Nigerian industrialist and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has been named to the prestigious TIME100 Philanthropy 2025 list, a recognition of global changemakers redefining the landscape of giving through bold and impactful initiatives.
Dangote, founder and president of the Dangote Group, was celebrated for his transformative contributions to health, education, and poverty alleviation through the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), Africa’s largest private philanthropic organisation.
Since endowing the foundation with $1.25 billion in 2014, Dangote has directed an average of $35 million annually into initiatives that support vulnerable communities across the continent.
“Health, education, economic empowerment, disaster relief, and food—these are the five main things that any African nation needs,” Dangote told TIME, highlighting the philosophy that drives his giving.
Currently, the ADF is in the middle of a $100 million multi-year programme targeting the treatment of children with severe malnutrition.
Building on its 2024 milestone, the Foundation is once again distributing over one million bags of rice across Nigeria this year—a timely intervention amid the nation’s food security concerns.
Dangote’s philanthropy has also been instrumental in Nigeria’s health milestones. His foundation played a key role, alongside partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in Nigeria’s historic win against polio. This culminated in the World Health Organisation declaring polio no longer endemic in the country in 2015.
Education remains a central focus for ADF. Just recently, Dangote announced a $10 million donation to the Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology in Kano State.
The Foundation is also expanding efforts to provide vocational training, build school complexes, and support emerging talents through annual fellowships with the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders programme.
“We need to create the next generation of African leaders,” Dangote told TIME, underscoring his long-term vision for empowering youth on the continent.
With a net worth of $23.9 billion built through cement, agriculture, and oil refining, Dangote’s inclusion in the TIME100 Philanthropy list reaffirms his status not only as Africa’s richest individual but also as a leading global philanthropist committed to transformative impact across the continent.
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