DANGOTE’S TEN COMMANDMENTS ON

MONEY by Peter Anosike

Critical Analysis!
One of the world’s richest business men in this book made available lessons on how to make money
that are pretty real, relevant and time tested. He reveals the secrets of starting small, dreaming big
and sweeping through the business terrain making huge mark and profits. As documented by Peter
Anosike, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is a die-hard workaholic, who believes so much in Nigeria, the great
inherent opportunities in the country and future economic prospects that abound for the youths of
the country.

Here are his 10 Commandments on Money:

1. GO INTO BUSINESS FOR WHICH YOU HAVE A PASSION

It is passion that brings about staying power. It is passion that brings about zeal. It is passion that will
make you want to go the extra mile to succeed. Don’t try to run into a business that you don’t have
passion on it. What is your passion? Listen to your desire and not passion from other people/
Friends/ Collage mates etc.

2. START SMALL

In going into business, your background, personality or educational attainments do not matter. What
counts is, is the business legal and is there money to be made from it? You don’t bring in your ego
when it comes to making money. If you carry your family background or your degrees on your head,
you cannot make money. For you to make money, you have to forget where you are coming from or
the certificates you have acquired.

3. SELL CHEAP, GIVE QUALITY BUT DON’T KILL THE COMPETITION

Competitors exist to your advantage because they put you on your toes and make you to work harder.
When you don’t have competition, there is the tendency to become complacent.

No matter how poor a customer is or how cheap a product is, customers want quality. They don’t
even mind if it comes for free. That is why you have to make sure that your product has quality.

4. NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WORK

Two things don’t go together, and that is pleasure and making money. While hard work is bringing in
money, pleasure is taking away. Pleasure takes away faster than hard work is bringing in. What hard
work brought in for one year, enjoyment can take away in one hour. If you want to combine the two,
you cannot make money. However, it does not mean I am against pleasure. Sowing must come before
harvesting. You cannot be sowing and harvesting at the same time. If you are working hard, there is
a point you will start enjoying and it will not affect your business.

5. ADOPT ‘CATCH ME IF YOU CAN’ AS A BUSINESS POLICY

(DON’T BE IN BUSINESS JUST TO ADD TO THE NUMBERS)

Try to be a pacesetter in any business you are engaged in. Try to be number one not just adding to
the number of people there. Be in the forefront so that others would be running after you.

That is why quality customer service is very important in business. The only way to guarantee
excellent service is to have your brand.

6. BE LAW ABIDING, DON’T FIGHT GOVERNMENT

If you want to do well in business, you have to be law abiding. You have to obey the laws of the land
in which you are operating. You must not fight the government. You must be submissive to the
government of the land. Pay government tax. Stay safe and confident on your business.

7. GO INTO MANUFACTURING

If you want to make an impact in business and also contribute to the economy of your country, you
have to go into manufacturing. Nigeria is still a developing nation. The only way it can develop is
through industrialization. Trading simply means recycling of wealth, it does not boost the economy.
There is a lot of money in manufacturing, however, it requires patience. Most Nigerians don’t like
going into manufacturing because they want where they can sow and reap at the same time but
manufacturing does not provide such an opportunity.

8. BELIEVE IN NIGERIA

What people don’t know is that no other country in the world can boast of the type of opportunities
that abound in Nigeria. The kind of money one can make in Nigeria, there is no place in the world that
one can make it. Nigeria is a great country but a lot of the citizens have been confused or made to
believe that it is a good for nothing nation.
 9. ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR NEEDS TO SATISFY

Do not go into any business in which you don’t have comparative advantage and that is after you have
explored all the available options. That human needs are insatiable is an eternal truth. As long as
there is life, there will always be needs. Man will never be satisfied. Satisfy his need, he will focus on
another. Once you are able to spot and satisfy a need in the society, you are made. But for you to be
able to do this, you have to be a student of the society. You should always be studying the society to
know what people are thinking, doing and where they want to go. Man is attracted to pleasure the
way pin is attracted to magnet. Therefore, if you are looking out for the needs to satisfy, your thought
energy should be concentrated on those things that provide pleasure, those needs that would make
life easier than what it is at present.

10. GIVE PLEASURE TO THE SOCIETY AND TAKE AWAY PAIN

Give pleasure to the society by means of corporate social responsibility, think of what you can do to
give good health to the people and then wealth to sustain the good health. Both are complementary.
You cannot give one and leave out the other. You must use wealth to sustain health. However, in
trying to give back to the society, make sure that you don’t donate money as experience has showed
that such money doesn’t go round and is not used for the purpose for which it is given. Put your
money in projects like schools, hospitals, water, electricity and the rest so that they would be a
monument for everybody in the community to see. With that, any time somebody stands up to say
something negative about you, the rest of the community would in one accord shout him down
because there is a physical evidence to show that you mean a lot to them. That is why it is better to
execute projects for the benefit of the whole community than walking into the council of chiefs
meeting to donate money.

The 130 page book contains some other intrinsic nuggets by him:

1. You cannot be rich by working for somebody and you cannot be rich without having people
working for you. If you want to be rich, start something, that is, be your own boss and make
use of people.

2. It is not so much the lack of money that is holding people back from going into private
business but lack of self-confidence or what is commonly referred to as fear.

3. Time is far more important than money. Money can create money, money cannot create time.
Therefore, anytime you are faced with the option of money and time, make sure you choose
time.

4. The wise men who designed the school curriculum did not consider money-making a civilized
thing. They felt that it is only uncivilized people that take interest in material acquisition.
5. As a businessman, you should not be complacent even when you are at the top. You should
always be looking out for more opportunities, because as a market leader, you should always
be one step ahead of your competitors. A market leader does not carry his competitors along
at all; rather, the competitors should always be looking up to him. He sets the pace and
competitors follow with anger, envy, displeasure, jealousy and other negative emotions you
can think about. In the market environment, the market leader is the person others want to
kill in order to occupy his position. That means the market leader is always in danger of
slipping from his position. To avoid that, he must always be alert to outwit his competitors in
every possible area-from pricing to product quality, promotion and distribution.

6. Wealth does not reside in any family. The richest men 30 years ago, their children are not the
richest today and the richest today; their children may not be the richest in 30 years to come.
All that is required is hard work, focus and a bit of luck.

7. If the people that came up with the school curriculum meant well for the students, they would
have stated that students could start businesses that are relevant to their various disciplines
in order to bring out fully educated people instead of the partially educated people they are
graduating to start the second leg of education, which is money making. Education without
the knowledge of application and management of money or how to attain financial
independence only leads to frustration at the end of the day.

I recommend you grab your copy and read intensively

Thank you for reading!