President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has been named alongside other world leaders including Russian President, Vladimir Putin, American President-elect, Donald Trump and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, as the most powerful persons in the world.
These personalities were ranked along with 70 others, with Dangote ranked as the second most powerful on the African continent and 68th in the world. Egyptian President, Abdel el-Sisi, was adjudged the most powerful in Africa and 44th in the world.
Forbes’ latest edition of its 74 World’s Most Powerful People, listed Vladimir Putin as the most powerful in the world, ahead of Trump who was second on the list. Ms. Merkel was ranked third, while outgoing U.S. President, Barack Obama placed 48th on the list. Chinese President Xi Jinping came in number four; Catholic pontiff, Pope Francis was fifth; the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, came in seventh; with Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, the 10th most powerful person in the world.
Dangote recently won the 2016 African Business Leader Award organised by the Africa-America Institute (AAI) in New York in September. Prof. Iweribor of Hunter College, University of New York, described Dangote as a transformational industrialist, saying: “He and his group have emerged as the revolutionary vanguard of African economic transformation, and have been at the forefront of domestically generated prosperity and psycho-cultural upliftment.
