Aliko Dangote has confirmed plans to take Dangote Fertiliser public through an initial public offering in 2028, positioning the asset to become the largest fertilizer enterprise globally while scaling production across the African continent.
The billionaire industrialist announced the upcoming 2028 listing during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum in New York, detailing a broader strategy to introduce external investors into his industrial empire. According to Dangote, the group has historically operated its ventures independently without external partners, making the upcoming public offerings a deliberate shift in ownership structure.
“We will IPO it. It’s going to be the biggest fertiliser company on earth,” Dangote said when asked about the venture, confirming the 2028 timeline for the public debut.
### Production Expansion and Continental Scale
Dangote Fertiliser currently operates a $2.5 billion production facility situated in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, boasting an annual urea manufacturing capacity of roughly three million tonnes. Under the newly detailed growth strategy, the conglomerate aims to quadruple this output, targeting an annual urea production capacity of 12 million tonnes by 2028 through Nigerian operations and a planned facility in Ethiopia, as reported by BusinessDay.
Beyond urea, the group is developing phosphate and potash mines alongside infrastructure to produce 2.2 million tonnes of diammonium phosphate. Company projections indicate that the massive scale-up will allow the business to fulfill more than 40 percent of total fertilizer demand across Africa.
Dangote pointed to supply chain vulnerabilities exposed during the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a primary catalyst for the aggressive domestic production push. He recalled how African Union representatives were dispatched to petition European leaders for supplies when foreign imports dwindled at the onset of the crisis.
“I said in four years, Africa will not go and beg anybody for fertilizer,” Dangote stated, emphasizing a corporate philosophy centered on domestic raw material processing rather than exporting unrefined commodities and importing finished goods. He noted that shipping raw materials abroad effectively exports local jobs and imports poverty.
### Capital Markets and Retail Participation
The 2028 fertilizer listing follows a wider push by Dangote Industries Limited to broaden public ownership across its major operating units. The strategy mirrors the ongoing public share offer for the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which aims to attract 10 million shareholders and foster capital market democratization across Africa.
The refinery’s public share offering has drawn intense retail interest since launching. The high volume of traffic temporarily overwhelmed banking infrastructure and digital systems during the early stages of the process, though systems have since stabilized. To broaden regional participation, the group has collaborated with financial institutions in Botswana, Kenya, and South Africa.
Reflecting on the viral wave of social media memes and jokes by new retail shareholders styling themselves as co-owners and board members, Dangote remarked during the interview, “You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting.”
### Broad Investment Portfolio
The fertilizer and refinery offerings form part of a massive $46 billion to $50 billion capital expenditure program spanning refining, petrochemicals, power, and industrial sectors across the continent.
As the group advances its mining developments and manufacturing footprint ahead of the 2028 schedule, the scheduled public listing will mark another major milestone in opening the conglomerate’s heavy industrial assets to outside investors.
