Building refinery was biggest risk of my career – Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that he used all his assets as collateral and gave a personal guarantee to secure the initial $3.7bn loan for his refinery and fertiliser projects.

Dangote made the disclosure during an exclusive interview with Arise News, describing the investment as the biggest risk he had taken in almost 50 years in business.

When asked about the biggest risk of his entrepreneurial career, he immediately pointed to the refinery and fertiliser projects.

“The biggest decision was the risk of the refinery and fertiliser,” he said.

Dangote explained that financing the projects required him to put up everything he had built at the time.

“We gave all our assets as collateral,” he said.

“And apart from that, I gave a personal guarantee.”

He said the initial financing was based on a $3.7bn loan, at a time when the final cost and completion of the projects were still uncertain.

The refinery eventually cost about $20 billion to build, making it one of Africa’s largest privately funded industrial projects.

The 700,000-barrel-per-day Dangote refinery began producing petroleum products in 2024. It has since expanded production to include petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and other products.

The facility is now at the centre of Nigeria’s efforts to reduce its dependence on imported petroleum products.

Dangote is also planning a further $14.3bn expansion that would double the refinery’s capacity to 1.4m barrels per day by 2029.

The refinery opened its landmark public offer this week, allowing retail and institutional investors to buy into a company that has largely remained privately owned.

Dangote said the move marks a new phase for the business after years of carrying much of the financial risk involved in developing the project.

He described the offer as a ‘People’s IPO’ and said his long-term goal is to have at least 10 million shareholders across Africa.

Dangote said his readiness to take major financial risks comes from his belief that Africa cannot achieve industrialisation without entrepreneurs willing to commit large amounts of capital to major projects.