--- title: TIME100 Philanthropy: Aliko Dangote description: Find out why Aliko Dangote is on the TIME100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy 2025 list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286071/aliko-dangote/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-05-20T11:29:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T02:29:25.311Z og:title: TIME100 Philanthropy: Aliko Dangote og:description: Find out why Aliko Dangote is on the TIME100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy 2025 list. og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286071/aliko-dangote/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a2c05b82f4001b6/6998c6c41f67098b28f56661/T100PHIL-Titans-Aliko-Dangote.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME100 Philanthropy: Aliko Dangote og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME100 Philanthropy: Aliko Dangote twitter:description: Find out why Aliko Dangote is on the TIME100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy 2025 list. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a2c05b82f4001b6/6998c6c41f67098b28f56661/T100PHIL-Titans-Aliko-Dangote.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- May 20, 2025 # Aliko Dangote Giving back to Africa by [Penelope Wang](https://time.com/author/penelope-wang/) ## Penelope Wang  Victor J. Blue—Bloomberg/Getty Images Business magnate Aliko Dangote, founder, president and CEO of the Dangote Group, built a net worth of $23.9 billion through cement, agriculture, and oil refining operations in Nigeria. His Aliko Dangote Foundation, which he endowed with $1.25 billion in 2014, aims to give back to the continent that facilitated his success, spending an average of $35 million a year on programs across Africa. “Health, education, economic empowerment, disaster relief, and food—these are the five main things that any African nation needs,” says Dangote. The foundation, for example, is in the middle of a $100 millionmulti-year program to treat children with severe malnutrition. This year, it is also repeating an initiative launched in 2024 to distribute more than one million bags of rice throughout Nigeria. An earlier vaccine initiative, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others, resulted in the World Health Organization announcing in 2015 that polio is no longer endemic in the country, Africa’s most populous. Education is a priority too. Dangote recently announced a $10 million donation to the Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology in Nigeria’s Kano state.The foundation is also broadening local efforts this year, including providing vocational training and constructing school complexes throughout the country, in addition to annual fellowships offered through the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders program. “We need to create the next generation of African leaders,” Dangote says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286071/aliko-dangote/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286071/aliko-dangote/"},"headline":"Aliko Dangote","datePublished":"2025-05-20T11:29:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T02:29:25.311Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286071/aliko-dangote/","keywords":["list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a2c05b82f4001b6/6998c6c41f67098b28f56661/T100PHIL-Titans-Aliko-Dangote.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Penelope Wang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/penelope-wang/"}],"creator":"Penelope Wang","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a2c05b82f4001b6/6998c6c41f67098b28f56661/T100PHIL-Titans-Aliko-Dangote.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286071/aliko-dangote/","name":"Aliko Dangote"}}]}] ```