2015 Clinton Global Citizen Awards & African Business Awards

President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has been honored with the 2015 Clinton Global Citizen Award for leadership in private sector. Dangote Cement also won the Business of the Year Award at the African Business Awards ceremony.

Aliko Dangote is the founder, president, and CEO of Dangote Group. Founded over 30 years ago, the group’s interests include the production and distribution of cement, sugar, flour, and oil, as well as real estate development. Dangote set up the Dangote Foundation in 1993 to drive his corporate social responsibility initiatives, endowing it with $1.35 billion in 2014.

In 2015, Dangote donated $1 million to Nepal to provide relief to the victims of Nepal’s earthquakes and $153 million to boost Nigeria’s fight against Ebola in 2014. He has been named Forbes Africa Person of the Year (2014), Forbes Most Powerful Man in Africa (2013), and listed on TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World (2014). He is a member of the World Economic Forum, the Honorary International Investor Council, and the McKinsey Advisory Council.

In 2013, Dangote was appointed to the steering committee of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative. In addition, he collaborates with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight polio.

The 2015 Clinton Global Citizen Award for leadership in private sector is in recognition of Dangote’s unparalleled contributions to the development of the human society in Africa and the world over.

The CGI said it recognised the Dangote’s exemplary and selfless dedication to a better life by positively impacting the lives of people globally through numerous philanthropic initiatives implemented through the Dangote Foundation.

Bill Clinton, who presented the Clinton Global Citizen award to the daughter of the business magnate, Halima, who represented him, said Aliko had raised the bar of philanthropy by an African, which is worthy of emulation.

In the words of Halima:

“This award is coming at a time we are expanding both business and philanthropic footprints globally and we are optimistic about creating value that transcends borders, while improving the quality of lives of people globally.

I must say that we are humbled by this recognition and we are encouraged to double our efforts as we work towards promoting Africa’s economic renaissance.

While we celebrate Africa’s impressive progress, many of these gains rest on a delicate foundation of extreme poverty, insecurity, hunger, disease and poor education and we are proud of the effort of Dangote Foundation overseeing the implementation of our intervention initiatives along key areas of health, education, empowerment and humanitarian aid to victims of natural disasters to bring about sustainable growth.”