By Matthew Don
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has lauded one of the world’s richest man and philanthropist, Bill Gates, for influencing his life in a positive way.
Dangote said he will not forget the impact his meeting Gates has on him.
Dangote spoke on on Wednesday as a discussant at the 2019 Goalkeepers’ event hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in New York, United States, on the margin of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly meeting.
He said: “When I started my foundation in 1994, I never realised we had this massive challenge in the health sector,” Dangote said.
“At that time I didn’t have the opportunity of meeting Bill but meeting Bill changed me into a different person. This is somebody that has nothing to do with us in Africa or Nigeria but he is putting his money and his soul into everything.”
Dangote continued: “Really, it was mind-boggling when we had this agreement to collaborate with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and that really opened my eyes to realise that there are a lot of challenges in health.
“He is very committed to helping humanity and that really surprises me a lot and I realised that he is a simple person and I never knew Bill would be this simple. He is a very soft-spoken guy and kind-hearted.”
Dangote said he hopes to give out a chunk of his $9.2 billion wealth like Gates sometime in the future.
His words: “It is very difficult to find people like Bill in this world. Bill, we are very grateful and I can assure you that with my association with Bill, my only prayer is that in the next few years, I will try and give my chunk of wealth to charity.”
Responding, Gates simply thanked Dangote for linking him with governors in the north.
He said without Dangote he would not have been able to connect with Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto and five other northern governors.