Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Aliko Dangote Foundation and President/CEO of Dangote Industries Limited, has been named to the inaugural 2025 TIME100 Philanthropy list, which honors 100 of the most influential global leaders shaping the future of philanthropy.
In a statement released Tuesday, Dangote Group announced that Dangote is the only Nigerian included on the list, published by TIME Magazine. He joins global philanthropic heavyweights such as Michael Bloomberg, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, and Melinda Gates, all recognized in the “Titans” category.
TIME praised Dangote for both his business success—amassing a $23.9 billion fortune through ventures in cement, agriculture, and oil refining—and his impactful philanthropy. In 2014, he endowed the Aliko Dangote Foundation with $1.25 billion, and the foundation now spends an average of $35 million annually on programs across Nigeria and Africa.
Investing in nutrition, health, education, and economic empowerment is our contribution to setting Africans up for success, Dangote said.
Among the foundation’s initiatives is a $100 million multi-year program aimed at tackling severe childhood malnutrition. It has also partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others on vaccine efforts that helped the World Health Organization declare Africa polio-free in 2020, with Nigeria—the continent’s most populous country—being the last to eradicate the disease.
Dangote has also made major contributions to education. Recently, he pledged $10 million to the Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology in Kano State. In 2019, his foundation donated a ₦1.2 billion hostel to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria—the largest individual donation to a Nigerian university at the time.
As a member of the Global Business Coalition for Education, Dangote’s foundation supports early childhood education. The Mu Shuka Iri (“Let’s Plant a Seed”) program trains local women—referred to as “Aunties”—in Montessori teaching methods to serve as community educators in Kano.
Reflecting on his philanthropic journey, Dangote said:
My mother instilled in me the ethos of giving back, which inspired my philanthropy 30 years ago. I trust my three daughters will continue this legacy, just as they will grow our business and impact. I want to be known not just as Africa’s richest person, but also as its biggest philanthropist.