The proposed initial public offering (IPO) of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has received strong backing from African and international leaders, who described the planned share sale as an opportunity to broaden ownership of strategic industrial assets and deepen wealth creation across the continent.
The leaders spoke at the 2026 ADF Africa Diaspora Leadership Programme Young Global Leaders Convening in Lagos, according to a statement issued by Dangote Group on Thursday.
They said the refinery had demonstrated Africa’s ability to execute projects at global scale, while its proposed listing could enable ordinary Africans, pension funds, institutional investors and members of the diaspora to directly participate in the value generated by one of the continent’s largest industrial investments.
President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, said the central objective of the IPO was to extend the benefits of the refinery beyond its promoters by giving ordinary Africans an opportunity to become shareholders.
“I want drivers, cooks, the woman selling food on the streets of Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa to invest so they can share in this prosperity,” Dangote said during a fireside chat.
“We are doing the IPO to pass this prosperity to Africans.”
Dangote said his business philosophy was driven by the need to build enterprises capable of creating jobs, opportunities and sustainable wealth across Africa.
“I am wealthy, not rich. A wealthy man creates wealth, while a rich man makes money and keeps it for himself,” he said, adding that his commitment to industrialising Africa remained undiminished despite challenges.
He expressed optimism that the refinery could eventually become Africa’s largest company by size and profitability, citing the growth of major global companies after accessing public capital markets.
Dangote also said the wider objective of his group was to “derisk Africa” for investors by demonstrating that globally competitive businesses could be built and operated successfully on the continent.
Former United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and Co-Chair of The Africa Center, Ambassador Jendayi Frazer, said the proposed IPO could link African industrial production with capital from African investors and the diaspora.
According to her, the proposed broader ownership structure would enable pension funds, individual investors, savers and diaspora investors to acquire stakes in Africa’s industrial growth.
Frazer said the refinery had already changed Africa’s geopolitical equation, arguing that economic power depended not only on natural resources but also on a country’s capacity to produce, process, finance, transport and sell goods.
“Africa does not need the world’s permission to build,” she said, adding that the refinery demonstrated what could be achieved when African ambition was matched with capital, expertise, partnerships and disciplined execution.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, also endorsed the vision of broader African ownership, describing the refinery as evidence of the continent’s ability to deliver projects previously considered impossible.
Sanwo-Olu said the next phase of African industrial development should involve ordinary citizens, institutional investors and diaspora communities owning stakes in strategic assets.
“The next frontier of African scale is not another giant. It is a thousand ordinary owners: the teacher in Enugu, the nurse in New Jersey and the pension fund in Nairobi, each holding a piece of the strategic assets of their own continent,” he said.
The governor described the Dangote refinery as more than a conventional industrial project, noting that its development required the construction of supporting infrastructure.
“Mr Dangote did not build a refinery. He built a country around a refinery, and then he built the refinery,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He cited the construction of a jetty to receive equipment and a power plant to address electricity requirements as examples of the challenges overcome by the project.
Sanwo-Olu, however, said the ultimate test should be whether governments could create an environment where future industrial projects would face fewer obstacles.
“The true measure of this refinery is not that it stands. It is whether the next one is easier,” he said.
Group Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Dangote Industries Limited, Fatima Aliko Dangote, said Africa must move beyond the possession of natural resources and talent to building the productive capacity and institutions needed to retain more value on the continent.
She said the conversation should focus on what Africa could build, process, finance and own, stressing that economic development must ultimately translate into improved living conditions for citizens.
Afreximbank, which provided substantial financing for the refinery, described the project as its African industrialisation mission “made concrete.”
Speaking on behalf of Afreximbank President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr George Elombi, the bank’s Director, Creatives and Diaspora, Intra-African Trade and Export Development Bank, Temwa Roosevelt Gondwe, said the bank underwrote $2.5 billion of the $4 billion syndicated loan for the refinery and later provided a $1 billion working capital facility.
“Unless we produce, we cannot trade. Unless we capture value, we cannot prosper,” Gondwe said.
The convening also spotlighted the Aliko Dangote Foundation’s investment in Africa’s leadership development. The YGL Aliko Dangote Fellowship, established in partnership with the World Economic Forum, has supported more than 130 young African leaders over the past 15 years to participate in the global Young Global Leaders community.
Beneficiaries of the fellowship, including Founder and Chief Executive Officer of I Am The Code, Lady Mariéme Jamme; Chief Executive Officer of African Leadership Academy, Hatim Eltayeb; and Kenyan technologist and open-source advocate, Angela Oduor Lungati, commended the foundation for its support.
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