Aliko Dangote family office to launch in 2027 as investment hub

The family office of Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest person, will ramp up operations in 2027 as it prepares to become an investment hub for his companies, according to his daughter Halima Dangote, who is overseeing the process after years of planning.

"By the first quarter of next year, you will start to see the presence of the family office," Halima said in a Bloomberg TV interview at her father's home in Lagos, adding that it will focus on governance, capital management and philanthropy. The goal, she said, is for the business to survive eight to 10 generations, an unusually long runway by any standard.

The Dubai-based vehicle formalises how a $20 billion-revenue industrial group manages capital and succession at the same time. It joins a small but growing set of family offices established by wealthy Nigerians to preserve wealth and manage investments, including the UK-based office of retired general Theophilus Danjuma, who made his fortune in oil and shipping, and the Tengen Family Office founded by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and his late partner Herbert Wigwe, the Access Bank builder who died in a helicopter crash in 2024 at 57.

Dangote, 69, founded the Dangote Group 45 years ago, growing a commodities trading business into a conglomerate spanning cement, sugar, salt, fertiliser, oil and gas. The family office is aligned with the group's Vision 2030 plan, which aims to strengthen governance and lift annual revenue fivefold to $100 billion.

The ramp-up follows a February internal memo elevating Dangote's three daughters to senior roles. Mariya, the eldest, heads operations at the food businesses and leads commercial strategy at the cement unit; Fatima, the youngest, runs sales at the refinery and fertiliser businesses.

While the group's operations are concentrated in Africa, the family office has broader ambitions — serving as a gateway connecting the continent with the Middle East, Asia and Europe, Halima said. It will also make Sharia-compliant investments and support the wider goal of industrialising Africa. Though she leads it, she described the effort as collective. "My sisters, my dad, the lawyers, all of us are involved," she said.