Ever wondered how $10million in cash would look like and the feeling the sight of it spread on your bed would conjure in you, knowing that you are the owner, especially if you are just realising how wealthy you were?
Then, you must listen to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, who did just that by withdrawing that amount from the bank just to look at it and prove to himself that he was indeed rich.
At a witty encounter with his fellow billionaire, Mo Ibrahim, Dangote told an audience at the Mo Ibrahim Governance Weekend held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, how he actually wrote a cheque and withdrew the amount at a time a ceiling was not yet existing on how much an individual at a time just to have that feeling.
Dangote said in the interview: “You know, the way it is, when you start a business, your first target is to make your first million. Okay, fine, I did that. After a year or so, I realised that I had much more than 12, 13billion, and I said ‘Ok, fine, all these numbers are just written numbers.
“One day I went to a bank, and at that time, there were no restrictions, and I wrote a cheque and cashed $10m for myself. I put it in the boot of my vehicle, and I went home and I opened it and I looked at $10m and I said ‘Now I believe I have money.’
“I went there by myself, I drove myself to the bank and I cashed the money and I took it to my room and looked at the money and the next day, I took it back to the bank.”
Surprisingly, Dangote, who all the time was all smiles as he shared the experience with his host, while drawing applause from the audience, revealed that he did not have even a single dollar in his pocket during the encounter.
Asked how much he had, the business magnate, said: “You will be surprised I don’t even have a dollar. Nothing, I don’t have nothing,” to which Ibrahim retorted: “That’s money for you. When you have money, you don’t carry money.
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