Dangote Cement has appointed Halima Aliko-Dangote, the daughter of the company’s owner and founder, Aliko Dangote, as a non-executive director.
The company said the appointment took effect from February 26, 2022, according to its notice to the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
Ms Aliko-Dangote will apparently be filling the void created by the death of her uncle, Sani Dangote, the former vice president of the Dangote Group and a director in the company, who died in November 2021.
The cement maker on Monday posted a significant rise in profit in 2021, with nearly a third increase in the bottomline, boosted by an unprecedented turnover that rose to N1.4 trillion from the N1 trillion declared in 2020.
Africa’s biggest cement manufacturer upped production volume from 24.7 million to 28.5 million in the period under review to strengthen performance, according to its audited financials issued on Monday.
Ms Aliko-Dangote is the Group Executive Director (GED), Commercial Operations of Dangote Industries Limited, a diversified business conglomerate encompassing manufacturing, Cement, Sugar, Salt, Poly-products as well as Logistics, Oil & Gas and Real Estate. The combined market capitalization of Dangote Industries Limited subsidiaries is over $25 billion.
As the GED of the firm, Mrs Aliko-Danogte is responsible for leading the development and implementation of Dangote Group’s customer strategy to drive customer growth, improve customer relations, enhance the customer experience and increase long term customer value. She is also responsible for the implementation of the Group’s shared services strategy with specific oversight for the following functions: Commercial, Strategic procurement, Branding & Communications and Corporate Services.
In her previous role, she served as executive director of Dangote Flour Mills, where she led the turnaround and recent sale of the business at a higher than market price. Prior to then, she also served as Executive Director of NASCON Allied Industries Plc, a manufacturer of salt, seasonings and related consumer products.
She continues to serve as a Non-Executive Director of NASCON. Mrs Dangote is the president of the Board of The Africa Center (TAC) in New York, a centre providing a forward-looking gateway for engagement with Africa via policy developments, business and culture. She is a Board member of Endeavour Nigeria and is a member of the Women Corporate Directors (WCD).
Dangote Cement said Mrs Aliko-Dangote has over 13 years of professional experience and has held several Executive Management roles. She holds a Bachelors’ degree in International Business with a major in Marketing from American Intercontinental University, London, United Kingdom and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Webster Business School, United Kingdom.
She has attended leadership development programmes including the Program for Leadership Development (PLD) at Harvard Business School; Executive Development Program at Kellogg School of Management; Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Executives at Columbia Business School. She is a Trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation and is happily married with children.
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