Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, intends to donate one-third of his wealth to charitable causes as part of his succession plan, according to his daughter, Halima Dangote.
Halima, a trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, disclosed the plan in an interview with Bloomberg published on Tuesday, saying the billionaire has already secured the support of his family to dedicate 33 per cent of his estate to philanthropy.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote’s net worth is estimated at $35.1 billion, meaning one-third of his current fortune would amount to about $11.7 billion.
Halima said her father regards philanthropy as a key part of his legacy and has incorporated it into the family’s long-term inheritance plans.
“He sort of put all the structure in place whereby we focus a lot on health and education. He actually donated 25 per cent to the foundation. If you look at it, it is what we call in Sharia Code in Islam; it means he has donated 33 per cent of his whole inheritance to his foundation,” she said.
She added that the arrangement was designed to ensure the foundation’s work continues across generations.
“That is how important it is to him because philanthropy needs to be in existence generation after generation.
“So giving back is part and parcel of what we do. We believe we’re here, that our business is successful because of the giving back and because of the philanthropic aspect. That is why the 33 per cent is important.
“And that is why he made an announcement and he asked myself, my two sisters and his mother to sign under that will that he is able to give that 33 per cent to humanity.”
The planned donation expands Dangote’s existing charitable efforts through the Aliko Dangote Foundation, which was established in 1994.
Halima said the foundation received an endowment of $1.25 billion about a decade ago and has since been strengthened with an additional $700 million in funding.
According to her, about 70 per cent of the foundation’s spending is directed to projects in Nigeria, 20 per cent supports initiatives across Africa, while the remainder funds programmes in other parts of the world.
The foundation focuses on health, education, nutrition and humanitarian relief and has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and northern Nigerian state governments in efforts that contributed to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa.
Earlier this year, TIME magazine named Dangote among the world’s most influential philanthropists in its inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy list, recognising the foundation’s work, which spends more than ₦N50 billion annually on programmes across Africa.