Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, founder and chair of Dangote Group, has been announced in the list of world’s most powerful people in 2016 by Forbes magazine.
59 years old Dangote who emerged 71st world’s most powerful person in 2015, emerged 68th world’s most powerful person in the recent ranking alongside Russian President, Vladimir Putin; United States (US) President-elect, Donald Trump; German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and 71 other world’s most powerful people who made the list.
To compile the list, Forbes said they considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions: power over lots of people, financial resources controlled by each person, powerful in multiple spheres and active use of power.
Forbes said, “To calculate the final rankings, a panel of Forbes editors ranked all of our candidates in each of these four dimensions of power, and those individual rankings were averaged into a composite score,” adding that this year’s list, comprised of 74 world shakers and movers, “comes at a time of rapid and profound change, and represents our best guess about who will matter in the year to come”.
In 2015 Dangote Cement launched new plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania. The company produces more than 30 million metric tons annually, and plans to double capacity by 2018.
Dangote, whose net worth is towering more than $12 billion as of December 15, 2016 according to Forbes, owns about 90% of publicly-traded Dangote Cement through a holding company; this percentage exceeds the 80% ownership ceiling set by the Nigerian Stock Exchange. A spokesman for Dangote told Forbes that the company has until October 2016 to lower Aliko Dangote’s stake and plans to do so by then.
Other companies in the Dangote Group, which is active in 15 African countries, include publicly-traded salt, sugar and flour manufacturing companies.
Vladimir Putin is emerging the world’s most powerful person for the fourth consecutive year, with the German Chancellor clinching number one spot for world’s most powerful woman and world’s third most powerful person.
“Russia’s president has exerted his country’s influence in nearly every corner of the globe,” the US business magazine wrote, adding that “From the motherland to Syria to the US presidential elections, Putin continues to get what he wants”.
“In second place, President-elect Donald Trump has a seeming immunity to scandal, both houses of Congress on his side, and a personal net worth in the billions.
“And the third most powerful person in the world also happens to be the most powerful woman, Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany and the backbone of the European Union,” Forbes announced.
Announced Time magazine Person of the Year recently, Trump, who was elected US president last month, was listed 72nd in Forbes’ 2015 power rankings.
Forbes said there are new names on the list this year, including Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (#13); Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber (#64); Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company (#67); Mike Pence, Vice President-Elect of the United States (#69), Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines (#70); and Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands (#72).
Forbes said two former members also return to the list this year: Antonio Guterres, incoming Secretary-General of the United Nations (#36, last appearance in 2009); and Recep Erdogan, President of Turkey (#56, last appearance in 2011).
Outgoing US President, Barack Obama, who placed second in 2015, plummeted to 48th place this year as he waits out the final weeks of his presidency.
Fourth place went to China’s President, Xi Jinping, while the fifth spot on the list went to Pope Francis.
Forbes said, its list of world’s most powerful people is not meant to be the final word but the beginning of a conversation
“Any ranking of the world’s most powerful people is going to be subjective, so we don’t pretend ours is definitive,” Forbes said.
“So tell us what you think: Is the CEO of Facebook really more powerful than the CEO of Apple? Is the Prime Minister of Japan more powerful than the Prime Minister of Canada? Who did we miss? What did we get wrong? Join the conversation by commenting below,” Forbes demanded.