Forbes: Dangote, Putin, Trump, Merkel most powerful persons in the world

Foremost entrepreneur and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, was at the weekend named along other world leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, American President-elect, Donald Trump and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel as the most powerful persons in the world.
These personalities were ranked along with 70 others as the most powerful people with Dangote ranked as the second most powerful in the African continent.
The Nigerian business mogul has constantly featured in the list since 2013 when he was listed as the only black African so rated by the popular Forbes Magazine in the list of 100 most powerful persons.
Listed as number 71 most powerful last year ahead of the American President-elect, Dangote, Africa’s richest man moved up the ladder of influential people as he was named as the 68th most powerful in the world weekend, coming only after the Egyptian President, Abdel el-Sisi, who was adjudged the most powerful in Africa and 44th in the world.
The famed American business magazine, Forbes in the latest edition of its 74 World Most Powerful People ranking list released at the weekend showed that the 64 year old Russian President, Vladimir Putin is the most powerful in the world, ahead of Mr. Donald Trump who is second on the list.  
While the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is ranked the third most powerful person in the World, out-going American President, Barack Obama placed 48th on the list.
The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis is the fifth most powerful person while the world Richest, Bill Gates comes seventh. Chinese President Xi Jinping comes before the Pope in number four while the Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg is the number 10 most powerful person in the world.
The Forbes reports that there are nearly 7.4 billion people on planet earth but the listed 74 men and women make the world turn.
The magazine is well known for its lists and rankings, including its lists of the richest Americans (the Forbes 400) and rankings of world’s top companies (the Forbes Global 2000). Another well-known list by the magazine is the The World’s Billionaires list.
As at 2013, Dangote was the only African listed among the most Powerful people in the world before the Egyptian President now recently featured on the list.
Dangote, the business magnate had won the ‘2016 African Business Leader Award,’ organized by the Africa-America Institute (AAI), in New York in September.
The Dangote Foundation, the most endowed Foundation in Africa established by him also won the ‘2016 African Philanthropy of the Year Award,’ at the All Africa Business Leaders Award (AABLA), put together by CNBC Africa, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2016.
The magazine is well known for its lists and rankings, including its lists of the richest Americans (the Forbes 400) and rankings of world’s top companies (the Forbes Global 2000). Another well-known list by the magazine is the The World’s Billionaires list.
As at 2013, Dangote was the only African listed among the most Powerful people in the world before the Egyptian President now recently featured on the list.
Dangote, the business magnate had won the ‘2016 African Business Leader Award,’ organized by the Africa-America Institute (AAI), in New York in September.
The Dangote Foundation, a leading Foundation in Africa established by him also won the ‘2016 African Philanthropy of the Year Award,’ at the All Africa Business Leaders Award (AABLA), put together by CNBC Africa, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2016.
it would be recalled that last month, Dangote was named among the 50 world most influential personalities by Bloomberg, the renowned United States-based news media with bias for business and financial news reporting.
The group of personalities chosen by the Bloomberg Market consisted of CEOs, world leaders as well as religious leaders. As expected, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Pope Francis made the list with Dangote at number 41 on the list.
According to Bloomberg, those on the list “build companies and assemble fortunes. They run banks, or hope to disrupt them. They shape economies and spread ideas. They manage money and wield the clout that goes with the billions of dollars they invest.”
The Bloomberg said of him: “Aliko Dangote, Founder, Dangote Group, Africa’s most successful businessman, built his fortune in sugar, textiles, and cement in his native Nigeria, where today, he is a political as well as a financial power broker. He is expanding in other countries and may list his cement company in London Stock Market.”
A piece written by Paul Wallace, a reporter with the media outfit, said: “Dangote is fetes like royalty. He has businesses ranging from cement to sugar to energy in a dozen sub-Saharan countries. He’s a fixture at elite gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
No African has ridden the continent’s halting march out of poverty toward potential prosperity as spectacularly as its richest person, the Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote.
Also, another list compiled by business news network CNBC, which highlights those who, have disrupted industries, sparked change and exercised an influence far beyond their own companies, listed Dangote among 24 others.
“As CNBC embarks on its second quarter-century, it faces a world completely altered from when it started. The 25 men and women listed [here], from different parts of the world and across different industries, have, for better or worse, been the rebels, icons and leaders in the vanguard of that change,” it said.
“Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, built his fortune in two distinct phases, riding the changes that led to Nigeria becoming the continent’s largest economy,” CNBC said.
“Expanding his empire from his native country to West Africa, and then across sub-Saharan Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa, Dangote showed that it was possible to create wealth in the region by means other than tapping the continent’s abundant natural resources.”
The business news network added that Dangote’s proposed building of an oil refinery is typical of his vision and will allow him to move into producing fertiliser and polypropylene as well.
“Dangote’s model was straightforward from the get-go: to dominate sectors protected from new entrants, and to use scale and his trucking and distribution system to drive prices down to levels that let him crush domestic rivals. He has pursued success with single-minded focus, and has many critics,” said CNBC.