new life into the country’s comatose economy.
Industry minister, Mike Bimha, yesterday confirmed Dangote’s tour saying the Nigerian business mogul would meet top government and business leaders as part of efforts to expand his business interests into Zimbabwe and bring in the much-needed foreign direct investments.
Government sources said Dangote was planning to set up a cement plant in the Midlands Province.
In the past months, the Nigerian business magnate has opened up various projects across the continent and more recently a $4,3 billion joint venture projects with a Chinese engineering company-Sinoma International Engineering Co, to build factories for his cement company across Africa and Asia.
The deal according to reports will see Sinoma build seven cement plants across Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia and Nepal. The new factories will be completed within 30 months and will add about 25 million tons to Dangote Cement’s current production capacity of 45 million tonnes per annum.
While Nigeria remains the largest revenue earner for Dangote Cement, accounting for 86% of the company’s total revenue, sales outside Nigeria now account for 14% of the company’s sales, up from 3% the previous year, according to the company’s half-year results published last month.
