President and CEO of Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has been named among 100 most influential people shaping the future of giving at a pivotal moment.
This was disclosed by TIME Magazine in its published TIME100 Philanthropy 2025 List.
Listed under the ‘Titans’ category, Dangote has used his vast wealth to tackle some of the continent’s most pressing challenges through the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), which he endowed with $1.25 billion in 2014.
According to TIME, with a current net worth of $23.9 billion, largely built through operations in cement, agriculture, and oil refining across Nigeria, Dangote remains steadfast in his commitment to “give back to the continent that facilitated his success.” His Foundation currently spends an average of $35 million annually on programmes spread across Africa.
“Health, education, economic empowerment, disaster relief, and food, these are the five main things that any African nation needs,” Dangote said.
In 2025, the Foundation is repeating a massive food aid initiative launched in 2024 to distribute over one million bags of rice across Nigeria.
This is in addition to a $100 million multi-year intervention focused on treating children suffering from severe malnutrition—one of the largest of its kind on the continent.
In health, ADF has a track record of landmark collaborations, including a vaccine initiative with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other global partners. This joint effort played a critical role in Nigeria being declared polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015, an achievement in Africa’s most populous country that Dangote counts as one of the Foundation’s proudest contributions.
Education also stands tall among the Foundation’s priorities. Dangote recently pledged $10 million to the Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology in Nigeria’s Kano State. At the same time, ADF is ramping up local impact through new vocational training programs and the construction of school complexes across the country.
“We need to create the next generation of African leaders,” Dangote said, noting the Foundation’s ongoing sponsorship of annual fellowships through the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders program.
LEADERSHIP reports that TIME100 Philanthropy 2025 List represents individuals from 28 countries and assembled by TIME’s reporters, editors, and contributors around the world.
Other influential philanthropists on the list incldude; former English football star David Beckham, Melinda French Gates, Warren Buffet, Darren Walker, Reeta Roy, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Michele Kang, Badr Jafar, among others.
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