Monday, October 18, 2010

What should Dangote do?

Here's a question for you: Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian on the Forbes Wealthiest 500 list and the wealthiest African*, can do just about anything with his money.  But what would help Nigeria most?

Let's assume he can either
a) continue business as usual, invest/grow his company, etc.
b) divest about half of his stake in his companies (worth about $1.25B) and distribute it evenly among all Nigerians.  Pretend there is no corruption/skimming in the distribution.  Each Nigerian would get about $8.33, and Dangote would still be worth >$1B.

If Dangote decided his aim was to help Nigerians as much as possible by doing one of the two above actions, which do you think would help average Nigerians more?

Some reading that is tangentially related to the question:
-Economist article on how international aid is not shifting to match where poverty is
-WSJ article on the philosophy of the world's richest man
-ABC news that has some good quotes pertaining to Africa
-An Economist article on progress toward the Millennium Development Goals

Of course, there is a middle ground that is growing: social entrepreneurship.  I'll give a plug for Tegu, one such company.

*Why the asterisk?  Dangote is the wealthiest African who can show all his money.  It is accepted wisdom that former rulers embezzled billions.  By one count, $400B in oil money has been embezzled since Nigerian independence in 1960.  Today on the radio there was a news item about a former state governor who embezzled $292 million during his time in office.  It is widely assumed that Ibrahim Babangida, a former president (usually called "IBB") who is running to be president again in 2011, stole much of the $12B that disappeared during his time in office.  It would be unbelievable fraud anywhere, but is particularly egregious against the backdrop of average Nigerian life.

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