Dangote, a Nigerian and the most richest African, attended Al-Azhar University Cairo, Egypt where he studied business studies.
Business studies generally involve theoretical, and perhaps also practical, coursework in how to manage a company, construct a business model and generally run a business. They may also involve the study of accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing and/or supply chain management.
One may probably say that Dangote would not have done so well in business as he has done if he had not gone to an Egyptian University to study business studies. But wait, there are many Nigerians who have studied the same course in Harvard University which was ranked the best University in the whole wide world. Many of them ended up as mere employees in poor firms.
Then, what were the secrets behind Dangote's success? The following are the top ten inspiring things I have learnt from Dangote:
1. Manufacture; don’t just trade
Dangote advised “Manufacture, don’t just trade. There is money in manufacturing even though it is capital intensive. To achieve a big breakthrough, I had to start manufacturing the same product I was trading on; which is commodities.”
2. Build a brand, and don’t destroy it
He also said “To succeed in business, you must build a brand and never destroy it. One competitive advantage I had when I ventured into manufacturing was my brand “Dangote,” which I diligently built in the course of my trading commodities.”
He also said “To succeed in business, you must build a brand and never destroy it. One competitive advantage I had when I ventured into manufacturing was my brand “Dangote,” which I diligently built in the course of my trading commodities.”
3. Sell cheap, give quality and don’t kill the competition
Another saying by Dangote is “Don’t kill the competition. Competition is healthy for
