Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote will take his fertiliser company public in 2028

Aliko Dangote said his fertiliser business will go public in 2028, making it the next part of his group to sell shares after the refinery.

"We will IPO it. It's going to be the biggest fertiliser company on earth," he said in an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum. Asked when the listing would happen, he said it would be 2028.

Dangote Fertiliser runs a $2.5 billion plant at Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos that can produce about three million tonnes of urea a year. The group plans to raise that to about 12 million tonnes by 2028 by expanding in Nigeria and building a proposed plant in Ethiopia, which would quadruple its capacity in the year it intends to list.

Dangote said the group has historically built everything on its own, without partners, and is now looking for large numbers of people to become its partners instead.

The refinery is the first test of that. Its share sale, marketed as the people's IPO, is offering 4.1 billion shares at 525 naira each to raise about 2.15 trillion naira, or $1.63 billion, and closes on Oct. 13. Demand from retail investors knocked investment apps offline on the first day, and new shareholders have flooded social media with jokes casting themselves as co-owners and executives of the refinery.

Dangote has noticed. "You must have seen that they've been calling me now for a board meeting," he said.

Three Dangote companies already trade in Lagos: Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar Refinery and the salt and seasoning maker NASCON. The refinery and the fertiliser business would take the total to five, and put most of what he has built within reach of ordinary investors.

Dangote is Africa's richest person, worth $51.3 billion according to Forbes.