THUR NOV 13 2025-theGBJournal| Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, President/CE of Dangote Industries Limited, struck a $1 billion landmark ”exploratory deal” with Zimbabwe on Wednesday that could reshape Southern Africa’s industrial landscape.
The global agreement with Zimbabwe entails doing various investments in various sectors, some of which are in cement, some in power generation, and some in pipeline to carry petroleum products.
Analysts say the deal underscores growing investor confidence in Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s economic reform agenda, and could catalyse industrialization, energy integration and job creation cross-border.
Aliko Dangote said yesterday that ”the broader investment is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even more than a billion .. but really it will be over a billion because of the pipeline.”
The deal will also see the Dangote Cement play major role in the region’s cement market, a market Dangote has been eying since his first visit to Zimbabwe in 2015 (and later in 2028).
The investment in power generation and mining is seen as a huge boost for the Zimbabwe and the region’s energy security drive and supply chain reliance.
Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery owned by billionaire is currently constructing a major storage tank farm in Namibia to hold at least 1.6 million barrels of petrol and diesel for distribution across southern Africa.
This will entail the construction of a 2,000 km-long pipeline from Namibia’s Walvis Bay, through Botswana, to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city.
When completed, it is expected to supply fuel to Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, with plans also to serve southern Democratic Republic of Congo, cutting Southern Africa’s dependence on fuel imports from Europe and Asia.
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