The Most Famous
BUSINESSPEOPLE from Nigeria
This page contains a list of the greatest Nigerian Businesspeople. The pantheon dataset contains 847 Businesspeople, 1 of which were born in Nigeria. This makes Nigeria the birth place of the 60th most number of Businesspeople behind Senegal, and Armenia.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Nigerian Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous Nigerian Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Aliko Dangote (b. 1957)
With an HPI of 58.31, Aliko Dangote is the most famous Nigerian Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages on wikipedia.
Aliko Mohammad Dangote (born 10 April 1957) is a Nigerian businessman known for his key roles in Dangote Group and Dangote Refinery. In 2011, he was appointed as member of the economic management team by President Goodluck Jonathan. Globally, he is the 91st richest person and the wealthiest Black individual, with a net worth of nearly $26.3 billion as of October 2025. In 1977, Dangote founded the Dangote Group, a small company that traded commodities; importing sugar, salt, and food products. In 1981, he founded Dangote Nigeria Limited and Blue Star Services; both imports rice, and bulk materials like steel and aluminum products. Following the large sales by the company, and high demand for cement, Dangote founded Dangote Cement, which faced competition from Lafarge, a French cement manufacturing company known for importing cement to African countries during that period. As of 2023, Dangote Cement has generated about $3.7 billion in revenue, and Dangote Sugar Refinery has been ranked as one of the largest sugar producers in Nigeria and Africa. Dangote's political activities and views have made him a public figure in Africa. He is also known for his influence on the Economy of Nigeria, hence, he was awarded the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger in 2011 by Goodluck Jonathan and listed in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2014.
2. Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin (b. 1985)
With an HPI of 36.70, Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin is the 2nd most famous Nigerian Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin (born Abisoye Abosede Ajayi, 19 May 1985) is a social impact entrepreneur and human development expert. She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pearls Africa Youth Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on educating young girls and women in underserved communities through providing access to technology proficiency and mentoring for the overarching purpose of economic independence. In the year 2018, in November, Ajayi-Akinfolarin was named one of the top ten CNN Heroes. She was listed as one of BBC 100 Women in Tech in the same month. Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin is a shrewd professional with years of experience in Information Technology, Computer Programming, Data Analysis, and sustaining devotion to creating a difference.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as Nigerian businesspeople born between 1957 and 1985. Of these 2, 2 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Nigerian businesspeople include Aliko Dangote, and Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin. As of April 2024, 1 new Nigerian businesspeople have been added to Pantheon including Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin.
