Experts have commended Dangote Industries Limited for its collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to sponsor a fellowship for Young Global Leaders from Africa.

The commendation came even as Borkir Gas (BOGAS), a subsidiary of the Dangote Group, commissioned its new gas filing plant yesterday at Ikeja, Lagos, in Nigeria’s South-West.

Speaking at the 2013 Career/Founders day hosted by The Bridge Leadership Foundation in Calabar, Cross River State, South-South Nigeria, experts acknowledged that Dangote Group has contributed immensely to leadership development through sponsoring young people to attend sessions of the WEF.

The Bridge Leadership Foundation (TBLF), a non-profit leadership and mentoring foundation founded by Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, is focused on building generations of young people educated to become compassionate, entrepreneurial and engaged citizens.

One of the speakers, Dr. Ola Orekunrin, Founder/CEO of Fly Doctors Nigeria, said that Dangote Group through sponsoring of young people from Africa to the WEF meetings exposes them to learn the art of leadership from leading global businessmen and statesmen. According to her, these young attendees on returning are equipped with the necessary skills to provide the right mix of leadership needed to help solve perceived loopholes and challenges in the domestic economy. Over 70 outstanding young African professionals benefitted from this project, which is one of the Group’s numerous Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitments.

She also commended Dangote Group for floating an academy where graduates of technical fields are trained to acquire requisite skills and then deployed to work in the several factories within the group.

President/CEO Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, in his goodwill message said that the Group is proud to partner with the Bridge Leadership Foundation “as we are equally committed to building generations of young global leaders who are empowered to take responsibility for their own lives and for making a difference in the world.”

Aliko Dangote, who was represented by Regional Sales Director South South, Mogbolu Chux, said: “At Dangote Group, we believe that youths are the future leaders. We believe that youths should be empowered to lead. We believe that empowered youths are great leaders! That is why we are committed to the empowerment of youths. We share the sentiment of one time American president, John F. Kennedy that “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”

He explained that as part of the Group’scommitment to ensuring that the African youth is empowered to face the challenges of an emerging global socio-economic landscape, Dangote Academy was started in 2010 to train and empower young engineering undergraduates with the

technical skills needed in the Group’s various factories.

Meanwhile, it was yet another milestone for the Dangote Group when Borkir Gas (BOGAS), one of its subsidiaries, commissioned its new gas filing plant at Ikeja. The commissioning, though low key, was not without pomp, with members of staff of BOGAS, top management members of Dansa Group as well as dealers of BOGAS witnessing the ceremony.

•Photo (L-R): Mrs, Adeola Olatunji, Group Head, Strategy and Business Development; Mrs Eyoanwan Ndiyo-Aiyetan, Group Head, HR and Admin; Alhassan Maju and Plant Supervisor, Ogunremi Gbenga Solomon explaining the process of filling cylinders . . yesterday at the commissioning of BOGAS, a subsidiary of Dangote Group, in Ikeja, Lagos.

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