Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, plans to invest as much as $1 billion in Zimbabwe to build cement and power plants as well as a fuel pipeline, despite constrained leverage metrics of his Dangote Group.
The Nigerian billionaire spoke to reporters after meeting Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Wednesday.
The tycoon is adding Zimbabwe to his list of investment destinations, which span several countries across the continent from Ethiopia to Zambia.
Dangote, who operates cement companies in 10 countries, previously expressed an interest in similar investments in Zimbabwe in 2015, including plans for his Dangote Cement Plc to build a $400 million plant with processing capacity of 1.5 million tons a year. The deal, along with others proposed at the time, failed to materialize after talks with then-President Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa has “turned the economy around,” Dangote said. “That really gave us the confidence that this is the right time for us to come and invest.”
Dangote has a net worth of $29.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Dangote funding constraints
There has been a significant jump in the Dangote group’s gross debt to N15 trillion as of September 2025, up from N6.9 trillion in 2023, which has constrained its leverage metrics within weak levels.
The growth in the debt level followed additional working capital loans drawn to support crude feedstock for the Dangote refinery and operations across subsidiaries, as well as the adverse effect of the devaluation of naira on its foreign currency denominated facilities of over 80% of total debt.
DIL may struggle to get debt financing for the Zimbabwe investments as further debt capacity may be limited by covenant restrictions and negative pledges on its existing facilities.
Nigerian Banks recently restructured a stressed syndicated loan extended to Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) to finance its 650,000 barrels a day refinery project.
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