Based in Lagos and with revenues of over $2.6bn, Dangote Industries is the largest conglomerate in West Africa. As a multinational corporation it operates in diverse markets through its subsidiaries, Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour and the National Salt Company of Nigeria.

Upon joining the company in 2011, Mahmud Kazaure has led the legal function in the capacity of group chief legal counsel and company secretary. One the legal team’s first projects under his tenure was facilitating Dangote’s entry into Cameroon, which culminated in 2015 with the opening of a $250m cement plant in Douala. In 2016 alone the team has achieved a number vital milestones for the company.

This includes an injection of capital from The African Export-Import Bank, enabling Dangote to continue its estimated $17bn downstream petrochemical and agricultural backward-integration projects; the legal team was at the forefront of the negotiation behind this landmark financing. Most recently the legal team participated on the acquisition of a Dutch gas processing company, Twister B.V., as part of its strategy to meet Nigeria’s gas requirements. Of this acquisition Aliko Dangote, president and CEO of Dangote and Africa’s richest man said:

‘This was an important acquisition for us. Twister’s cutting edge gas processing technology is fundamental to delivering our strategy to unlock about 3 bcfd (billion cubic feet per day) of gas in order to meet Nigeria’s gas needs’. Despite securing these important deals, the legal team will continue to be very active following the recent discovery of commercial quantity oil in Lagos and combatting activities of online fraudsters, who maliciously misrepresent and misuse its brand image to defraud members of the public.