Afreximbank Awards Aliko Dangote as “Founder of the Year 2023”

Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote Group, was recognised and awarded the "Founder of the Year 2023" award by the African Export-Import Bank on Monday night in Accra, Ghana, at an award ceremony organized by Afreximbank.

Dangote was handed the award for his freshly opened $19 billion petrochemicals plant, which is currently Africa's largest refinery.

Olakunle Alake, Group Managing Director, Dangote Industries Limited, was in Ghana to accept the award on behalf of Aliko Dangote.

According to the award's organisers, the Pan-African Business and Development Awards were designed to celebrate and recognize the excellence of outstanding organisations and individuals within the African business and finance sectors.

THE STATEMENT

• “The evening recognised some leaders in African business, and Aliko Dangote (GCON) won the Afreximbank Founder of the Year in recognition of his extraordinary achievements in building one of Africa’s leading industrial groups with a truly pan-African footprint. This comes on the back of the recent official opening of his $19bn petrochemicals plant and Africa’s largest refinery, which received substantial support from Afreximbank.

• “Two other greats of the industry, the Zimbabwean Strive Masiyiwa, and the Togolese Koffi Gervais Djondo were also recognised for their outstanding contributions to African business and industry. Masiyiwa is the founder of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, which has the largest network of fibre optic cables on the continent, Cassava Technologies, and Econet, the largest telecoms and mobile payment operator in Zimbabwe. Djondo helped found Ecobank, the leading African group in terms of footprint, as well as regional airline Asky.

In the ceremony, MTN and Egyptian company ElSewedy were both awarded Special Recognitions. MTN was honoured for its role in modernizing the African telecoms sector, and ElSewedy was recognized for its work in the African infrastructure sector.

ElSewedy and Afreximbank have developed a strong partnership, allowing their firm to become a true continental champion and a member of the consortium of African banks and private sector enterprises building Tanzania's multibillion-dollar Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project.