Dangote at 60: 14 quotes from him that will inspire you today

As Aliko Dangote turns 60 on April 10,
2017, it is appropriate to reflect on some of
the thoughts of Africa's richest man who
has continued to inspire a generation of
young entrepreneurs.
Aliko Dangote is Nigeria's richest man
Dangote is ranked
as the 67th richest person in the world
and the richest in Africa. Although in
2017, he dropped out of the top 100
richest people in the world, yet he is still
in the top 105.
Below are some of his quotes that should
inspire you:
1. "To succeed in business, you must
build a brand and never destroy it. One
competitive advantage I had when I
ventured into manufacturing was my
brand “Dangote,” which I diligently built
in the course of my trading
commodities."
2. “You could easily tell that hard work
and perseverance go hand in hand with
patience. We often hear people say
patience is worth it, yet we don't practice
it. I did and look how well it worked out
for me.”
3 . "After my death, I want to be
remembered as Africa's greatest
industrialist."
4. “Endeavor to work as hard as possible
to attain a new aim with each day that
comes by. Don't go."
5. "Every morning when I wake up, I
make up my mind to solve as many
problems, before retiring home."
6. “Don't kill the competition.
Competition is healthy for businesses. It
keeps you the entrepreneur on your
toes."
7. "To build a successful business, you
must start small and dream big."
8. “When you have made it in life, you
must give back to those who made you.”
9. “Let me tell you this and I want to
really emphasize it...nothing is going to
help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back
their money. If you give me $5 billion
today, I will invest everything here in
Nigeria. Let us put our heads together
and work.”
10. “I enjoy myself a lot but I derive
more joy in working. I believe in hard
work and one of my business success
secrets is hard work.
It's hard to see a youth that will go to
bed by 2am and wake up by 5am. I don't
rest until I achieve something.”
11. “Manufacture, don't just trade. There
is money in manufacturing even though
it is capital intensive. To achieve a big
breakthrough, I had to start
manufacturing the same product I was
trading on; which is commodities.”
12. "Africa's risks are mainly perceived
and not real. Unfortunately for us in
Africa we are not really very good at
telling our own story. But things are
changing and people are beginning to
understand that things are going very,
very well."
13. “I built a conglomerate and emerged
the richest black man in the world in
2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It
took me 30 years to get to where I am
today.
14. "Youths of today aspire to be like me
but they want to achieve it overnight.
It’s not going to work. To build a
successful business, you must start small
and dream big. In the journey of
entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is
supreme."