Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has agreed to appear on Nigerian content creator Adebayo Ridwan, popularly known as Bae U Barbie or Isbae U, on his YouTube programme, Curiosity Made Me Ask.
Dangote accepted the invitation following a request from the content creator, who argued that the billionaire needed to engage younger Nigerians through platforms popular among their generation.
During their interaction in Lagos on Monday, Bae U pointed out that most of Dangote’s previous interviews had been conducted on platforms that did not attract many young viewers, despite their interest in his business and its planned initial public offering (IPO).
“Most of the interviews we’ve seen you have been on platforms that my generation don’t watch,” he said.
The content creator clarified that he was not asking Dangote to change his media team but wanted him to consider appearing on the programme after completing his existing engagements.
In response, Dangote acknowledged the need for older Nigerians to engage younger people and share their experiences to help them understand the country’s development and history.
“Honestly, the future that we have is actually you, the youth. We, our own generation, really, we have not really done very well for Nigeria and also for Africa. That’s the truth,” the billionaire said.
He added that conversations between older and younger generations would provide opportunities to share lessons from their experiences.
“So we need to sit down with some of you and discuss our own experience with you,” he said.
Dangote also acknowledged that younger Nigerians were an important audience he needed to reach, agreeing that digital platforms could provide an opportunity to connect with them more directly.
The proposed appearance would give young Nigerians an opportunity to ask the billionaire questions about his business journey, investments and the experiences behind building his business empire.
However, no specific date for the interview was announced.
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