Aliko Dangote And the 41st Law of Power
Law 41: AVOID STEPPING INTO A GREAT MAN’S SHOES
JUDGMENT
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.
-Robert Greene, 48 laws of power
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
At the time of his death in 1955, Alhassan Dantata was the wealthiest man in West Africa. Dantata had, beginning from the 18th century in Kano, Northern-Nigeria, dominated the region’s markets at that time, trading in commodities such as groundnut and kolanuts, thus making his family one of the most famous merchants’ families in Nigeria with immense generational wealth. His eldest son, Sanusi Dantata further consolidated on his father’s wealth, dealing in commodities like rice and oats, and was considered the richest man in Kano at one time. It was into this affluent family that Aliko Dangote was born in Kano in the year 1957, two years after Alhassan Dantata his great-grandfather had died.
Aliko’s Father, Muhammed Dangote, a wealthy businessman had married Mariya Sanusi Dantata, Alhassan Dantata’s granddaughter, and Aliko had the privilege of learning the basics of trade from his mother’s family, specifically from his grandfather, Sanusi Dantata, who became Aliko’s guardian after his father’s death. He then formally studied business at the university in Cairo Egypt, to hone his business skills, after which he ventured into trading commodities as well. At age 20, Aliko left the city of Kano in 1977, away from the familiar environment he was born and brought up in, and moved down south to the competitive and densely populated commercial city of Lagos. In Lagos, Aliko Dangote got a $3,000 loan from his uncle and continued his commodity importation and trading business — salt, sugar, pasta and the likes, which expanded rapidly. He branded his business as “Dangote Group” and then over time, he turned from primarily importing and began manufacturing much of those products he used to import. Then, he ensured that those commodities now bear his company’s brand name and logo. Gradually, Nigerians began to get familiar with the Dangote brand identity and it soon became a force to reckon with in household consumables. While most other Nigerian businessmen were focused on the oil and gas industries at the time, Aliko Dangote set his sight on something different — cement, and as it were with the commodities, he started with the importation, and then moved to manufacturing the cements. By the turn of the century, cement had made Dangote a US Dollar billionaire with operations in more than 10 African countries. When Dangote finally ventured into the oil industry, he did something remarkably different; instead of following the bandwagon of other oil merchants by importing refined oil products, Dangote decided to refine the crude oil himself by building a $14b valued refinery, which would make it the largest of its kind in Africa. With the third largest sugar refinery in the world, to controlling the largest stake in West-Africa’s cement business, and then building Africa’s biggest oil refinery, Aliko, unlike his grandfather and great grandfather, who made their mark by trading commodities and being the shrewd middlemen, he had chosen to be the manufacturer instead, and surpassed the wealth of his great grandfather and grandfather, by becoming the richest man in Africa.
Interpretation
In typical African society, and much of the rest of the world, generational fortunes are usually the prerogative of the patrilineal descendants. But Aliko Dangote remarkably did it through his mother’s family — the Dantatas. Although he had leveraged on their fortunes — living and learning, first from his grandfather, and the rest of his mother’s family, and then getting the loan to start up from his maternal uncle, Aliko was clever enough to be distinct, and avoid being another Alhassan or Sanusi Dantata. This is demonstrated by first, his emigration from the city of Kano, Northern Nigeria where the Dantatas wealth reigned supreme, to the far away competitive city of Lagos to chart his own course.
Secondly, instead of retaining and leveraging on the Dantata name, which is already an established name in the Nigerian business scene, and would have certainly opened doors easier, Aliko branded his business anew — the Dangote Group. This is the most symbolic act of distinguishing himself and advertising his own identity to the public. Another exhibit that Aliko Dangote truly understands and appreciates the strategy of variation is the manner with which he approached the oil industry; the Nigerian economy, being over 80% driven by oil, and not surprisingly, is the predominant source of wealth for most businessmen. It is therefore conventional for anyone seeking fortune in this densely populated country to be heavily involved with the oil sector. However, Aliko mostly avoided the oil route, and even when he finally ventured into it, instead of doing same thing the other oil moguls have been doing — exporting crude oil overseas, and then importing the refined oil products and selling it, he chose to refine the crude oil himself, by building the multi-billion dollar refinery right where he lives, Lagos. From the onset, Aliko Dangote is evidently a man who had set forth to establish his own path and identity. Even though the Dantata blood flows in his veins, he was not going to be another Dantata; there are dozens of other extremely wealthy Dantatas, but Aliko Dangote has come to surpass their legacy and wealth by adhering to this sacred law of avoiding to step into a great man’s shoes.
Takeaway Quote
“If you cannot materially start from ground zero –it would be foolish to renounce an inheritance –you can at least begin from ground zero
psychologically, by throwing off the weight of the past and charting a new direction.”
-Robert Greene
Excerpts from my book “Applications of the 48 Laws of Power in Nigeria
available on Amazon Kindle with the link below
NB: If you require a creative ghost writer for your memoirs, autobiographies, tell-all-tales, reach me via
email:serrickbytes@gmail.com
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