This archive report was first published on 17 October 2019.
On October 17, 2019, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shared his story of how he cemented his friendship with Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, in a blog post on gatesnotes.
According to Gates, their relationship began when they met at a dinner event in New York, where they discovered they had a lot in common, including starting successful businesses in the late 1970s and choosing to start foundations aimed at improving health and education.
‘Have you ever met someone new and immediately felt like you could talk to them for hours?’ Gates asked in his blog post. ‘That happened the first time I met Aliko Dangote. A couple of years ago, he and I ended up going to the same event in New York. A mutual friend suggested that I meet him because he knew we were both super interested in global health. So we made sure to sit next to each other at dinner.’
Their friendship led to a fruitful partnership, with their foundations jointly committing Sh10 billion to fight malnutrition in Nigeria over a period of five years in 2016.
‘Nigeria is home to nearly a quarter of all people living in sub-Saharan Africa, and that population is only going to grow in the future. By solving problems in Nigeria, you can have a huge impact on all of Africa,’ Gates wrote.
He also attended the wedding of Dangote's daughter, Fatima, in 2018, where he was among the high-profile guests, including Kenyan TV presenter Jeff Koinange.
