Dangote the first African to amass a USD20 billion fortune

Nairobi — Aliko Dangote is a man of his word. He lives in a world where 10 minutes is 10 minutes and a promise is a debt. It's no wonder then that Forbes magazine has ranked him as the richest man in Africa, not for one but for three years running, at an estimated Sh1.7 trillion. But despite his being

, far be it for him to value your time any less than he values his: "I didn't want to keep you waiting," he told Capital FM News exactly 10 minutes after he'd said, "I'll be with you in 10 minutes." He even put aside his visa application process in order to share with Capital FM News aficionados the secrets to his success and his plans to share his good fortune with Kenya. But actions are louder than words and Dangote perhaps unwittingly shared his first words of wisdom when he challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to issue five to 10 year visas to investors and elicited immediate action. "I'm directing our Cabinet Secretary for the interior to make it possible for our investors to get five and 10 year visas," President Kenyatta directed. Less than an hour later, Dangote was receiving a five year visa to Kenya, "I could have gotten the 10 year visa but I'd probably never stay that long with a passport anyway." The practical man has amassed his fortune through various business interests across the continent, mostly dealing in cement, and he plans to extend those interests to Kenya. "I've been accused of going to Tanzania, Zambia, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia but not Kenya but now that Kenya is home, we're going to invest USD400 million in the Kitui region for cement." As a major shareholder of the Nigerian bank Zenith, the mogul also plans to cut himself a slice of the Kenyan banking pie by setting up office in the country. "I don't want to call names but if you call XY from America or from somewhere, they will not understand what you're talking about and they'll end up asking you for so many things including your grandmother's certificate of birth," he teased.