Aliko Dangote, Nigerian industrialist and founder of Dangote Group, is expanding his investments across Africa, targeting cement manufacturing, oil refining, fertiliser production and energy infrastructure as he seeks to increase the continent’s capacity to process raw materials and manufacture products locally.
From operational cement factories in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and Senegal to proposed refineries and petroleum pipelines in Kenya, Namibia and the Horn of Africa, the investments reflect a growing presence of African private capital in industries critical to economic development.
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The expansion comes as Africa continues to lag behind other regions in manufacturing. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), manufacturing contributed 10.6 percent of Africa’s GDP in 2024, compared with a global average of 16.5 percent. Manufacturing value added per capita stood at $212, against $1,937 globally, highlighting the continent’s limited capacity to convert its resources into higher-value products.
Dangote has argued that African countries cannot achieve meaningful economic transformation while exporting raw materials and importing finished goods. Speaking in an interview with International Finance Corporation (IFC) Managing Director Makhtar Diop in 2026, he said his decision to build Nigeria’s $20 billion refinery was driven partly by the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products despite being a major crude oil producer.
“At one point, we were exporting 2.4 million barrels per day and not processing one barrel. Every single product that we use, whether it’s gasoline, jet fuel, everything is imported,” he said.
He added that African businesses must demonstrate confidence in the continent through actual investments rather than relying entirely on foreign investors.
“We will open Africa by demonstrating that we believe in Africa, by investing our money in Africa,” Dangote said.
Cement manufacturing remains one of the group’s most established investments outside Nigeria. Its facilities in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and Senegal have created domestic production capacity in markets that require substantial supplies of cement for construction and infrastructure development.
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The plants, commissioned between 2014 and 2015, represent investments ranging from approximately $300 million in Senegal to $600 million in Tanzania. Dangote Cement’s 2025 audited accounts show that the group retains controlling interests in the subsidiaries operating these facilities, although Senegal’s government acquired a 10 percent stake in its local operation.
The group’s expansion into fertiliser production is also targeting a major import-dependent sector. Its $2.5 billion fertiliser complex in Nigeria, commissioned in 2022, has an annual production capacity of three million tonnes of urea.
In Ethiopia, Dangote Group and state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings signed a $2.5 billion shareholders’ agreement in August 2025 to establish another fertiliser complex in Gode, with Dangote holding 60 percent and the Ethiopian institution 40 percent.
Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister, who visited the construction site with Dangote in May 2026, said the project would strengthen domestic fertiliser production, improve food security and reduce Ethiopia’s dependence on external markets. The plant is expected to produce three million tonnes of urea annually when completed.
“This type of large-scale investment demonstrates the power of strong collaboration between government and the private sector,” he said. “Expanding such partnerships will accelerate economic growth, attract further investment, and improve the livelihoods of our people.”
The expansion is increasingly extending beyond factories into infrastructure needed to distribute industrial products across borders.
In Kenya, President William Ruto and Dangote led the groundbreaking of a proposed $16 billion refinery and petrochemical complex in Lamu in September 2026. Designed to process up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil daily, the facility will also include fertiliser and chemical manufacturing, power generation and supporting infrastructure.
Ruto described the investment as more than a refinery, saying it would strengthen energy security and regional industrial development.
“Africa does not lack resources. We do not lack talent. We do not lack enterprise. We do not lack markets,” he said, arguing that the continent must develop the capacity to process and trade its resources locally.
Dangote said the project represented a new chapter in African industrial development, adding that “Africa cannot build lasting prosperity by exporting what it has and importing what it needs.”
In Namibia, the group launched a $2.5 billion fuel storage and regional pipeline project in Walvis Bay on November 4. The proposed 600-million-litre facility and approximately 1,700-kilometre pipeline network are intended to improve fuel distribution to neighbouring markets, including landlocked countries.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said the investment could position Namibia as a regional energy and trade gateway. She disclosed that she personally intervened to prevent the project from stalling after delays frustrated the investors.
“The African people cannot continue to live in poverty when our continent is so richly endowed with natural resources. This project will remain a presidential project until it is completed,” Nandi-Ndaitwah affirmed.
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Dangote said the project was intended to improve access to petroleum products in landlocked markets. “We want to invest heavily so that landlocked countries can access petroleum products at cheaper prices,” he said.
The group is also partnering with Ethiopian Investment Holdings and Djibouti’s state-owned investment institution on a $660 million petroleum pipeline linking Damerjog in Djibouti to Deweel in Ethiopia. Announced by Abiy Ahmed and Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh in September 2026, the project includes storage terminals and is expected to reduce fuel transportation costs along the corridor.
In Zimbabwe, Dangote signed an investment agreement with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government in November 2025 for proposed investments exceeding $1 billion in cement production, power generation and petroleum transportation infrastructure. However, the agreement did not provide a detailed financing structure or construction timetable.
Dangote said improvements in the country’s business environment had influenced his decision to return after earlier investment attempts failed. “The government is solid, there is a lot of transparency,” he told reporters.
Despite the scale of the investments, their contribution to industrialisation will depend on more than the construction of factories. Reliable electricity, local technical expertise, access to finance and effective transport networks remain major constraints on African manufacturing.
Makhtar Diop, IFC Managing Director, speaking during his conversation with Dangote, said industrialisation required businesses willing to take risks alongside development finance institutions and governments. He stressed the need to bring policymakers, industrialists and private investors together to deliver projects.
“And for us, uh, the industrialization of Africa, we require people to take risks, to invest in it. And if institutions like ours are not here to support that, it will not happen. It will not happen. We need to take risks. We need to believe in the industrialization of the continent. And we need also to bring everybody around the table policymakers, industrialists and private sector like us, institutions like ours to try to do together.”
The investments also raise questions about local employment, technology transfer, competition and the extent to which host countries benefit through taxes, local procurement and exports. Announced project values should not be confused with capital already deployed, particularly where financing and implementation arrangements remain incomplete.
For Dangote, the expansion is a commercial investment in markets with growing demand for construction materials, fertiliser and energy. For host countries, the challenge is to translate the presence of large industrial facilities into wider domestic production and stronger regional supply chains.
Africa’s industrialisation will ultimately depend on whether these investments enable countries to manufacture more, retain greater value from their resources and develop businesses capable of supplying markets beyond their borders.
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