World’s Richest Black Man Aliko Dangote Plans to Give Away 33% of His Fortune

The world’s richest Black man, Aliko Dangote, intends to donate 33% of his fortune to charity as part of his succession plan, an arrangement formally agreed to by his mother and three daughters.

His daughter, Halima Dangote, who serves as a trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, revealed the plan during a conversation with Bloomberg. She framed philanthropy as central to how her father wants his legacy remembered.

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Dangote is Consolidating his Position as Africa’s Biggest Philanthropist

Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index currently puts Dangote’s net worth at $35.1 billion while Forbes places him at $30.8 billion (the first black billionaire to hit that figure). Should that figure hold steady, a third of it would come to around $10 billion to $11.6 billion, positioning this as one of the biggest philanthropic pledges ever made by a billionaire from the African continent.

Halima said her father brought her, her two sisters, and his mother together to formally agree to the arrangement, which would see him direct 33% of his wealth toward charitable causes. She tied the decision to Islamic principles governing inheritance, and described it as an extension of habits the family has practiced for years. “Giving back is part and parcel of what we do,” Halima said, noting that the family sees a direct link between their business success and their charitable work.

This is not a new direction for Dangote. The family’s foundation, founded in 1994, has already been the vehicle for extensive giving. Halima noted that it received an endowment of $1.25 billion roughly ten years ago, followed more recently by another $700 million in funding. 

Most of that money, about 70%, is spent inside Nigeria, with another 20% going toward projects elsewhere in Africa and the remainder supporting efforts further afield. Health, nutrition, and disaster relief have been recurring priorities. The foundation partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and state governments in northern Nigeria to help end wild polio, a goal achieved when Africa was declared free of wild poliovirus in 2020.

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How Dangote Compares to the Giving Pledge

The timing of this announcement lands against a backdrop of widening wealth gaps across the continent. Oxfam’s 2025 findings showed that since 2020, income for Africa’s richest one percent has climbed five times faster than income for the poorest half of the population.

Even so, the 33% figure Dangote has committed falls short of the threshold usually tied to the Giving Pledge. That is the international commitment under which wealthy signatories agree to give away the majority of what they own.

Few African billionaires have signed on to that pledge so far. Those who have include South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe and his wife, Precious; the Zimbabwean couple Strive and Tsitsi Masiyiwa; and Tanzania’s Mohammed Dewji.

Dangote’s Philanthropic Track Record

This latest commitment adds to a philanthropic track record that stretches back well over a decade. The Nigerian billionaire was named to TIME Magazine’s first-ever TIME100 Philanthropy list in March 2025, appearing in the “Titans” category as the sole Nigerian honoree alongside figures such as Michael Bloomberg, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, and Melinda French Gates. 

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TIME’s profile pointed to both his business achievements and the scale of his foundation’s annual spending, reported at more than $35 million, across programs throughout Africa. His net worth at that point stood at an estimated $23.9 billion, built primarily on his holdings in cement, agriculture, and oil refining.

His giving history goes back even further. In July 2014, the Dangote Group reported that he had donated close to $22 billion to charitable causes across Africa over the prior two years, with plans already underway to broaden the foundation’s reach across the continent.

Main Image: Aliko Dangote, founder of the Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man