Africa’s richest man, Aliko Ɗangote, plans to donate one-third of his fortune to charitable causes as part of his succession plan, according to his daughter, Halima Ɗangote.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Halima, who serves as a trustee of the Aliko Ɗangote Foundation, revealed that the billionaire has already secured his family’s approval to dedicate 33 percent of his estate to philanthropy.
With Ɗangote’s net worth currently estimated at $35.1 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the planned donation would be worth about $11.7 billion.
Halima explained that philanthropy has always been central to her father’s legacy. “He sort of put all the structure in place whereby we focus a lot on health and education. He actually donated 25 percent to the foundation. If you look at it, it is what we call in Shari’ah Code in Islam; it means he has donated 33 percent of his whole inheritance to his Foundation”, she said.
She added that the arrangement was designed to ensure the Foundation’s work continues for generations. “That is how important it is to him because philanthropy needs to be in existence generation after generation”.
According to her, Ɗangote personally asked his daughters and mother to endorse the Will. “He asked myself, my two sisters and his mother to sign under that Will that he is able to give that 33 percent to humanity”.
