our second interview today we have another iconic African in a totally different sphere we had arena and in the morning now we have Alico dangoty is the most famous industrialist and investor in Africa I think I don't need to introduce him Alico we are welcome thank you thank you thank you for joining us thank you I know you lose a lot of money by stupid working and coming here but you know but sometimes ok yeah sometimes you have to do also you have to yes it makes you civil society which is not what we do right Alico for the last year we have been talking on and off about this very ambitious project moving when you we all you you as the cement man the man who making cement everywhere in Africa and suddenly we hear that you became an oil man and in oil you went on to most complicating area you do not buy a block of oil from the government well there also we are not to there yes we bought two blocks from she got two blocks over there okay people think that's easy by you know we get a block and there if you discover something sell it to one of the oil majors and make your money and you go to Regine's bark or sorry London and we have many of those guys in London but you are doing something very unusual it decided to build one of the largest industrial facilities in the world actually not not only in Africa is a huge undertaking what is the capital cost of this project is doing well in that particular location was spending about you know 12 to 13 billion dollars 12 and 13 you have this number 2 or 12 13 billion dollars yes and this means you are making everything you're betting your share from this what I'm betting quite a lot is really quite a lot invertible okay that is that's wonderful but can you tell us what exactly this you are doing and why it causes for this amount of money well actually you know thank you very much more first of all like to thank you for inviting me to this motorhomes weekend is a great pleasure to be here yesterday I was actually sweating wrong there was an accident you know going to the app we're in in London Ilana okay you're longer I said you know the stands that closes at 10:00 I said that well if I'm not able to make it oh never talk to you again oh and thus thus does more expensive than my project you know why this guy's charming you know anyway thank you very much so really what you have today Moi's that we have almost about five major projects we have the refinery which is six hundred and fifty thousand barrels per day six hundred fifty thousand barrels per day we have the petrochemical which is 1.3 million tons of polypropylene polyethylene which will make us second largest exporter of petroleum products you know sub-saharan Africa after sasso then we have three million tonnes of urea and ammonia which is fertilizer and also have the gas pipeline but the three have actually moved very very fast and then we have the cement garden about two billion dollars worth of expansion in brahma-samhita and then agriculture will have you know rice a million tons which were building with integrated power because we in the localities we're going to it will process do parboiling you know the rice we eat is different than the rice here in Cote d'Ivoire we eat pub all right so you have to boil the rice and do you know the process what all this you know the most challenging one which is really very good is the refinery it has open our eyes to see the lack of infrastructure in you know Africa you know let us the exact we're going to do the frantic audience of what you are doing now so let's take it one by one bombard all right okay this big refinery and associated destinations you are making can you describe it to us what is the exactly is it is it just some pipes bringing crude and you are refining this and they're not mean you know we have to do it we have the refinery is actually only first of all let me tell you the challenges facing it's just outside Legos we took up a land which is about 2.7 million square meters 2.7 million square meters is huge you know this massive internal roads alone we have 136 drainage some of them as wide as 40 liters were 200 kilometers and it's all fence 240 kilometres of roads you have to create no.3 136 kilometers of also by drainage how about 213 also okay up drainage but the most challenging is that you know the land where it was just a jungle was a marshland much land we have to remove the this new you know all the trees clear tonight and then we pump 365 million you know cubic meters of sand which is quite a lot were to bring the two worlds biggest dredges to walk there continuously for almost about 10 11 months so we'll get the sand from the seabed from the sea yes from the sea into the land okay and you know so when we finish that we are now faced with the quality of the soul that we have our refinery know differ together the final is section alone has the highest number of piles you can find anywhere involved which is 136,000 pipes it's huge is 100 you know so everything about this refinery is very very huge you can see the regenerator which they are showing yes this one is weighing 3,000 metric tons that's a you have to generate your own power no no this is a generator it regenerates the code the code okay yes so so we have this but you know the real challenge of the project is that we have to build our own port because none of the ports in India can actually take away to think where you get this from this from Heidi Korea through Korea yeah and you managed to ship it all the way from yes actually someone of this okay the biggest and we have another smaller ones and this scene has to be rolled out and so the port the port in Algeria the heaviest equipment they can take might be maybe 150 trans or so and they were faced with the roads if you look at what this one is going to go on now we put on the design and what we have been a special road for all our equipments to be able to pass you know what is this creature which a that will the other one the other one is the heaters well no filters and heaters they are the same ensure the flow yeah the plot the altiheat stop and you know so we have a lot of various web an equipment single one which is 42 story building you showed me some pictures of massive cranes you said you have to get the some of the world biggest we there are only three of them available in the world the five thousand tons crane yes so that we have to book maybe air and help two years in advance put the only three in the old hallway and hold yeah this is this is this one crane is huge that's the cranes yes fully assembled this crane has equipments over two hundred and five containers which they have to couple you know together so these are some of the you know this accommodation or what you know no no no these are the heaters it's not real it's a bio D besides more we have over thirty kilometers of transom thirty kilometers of fence concrete fencing at the site so we have quite a lot of challenge but what this will give us at the end of the day is to give us you know six hundred and fifty thousand barrels of you know crude processing and total number of projects that will produce will be about 32 million tons so 32 million tonnes it means that nan Jia will actually be one of the largest exporters in Africa petroleum product so what we are trying to do is to do exactly that what you did in cement Nigeria is to be number two in the world after us some cement importation and now in Algeria you know is self-sufficient by zero would be the largest exporter of cement in Africa okay eight million tons of anxiety but I think this wonderful wonderful this is a courageous man to boot Olli you know he bit the bank and everything on such a massive technological projects which in Africa were not famous for always go for the soft stuff and I'm not aware of any major private investment in Africa at that scale no we responded by local people yes and that's it can you give him a hand really for what is now we come to cement I know you have a number of cement cement facilities in how many countries you are we do well 14 in total the operational 140 but in London we have about three new countries now let me ask you a question you had to do 14 factories no more than 14 factories 14 countries 13 countries you have ordered 100 job yeah like in South Africa will help too in India we have three were building the fourth one you know I mean let me give you the scale of our industries like in Nigeria we have one single location which are producing about 30 million tons which is 30 million conducting today but by end of this year to be 16 which is by far outstripping the whole foundation of South Africa she will end up producing board and South Africa in that location alone yes just one locations on the kitchen South Africans watch out you guys are around they're coming history yeah so we have the we in Zambia Tanzania Ethiopia you know Congo Brazzaville you know so most of the countries you know what they are in Cameroon you know who actually building another three million tonnes here in Ottawa yeah could just about you know from here now strategically when you start to build this Empire of cement manufacturing are you of course you looking at markets etc and and raw materials and transport but was it necessary to build in 14 countries I mean ecology you build in four or five key locations and then transport other countries or are the custom variants forcing you to both factories sometimes where is not optimum to do so well there are several reasons one of the reasons first is that it is not easy to move around it's not easy to move or not easy to move around us number number two it depends on the country whether they have limestone which is our key raw material that's what I thought okay well you know it depends like now let me give you an example because you've talked about movement within Africa yeah take for instance our factory in Nigeria which is in a place called eBay she is no far away from over Sandra's house okay yeah because of the land so actually so we have the factory there were only 28 kilometers into Republic Albany but public opening they don't allow us to take cement into you know Vinny Republic by the import from China why is one of the areas that I keep always discussing with my good friend Vera I'm sure she's somewhat and I always tell Vera Vera you know please can you make the original Marcus in Africa to work before we go to FC CFD now let me just get to the bottom of this could it be the Chinese cement cheaper than your semen no no no this whatever the market is selling for zero were willing to compete at zero so we'll just take and sell what we are having to compete at Bryce no no no it's not about competition it's about allowing us to go it so how come they allow Chinese and not allowed Nigerians honestly more it should ask the president of the country he will give you everybody from Benin here go I'm sure nobody will rather go do nobody from the beginning well okay why are you doing that [Applause] no answer please when you go home ask why why are you doing something silly like that I mean if to achieve and I understand but if you go cheaper why it was really the AFC you know CTA is a very very good you know thing to you know you know but my issue is that even even if we sign what about the implementation you know you are very good at designing programs and water by implementation scheme which is really missing you know we talked about free trade areas yes wreck was talked about borderless yes region it's not happening in reality or not well actually is not happening in reality you know because the biggest issue that you have is you know a lying movement today if we're going to take cement to say maybe tobu we're going to spend almost a week for just 210 kilometers okay it is the road or it is the customs in the customs the custom yeah you sleep in the Buddha when you get there why because you know is just corruption you have to pay in order to get your cemento well we don't pay but maybe that's what they are holding us by even people who are paid they have to spend that long period of time also it's a long process yes so I think the CFDA will help us but I think before we jump to CFG we must make sure that the regional markets are working very well right I think there is some practical issue here which people need to think about we keep celebrating in Addis Ababa signing agreements and motive and move with Remo and here we have situation where it takes a week to move Goods 280 kilometers between two neighboring and then your neighbor to say that no no don't bring your goods yeah you know I think when you look at it's a place like Republic of Benin to whoa they are the ones that would benefit more in terms of this in regional markets because if I'm from Benin or I have business in Benin it means that I don't only have market for 14 15 million people I have nine GS market which is 200 you see because the economic activities of Nigeria is mainly in the Southwest which is 60% and Republic of Benin is like part and parcel of that regional rich area I mean it is my own market lower I said it's easier for me to check my cement into Republic of Guinea then point Legos it would yeah we have been who have been talking about regional it worries Vera I mean we're talking about regional integration and all this stuff and is not happening on the ground so yeah okay we'll get you know I think this conversation is important to really show what's happening actually in the ground you know how more couple of us we have you know to you know walk in a hands to do I mean today for example what I keep saying likely you know people like Vera there they're actually you know pushing you know they have done this African Union passwords passports yes okay I have a good one yet I don't know why no they have to give you one you know definitely is better because if you now see my passports I carry six to seven passports because of visas okay and even though I'm an investor but I need visas in almost touch eight countries out of 55 also so now they are issued as with the African Union passport about few of us but in the first year of us maybe three am I should have to pay for that no I didn't pay anything come on look I have a good one I mean I I support you must have paid something for those guys we've got it in Addis Ababa at the other Kane unit so I've got one but let me tell you this the one that I have Howard South Africa fight okay and I think in Nigerian passport or South Africa passport no no carrying African Union pass for Africa Tabasco yes but this same African Union Passport you know I'm sorry you know since were all talking very ugly but I was invited by the president of Angola to come and you know see him and you know I had to go normally I don't travel much during fasting period but I went and when I went there are to be given visa on African Union passport maybe there is fees for the visa no no fees about fees that when you say application money everywhere future that was agreed yes so how to apply for visa and intentionally when I applied for the visa I also applied on African Union passport and I give them that one to sample it maybe you need to send the pictures that or Moustafa key to say no I'm going to send it to Vera she did not issue the bus board said what is this I mean is that useful no I think she's in a tortilla and since she's she she's where she is dragging all of us to champion this CFG so he needs to once what are these hanging issues then we'll all go out to the you know Nigeria was sent to move I'll tell you I feel assumption is this level thing I tell you honestly I mean I also have beside Sudanese bass where I have a British possible I cannot use to this possible - in a way for obvious reasons so I travel with British passports I go everywhere I get my visa in South Africa if you go to any of us I say hungry I don't look British but I have a rich possible but more your own is even easier very simple I've been to most of these countries where somebody who is my assistant ok who take notes in the meeting yeah you'll be allowed in and they will not allow me an African country an African country yes ok thank you very much I think that's what do you do with those guys anyway well I think we need political will to be able to implement most of these things that were signed in and you know I think Africa if you'll allow British European you know I've been Americans to get in there on visa I mean you know having visa on arrival you should allow all Africans to get in there with no visas you know and I keep telling them I was on a panel with the prime minister of you know Molly an axiom I say miss Prime Minister the people who are causing trouble in the other part of your country did they come through the airports no no those guys they don't need a visa you know it's better you go in constant touch with that tax five kilometres from the airport with a chance and you come into these cities with no you know yes I does the you know one thing before I need to talk a little bit about the issue of policy but before we continue there this is one thing you mentioned about agriculture yeah now I always want to know what exactly dude about agriculture I look at the culture as also the one activity which can create a lot of jobs frankly mining does not create jobs you told me that you employ up to 70,000 people to build that refinery I think there is a port need to be built and this bar is so many interesting things you're brave but these are not operational employment they should be employed during the construction and construction but when you apply a develop a lot of skills yes but when you operate you'll be only a couple of thousand or three thousand is something like that yes but you know the indirect employment is there also fine yeah actual generate a huge amount to much much more that's why I will trace agriculture tell me what exactly are you doing in agriculture thank you what you are doing agriculture we build in one rise you know parboiling and processing with power generation you know also attached to them and with this what we are doing is that were giving the farmers you know sis apart from seeds would implements and then you know when they finish the harvest we buy the system but they have they have a choice also so that we don't really hold them to run some they have a choice of saline to anybody who'll of our lorry gave them they see it and give a nice and the implements if they need any additional money we have a backup by our central bank to lend them money you know as if in a ball game whenever of them yes you know because in those areas it is very difficult for them to go and mortgage their houses and borrow money monopile is also yeah so they can easily borrow money under soft times somebody's not going to ask you to bring your grandmother's certificate or bath which you normally don't have okay and but those people when they finish they sell you the rice and you are committed to be competitive welcome you know because I led your money you must give it to me chief what to have agree with them either if my price is not right they should give to somebody about this you come back and pay me my me pay your debt of course yes that's what you have but you see you can imagine how many jobs were going to create how many people are going to work on both that one and the sugar in the next four years were actually creating 150,000 jobs hundred and fifty thousand yes I mean this one area where you can have the impact we are not going to create that much jobs in the refinery which is 12 billion yeah but this one is just less than 2 billion but you can see the amount of jobs and yes if you really if we really in Africa want to create jobs prosperity and also ok somebody was telling me that yes you know there's a great GDP growth here in Cote d'Ivoire but it's not trickling down just like us also in Algeria when you look at it everyone we're having 7 8 percent of GDP growth down there they hardly see any trickle through is not happy Tilda is trickling but slowly not serious not serious so the only way to have these things to trip up fast enough is through agriculture we're now and that's why we have a greater advantage I mean you look at you have a ready market which is the difficulty of a lot oh yeah continents but will have a market because the African continent imports more Goods than any other continent so what we need to do is to make sure that we transform our own goods it is very very important more let me give you an example today between Ghana and Kwadwo they actually produce two-thirds of the world's cocoa yeah ok but the total amount of this expose that we have is about six billion dollars okay but the chocolate market is hundred billion yes so you can see that you know they are just working working for other people yeah the Brewers how to create African brands we need to issue Boozer and that's that's why they should actually help some of these factories here yeah but you need to create a brand in order to sell if Marks and Spencer and you know markets every brand creation more is not really that difficult the only thing that you have to be sure is that your quality is right and your pricing is right yeah once you have that nobody looks at where it is yeah yeah you know because most of the shoes you buy in Italy there are no more fractured in Italy especially in the u.s. u.s. fracturing every day says China does everything now well yeah they do all that by know right now your friend is trying to drag all the industries to go to amazing okay will not talk about the right I mean that's very tracing let us move also to a lot about agriculture I hope it resistant and that's a very important area because the broad fairies who are not really using all the lands we have we have huge amount of arable land which should not be used 60% of the world's arable land and we are not what it is exactly then even the land we are using one have the lowest productivity in the world and there is a huge upside there improve that you know productivity so this is an area we would need to look at very carefully move change that Domo before you go on to ecstasy you know the rice before in and 0 is to do only one crop per annum now we do two crops and these together want to transfer hectare now we have varieties that we imported that are given us up to 8 tonnes per hectare so once you have this you know it will help more there are my snakes and you have a lot of people to now realize that look farming is not a performance business it can actually get rich faster in farming than doing something yes I mean you look at it you know I mean today we also have fertilizer which used import a lot ok this fertilizer we have laboratories that will go and test your soil and give you a kind of fertilizer that you need whereas right now as a today people use the same fertilizer Mays for rice for sugar you know so they don't actually differentiate including the type of soil that you have so this is the moisture of best best practice why don't you Bruce a case study or something useful you've been through that let us other African country appreciate how to do it because we need to replicate what you have done there in other countries as well or you want to do it all by yourself no you really let people know here is how to do it you know that is one of the reasons why when you look at it you know I do travel you know very often to various areas you know where I can give it talk you know sometimes in certain and you know sometimes outside just tell them that hey look all this is a myth nothing is impossible we can really make it happen we as Africans who can actually you know the issue is that first of all we have to understand that the I mean in all the countries in the world whether it's South Korea Japan u.s. those economies were actually built up by their own indigence so if we don't lead it I'm making fracture with the basis of the Virata when in these countries permaculture was the basis of development of many many of these countries is not backward as people think no it's about but because of time let us move on a little bit different subject to talk about you as a person and well you made a lot of money now but I guess it doesn't matter now because for you these numbers in the banks you know you look at your last statement and you know how many 0 0 is not zero there but I really will look at that at all okay but when you made your first million or five million but how we deal with that when you when you first your you made your first million or five million or you know the way it is is that when you first start business you is to make your first million you know okay fine I did that I know after you know Yahoo so I realized that look I have much more than 12 13 billion you know and I say okay fine all these numbers are just reaching numbers yeah you know and one day I went to a bank yeah you know at that time there were no restrictions of this and I wrote a check and cash ten million dollars and I took it home for yourself for myself yes you cash ten million dollars in the bank yes yes and took it and put it in the boot of my vehicle yeah and I went home and I open it and I look at ten minutes I walk in fine now I believe I have money [Applause] [Music] I know so you put this in the bed and I slept all night on top of it you may love it your money goes oh it was in the boot of my car but I borscht and I went there by myself I drove myself to the bank I catch the money and you know I put it in my room and I look at the money and I took it back to the bank the next day can I ask you how much money happened you run it today today yeah how much money have in your pocket you'll be very very surprised I don't even have it not to me a dollar nothing you have no money on you nothing that's money for you guys you don't carry money see that's that's that's that's really interesting [Laughter] no that's it I know you also started the foundation yes well what is the focus of your foundation I think the focus of our foundation is health education empowerment and you know disaster relief so we do quite a lot two years ago we did an endowment of 1.25 billion dollars 1.25 billion dollars billion yeah dollars yes the baton endowment of the foundation you have one trillion dollars yes why another foundation also is not a new foundation is very old yes I started the foundation in 1993 who manages this foundation is a lady called zero someone yeah she's doing a great job yeah sir you're gonna have a few people asking for grants with a runaway now yeah okay now let me ask us another personal question if you don't mind you must be the most eligible bachelor in Nigeria Omo you've searched again I mean you you are nice you're handsome you are slim and you're richest man in Nigeria you are always courteous and I imagine there's a whole huge queue of young women outside your office every morning oh yeah what's gonna happen I mean yo yo well boy of course this it is natural yeah but you know I will now tell all those ladies to go on apply through my brother who is my consultant and he will help me on weight which and I should marry who's that consultant that's movie brahim oh that's [Music] [Applause] [Music] you know you know because I was selling some we're gonna receive hundred thousand records for three years from now even somebody that I have a want one would move he said I wanna see no in about three hours oh my god he said that you know more is actually hotter than hot talk as I really say yes you know it's better you go out and face I took that facing more I said no don't worry he is my brother you be sort of me I don't very we have been kind to him today we do hotel no thank you very much Alec oh please give me an [Applause] [Music] you are running the artists I'm gonna allow two questions but no more have we had a person I thought I was very hard good yes I have somebody in the family very hard my daughter is here honey my character that's why she's hiding she doesn't want people to see Adeem eyes she's like a loose woman and yes building have your own space now yes wonderful she was results in dinner last night actually you're late I'm gonna allow only two questions because we run out of time but I really need interesting serious questions not application for marriage or okay somebody over there yes go ahead good afternoon Altima and Baba Alico my name is Villani Mulaney I'm a South African entrepreneur from Cape Town focusing in technology and transportation now I believe that Alico studies business at 21 years old if you were to anyone you're entrepreneur today what three sectors would you focus on creating a business in and what three factors would you believe will make you succeed thank you very much well thank you I think the most sectors to you know you know focus is either ICT or agriculture these are the two promising you know listen that you need to focus on by see a lot of people you know even the younger ones we need to be also very very careful because one of the biggest issues with us Africans is that we spend our projected incomes once you start doing business business starts doing well rather than for you to keep reinvesting into the business you start spending money and thinking that that profit will continue to come there are ups and downs in business so you need to be very very focused and say okay fine what do you do and how do you do those things so you don't supposed to buy a borscht car or you see because those are luxury things they also take up your time which will not make you focus on your business it's like what I mean I don't have any holiday home anywhere yeah I don't have a house anywhere but I know people who are working for me they are boughs in London but I don't interesting that's why we have to put you up every time you see oh yes one more question and that was a good question the last one try to get me a better question I cannot see if the dark this okay hi my name is Nikki Aiko I'm from Edmonton Belgium and I had a question about the continents or free trade agreement that's being shopped around I understand a couple of countries have had issues ratifying it because they were concerned about the private sector and as a key member of the private sector I would like to know are you truly concerned about the impacts of the free trade agreement on the industry in Nigeria and secondly and the infant industry protection in the agreement do you think that'll be a challenging or would that be a good cause for why Benin for example it's not allowing your product in their region I wanna answer that question but you see the let me also in front of that question let's allow no the Akagi jet is not working it's not what is true so what we say no what she said was I think about the industry right am i right yeah the issue is that if will implement it to the larger then is okey you know for example South Africa design but they said that yes it has to have eighty percent content local content if it's 80 percent local content I want you to count 20 things in the entire Africa while we we produce with 80 percent local content okay because the biggest issue that we have we have a structural problem in terms of Industry addition in Africa most of the factories that we have in Africa they are just assembly pleasurably yes okay so they don't really process local raw material to this you know like us now you look at it before in cement were important now we produce almost every single thing in Nigeria with the exception of what we don't have enough which is the you know the gypsy gypsy is only three percent which is really peanuts is nothing is very cheap it doesn't even you know it doesn't do you think that 80 percent is a high bar I think well well I think we have to really protect our region because you know I'm sorry to say this because a lot of you who are pushing for this CMT they are just weakened as some of the weaker countries to go through and push their projects to Africa you know so if we are going to attack even if it's 70 person who can start 80% the South Africa said that look it has to be 80 percent at least too high but we can even go down to 70 the biggest challenge is the implementation because today if now the Republic of Benin are not allowing me to take cement in which is 28 kilometers how can somebody from Cote d'Ivoire be able to now send their goods by Road to Nigeria it's only 1,000 kilometres by it will be very difficult because he will have problems with the Republic of Guinea allowing you to enter okay I think we need to ask that question to our friends in Cote d'Ivoire here maybe ask the British we're gonna see the president said one hour yeah well know what ask him because it will help quite a lot one we have this in between all the countries yeah where people now for example you know I mean in Kwadwo everybody wants to come now let us summarize here the message from business really is that please billion our political leaders you sign agreements about free trade among African countries please do it you know implement what you're saying you have to do it more because this is it's just like today more every day invites me food dinner and you know caller you you know you give me dinner both of us who are doing business of similarities and we are not doing any business it is only a matter of time that would believe that lugia wasting my time and I'm also wasting my time okay so four countries for us to strengthen those relationships will have to have an economic relationship chromic integration is useful that's right so the integration really is useful we shouldn't be complaining the heirs who have a lot of youth you see and we're to be very careful seen this in North Africa the time bomb that we have is this youth that they don't have jobs with this note or integration I have to end this because we are running out of time please give a hand to a brave man [Applause] you
