The Sunday Mail

HE landed at Harare International Airport on Monday morning almost imperceptibly, but by the time he departed that same day, Nigerian billionaire Mr Aliko Dangote had left an indelible mark, in what was his first but not likely last visit to Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe is a man not known to wear a plastic smile. If he smiles he means it.

Aliko Dangote
lavishes praises on
President Mugabe

His chuckle after meeting Mr Dangote at State House was a reflection of what appeared to be genuine pleasure at hosting the man Forbes Magazine says is the richest in Africa.

After all, Mr Dangote represents what President has preached all these years – that Africans can do it!

This was a meeting of giants: the doyen of Pan-Africanism and the guru of entrepreneurship.

And Mr Dangote emerged from the meeting with a very positive note: “We are not here looking to invest, we have already made up our mind to invest, so we are here and we will invest.”

The Dangote Group’s imprint on Africa’s cement industry can be found in Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Congo, Tanzania, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia.

Now he says he is coming to Zimbabwe: “Our team will be back into the country next week to execute this plan and what we have already planned to do in terms of investment, to create jobs and also to help Zimbabwe to develop their own economy.”

Like President Mugabe, the man means business.

In Nigeria, the Dangote Group cement division employs 26 000 people.

Last month, Zambia President Edgar Lungu said 7 000 jobs would be created in the Masaiti area, where a US$420 million cement manufacturing plant was opened by Mr Dangote.

The business mogul told journalists that the plant to be set up in Zimbabwe would be bigger than other industrial units established on the continent.

“Like we have been doing in all other African countries, we want to set up an integrated cement plant here that will be bigger than all plants we have in other countries,” he said.