Dangote Makes TIME’s 100 List for 2026: Africa’s Business Titan Honored Again
By: Abudu Olalekan
Well, well, well. Africa’s richest man just got some serious recognition.
Aliko Dangote, the chairman of the Dangote Group, has landed a spot on TIME Magazine’s 2026 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. And here’s the kicker — he’s the only Nigerian on that list. Pretty impressive, right?
TIME dropped the list on Wednesday, and it celebrates global heavyweights shaping business, politics, technology, culture, and religion. This is actually Dangote’s second time making the cut. His first was back in 2014, when Bill Gates personally wrote his profile. This time around? Different name, same legend.
The company on this year’s list is pretty stacked: Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mark Carney, Pope Leo XIV, Sundar Pichai, Neal Mohan — you name it. Rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of global leadership.
Dangote got slotted into the “Titans and Innovators” category. And honestly, it’s hard to argue. The man’s industrial impact across Africa is massive — cement, sugar, oil refining. The Dangote Refinery alone? Game-changer for Nigeria’s industrialisation. Shows the world what Africa can do when someone steps up.
Tony Elumelu, no stranger to success himself, reacted to the news with some well-deserved praise. He called Dangote “indefatigable, resilient, and foresighted.” High words from someone who knows a thing or two about building an empire. Elumelu also highlighted how the Dangote Refinery proves Africa can handle large-scale production at world-class level.
Here’s the full list of honorees and the people who wrote their profiles:
Artistes
Luke Combs (by Ed Sheeran)
Jennie (by Gracie Abrams)
Keke Palmer (by Brian Grazer)
Noah Wyle (by LeVar Burton)
Dakota Johnson (by Taylor Swift)
Jafar Panahi (by Nazanin Boniadi)
Claire Danes (by Jesse Eisenberg)
Benicio Del Toro (by Paul Thomas Anderson)
Jonathan Groff (by Sutton Foster)
Ranbir Kapoor (by Ayushmann Khurrana)
Tayari Jones (by Imani Perry)
Noah Kahan (by Marcus Mumford)
Anderson Paak (by Natasha Lyonne)
Rhea Seehorn (by Britt Lower)
Coco Jones (by Jaylen Barron)
Freida McFadden (by E.L. James)
Titans
Zoe Saldaña (by James Cameron)
Ben Stiller (by Bob Odenkirk)
Aliko Dangote (by Tony Elumelu)
Scottie Scheffler (by Tony Romo)
Anok Yai (by Chanel Iman)
Ralph Lauren (by Oprah Winfrey)
Lynsey Addario (by Katie Couric)
Susan Dell and Michael Dell (by Ray Dalio)
Sundar Pichai (by Andrew Ng)
David Ellison (by Jerry Bruckheimer)
Precious Matsoso and Anne-Claire Amprou (by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala)
Lip-Bu Tan (by Harry Booth)
Innovators
Nikki Glaser (by Chris Rock)
Hilary Knight (by Malala Yousafzai)
Vikas Khanna (by Eric Ripert)
Lando Norris (by Paris Hilton)
Mashama Bailey (by Kamala Harris)
Matthieu Blazy (by Margaret Qualley)
Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei (by Billy Perrigo)
Noah Lyles (by Willy Chavarria)
Yiyun Li (by Salman Rushdie)
Tony Tyson (by Risa Wechsler)
Cao Fei (by Miuccia Prada)
John Furner (by Brian Niccol)
Jeremy Allaire (by Denelle Dixon)
Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari (by Kyla Mandel)
Luciano Moreira (by Scott O’Neill)
Neal Mohan (by Belinda Luscombe)
Sabrina Walter (by Anna Mutavati)
Icons
Wagner Moura (by Jeremy Strong)
Kate Hudson (by Mindy Kaling)
Alysa Liu (by Bowen Yang)
Hilary Duff (by Nicole Richie)
Alan Cumming (by Lisa Kudrow)
Sterling Brown (by Kristen Bell)
Ethan Hawke
Chloe Kim
Shirin Ebadi
Walter Hood
Victoria Beckham
Rauw Alejandro
Kica Matos
Leaders
Pope Leo XIV
Claudia Sheinbaun
Marco Rubio
Donald Trump
Mark Carney
Zohran Mamdani
Xi Jinping
Sanae Takaichi
Benjamin Netanyahu
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah
Steve Witkoff
Gavin Newsom
Gwynne Shotwell
Balendra Shah
Susie Wiles
Tarique Rahman
Mark Kelly
Heather Gerken
Dan Caine
Henna Virkkunen
Rafael Mariano Grossi
Mette Frederiksen
Jacob Frey
Fatih Biro
Pioneers
Dolores Huerta
Reid Wiseman
Josh D’Amaro
Mamadou Amadou Ly
Nancy Silverton
MrBeast
Mariangela Hungria
C Wei
Lauren Hersh
Rachel Foster
Shannon Minter
Zabib Musa Loro
Sarah Friar
Kiran Musunuru
Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas
Dangote continues to put Nigeria and Africa on the global map. This recognition? Well deserved.
