Aliko Dangote was honored Wednesday night at the Bloomberg 50 annual gala dinner at New York’s Gotham Hall.
A photo of the Africa’s foremost industrialist was displayed on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square, New York, after he was selected as the only African on the Bloomberg 50 list of this year’s most influential people.
The NASDAQ Tower is considered the most visible LED video display in Times Square and is one of the most valuable advertising spaces in the world. It’s the largest continuous sign in Times Square. It has close to 9,000 square feet of display space — about a quarter of an acre.
The African Press Organisation (APO) reports that Bloomberg’s list of 50 most influential names, who have had an impact on the world this year included, Dangote, Africa’s richest person, for his outstanding commitment of over $4B USD to increase Nigeria’s food production capacity.
Represented in New York by the CEO of Dangote Foundation, Ms. Zouera Youssoufou, at the event the Africa’s richest man was joined by electric car visionary Elon Musk; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon; Beatrice Fihn, anti-nuclear weapons advocate and Nobel Peace Laureate; Amazon’s Jeff Bezos; Robert Mueller, special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s potential collusion with Russia; and Vitalik Buterin, whose invention of the cryptocurrency Ethereum is revolutionizing the new block chain craze.
Dangote was the only African that was honoured in the 2017 the Bloomberg 50 award
According to the organizers of the award, what sets the Bloomberg 50 apart from other lists is that each person chosen has demonstrated measurable change over the year of award.
Dangote’s contribution to the world this year revolves around his dynamic attention to lessen food imports into his own country and Africa’s largest nation, Nigeria, by focusing on domestic production of sugar and dairy, with 500 million liters of Nigerian milk to be produced by 2019.
It would be recalled that earlier this year, the foremost African industrialist had announced a $50B USD plan to invest in renewable energy.
Commenting on the Bloomberg 50 award, Businessweek editor, Megan Murphy, said that “what sets The Bloomberg 50 apart from other lists is that each person chosen has demonstrated measurable change over the past year.”
