Only 1 African in Bloomberg Top 50 Influential List (Plus SA Expat Elon Musk)
Africa’s richest man – Aliko Dangote from Nigeria – was honoured last night at the Bloomberg 50 annual gala dinner at New York’s iconic Gotham Hall. Dangote is included on Bloomberg’s list of 50 most influential names, who have had an impact on the world in 2017, for his outstanding commitment of over $4 billion USD […]
Africa’s richest man – Aliko Dangote from Nigeria – was honoured last night at the Bloomberg 50 annual gala dinner at New York’s iconic Gotham Hall. Dangote is included on Bloomberg’s list of 50 most influential names, who have had an impact on the world in 2017, for his outstanding commitment of over $4 billion USD to increase Nigeria’s food production capacity.
Dangote, CEO of Dangote Group, claimed another distinction at the Bloomberg 50 – he was the only African… although South African expat Elon Musk – who now lives in the USA – was also included in the list.
The electric car visionary and Dangote were honoured along with 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 blockchain craze, amongst others.
Dangote – known as the ‘quiet billionaire’ for his frugal lifestyle (relatively speaking) – was represented in New York by the CEO of his Foundation. His 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. Earlier this year he announced a $50B USD plan to invest in renewable energy.
“What sets The Bloomberg 50 apart from other lists is that each person chosen has demonstrated measurable change over the past year,” said Bloomberg Businessweek editor Megan Murphy.
Musk – CEO of Tesla and rocket company SpaceX – made the list with his July arrival of the new sedan, which starts at $35,000, transforming his Tesla upstart into a real threat to ‘normal’ car manufacturers, and making the electric car available to the more budget-conscious. And this month SpaceX plans to launch Falcon Heavy… all on the way to Musk’s “real goal” of building an even larger rocket and begin colonising Mars by 2022. The project’s code name is apparently “Big F***ing Rocket”.
Sources: APO Group – Africa Newsroom, Bloomberg.com