Foreign Interests Undermining Africa’s Industrial Growth, Says Dangote

Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has raised concerns over what he described as entrenched foreign interests undermining Africa’s industrial development, even as he called for deeper regional integration and stronger domestic investment to unlock the continent’s economic potential.

Dangote while speaking at the Investing in Africa Forum, held on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF/World Bank 2026 Spring Meetings in Washington DC, also stressed that the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area depends largely on the effectiveness of regional markets across the continent, noting that weak integration at subregional levels could stall the broader ambition of a single African market.

According to him, Africa must first fix its regional trade structures before expecting the continental free trade framework to deliver meaningful impact. “The Africa free trade will work, but it can only work when the regional markets work.

“The regional markets must work first before you because the dotted points all these regional markets, they are not working.

You cannot have one single market. And you know, you must also remember that there are a lot of international interests, I’m sorry to say, this intentional interest in not wanting to see Africa grow.

“We haven’t really had any refinery in Africa for donkey years even the ones that they started in other areas, other countries, they have not been able to, because there are so many interests of not allowing that to happen,” he said.

Dangote further argued that while foreign capital remains important, investment decisions are driven by risk perception, adding that African investors must take the lead in changing that narrative.

“Foreigners will invest. But foreigners are also very, smart people. Anything you talk about risk; they want to look at it 10 times. So how can we de-risk? That the only way to de risk that is we Africans, we must lead and show that, yes, that risk is a perceived risk is not a real risk.

“If I am not investing in Africa, there is no way I will go and convince anybody outside the continent to come and invest. So, I must now show that this risk is a passive risk, of course, there is no other there is no risk here, China, Asia, everywhere there are risk. But you must know how to mitigate this risk.

“For us in Africa, I think one of the keys and that’s what I keep advising some of my own colleagues. I even sometimes say that, yes, in terms of cash, there might be some people who have more cash than me, but don’t keep that money in a foreign bank, bring it back home, invest, the place is good. You make a lot of money, but we have this problem that we are always looking for foreign investor.

“Foreign investor will never come because the foreign investor is smarter than us, so they won’t come. They can only come when they see that we are committed, we are serious, and we are investing our own money. When you invest your own money, then they will join you. And then, you know, they say that two numbers are better than one. Okay, so once you start, other people will come in,” he added.

Highlighting Africa’s value addition gap, Dangote pointed to Zambia’s copper exports as an example of missed industrial opportunities, arguing that the continent must prioritize local processing before exporting raw materials.

“So in terms of business, a place like Zambia, they are busy exporting copper. We want to process that copper before it is exported. So, we want to just lead in some key critical areas where now other Africans will look and say this thing is easy, and everybody will jump in, even if they don’t jump in, the other foreigners will now come in and be inspired,” he said.

Speaking on the refinery, Dangote revealed that a major expansion that would position Africa at the centre of global refining capacity is underway. “But going forward on the refinery, let me start on the refinery. We are taking the refinery to 1.4 million barrels per day. And that will make us, that will make us the largest refinery in the world.”