The President/Chief Executive of the pan-African conglomerate, the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has finally joined the ranks of his billionaire colleagues making use of the micro-blogging service, Twitter.
Dangote, who was in June named the first African entrepreneur to lay claim to a $20bn fortune, is set to begin tweeting via @AlikoDangote.
With no tweets as at the time of filing this report at 9pm on Tuesday, Dangote had attracted over 7,000 followers as Twitter verified his account.
The richest man in Africa now joins the likes of American business magnate, Bill Gates, who tweets via @BillGates; and Warren Buffet, the fourth richest man in the world who is the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, an American multinational conglomerate holding company. Buffet tweets via @WarrenBuffet.
Dangote describes himself on his Twitter bio as a businessman who is “passionate about touching the lives of people”.
Also, he announced his presence on Google+ and asked his fans to reach out to him on the social network. He was given a rousing welcome on Twitter as he immediately broke into trending topics on the social network.
Prolific Twitter users, such as Tolu Ogunlesi and Japheth Omojuwa, tweeted messages to the business mogul to welcome him on board the Nigerian Twitter community.
“Welcoming my friend and brother (and Africa’s richest man) @AlikoDangote to Twitter. No tweets yet and he is already verified,” Ogunlesi wrote on the social network.
Chairman of the Social Media Week Lagos, which held in February 2013, Obi Asika, while welcoming Dangote to Twitter, said he was looking forward to seeing his first tweet. “Great to see @Alikodangote live on Twitter looking forward to that first tweet,” he tweeted.
Also financial service provider, Stanbic IBTC Bank, joined in the frenzy to welcome Africa’s most powerful man (according Forbes Magazine) to the social network. “Welcome to Twitter, @AlikoDangote!” the bank said, in a tweet to Dangote.
Dangote, who is one of the richest people in the world, subscribes to the tweets of only eight people on the social network.
They include his billionaire colleagues, Bill Gates and Chairman and CEO of General Electric Jeff Immelt, as well as the former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
Dangote also follows the Twitter handle of the World Economic Forum and the account of his manufacturing conglomerate, Dangote Group.
But some Nigerians have taken to the social network to beg for donations of some of the items produced by Dangote’s companies.
While some requested the donation of bags of cement, others asked for call credits and cash donations to celebrate the New Year.
A Twitter user with the name, Papawa, said he was happy that the billionaire could now be reached via social media. According to him, his dream of securing a job through him is now feasible.
“@AlikoDangote, welcome to Twitter sir. I would appreciate any job offer. I have a degree in Business Computing and Information Systems,” Papawa wrote in a tweet to Dangote.
However, some Nigerians who expressed joy at the decision of Dangote to join the Twitter family say they are expecting him to share the secrets of his success with them online so that youths can break away from the shackles of poverty.
“Please publish books that could inspire youths with business ideas,” Bisola Spencer said, in a tweet to Dangote.
One St Philemon says he was thrilled by Dangote’s decision to join Twitter. “Year 2013 has been tense on Twitter, but the last day happens to be the funniest. Thanks to one man with a difference, Aliko Dangote,” Philemon states.
iPunch exclusively reported on July 10, 2013 that many fraudsters had been impersonating the Kano-born businessman on the two popular social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook.
Before now many fans of the richest man in Africa eager to meet him on social media, had been deceived into believing that they were already communicating with him on the micro-blogging service.
No comments:
Post a Comment