The Aliko Dangote Foundation has announced plans to provide 777,907 vulnerable women across 15 Nigerian states with shares in Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals through its Women Share Subscription Grant Initiative.
The foundation said the programme is designed to promote financial inclusion by giving women an opportunity to own shares in one of Africa’s largest industrial investments.
In a statement issued on Sunday, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Zouera Youssofou, said the initiative forms part of a broader plan to empower two million vulnerable women across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The participating states are Abia, Anambra, Borno, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Yobe and Zamfara.
How the share grant will work
According to the foundation, each eligible beneficiary is expected to receive 20 shares valued at an indicative price of ₦525 per share, bringing the total allocation to ₦10,500.
Under the arrangement, the state government will pay for 10 shares per beneficiary, while the foundation will match the contribution by covering the cost of the remaining 10 shares.
The beneficiaries will receive the shares at no cost to themselves.
The foundation said Gombe State had become the first participating state to complete its financial contribution to the initiative.
The programme is intended to extend the benefits of the refinery’s initial public offering (IPO) beyond institutional investors and wealthy individuals, allowing more vulnerable women to participate in Nigeria’s capital market.
Rather than providing only conventional financial assistance, the foundation said the initiative aims to help beneficiaries acquire assets that could contribute to long-term wealth creation.
The share grant comes as Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals continues its ₦525-per-share IPO, which offers 4.1 billion shares, according to the report.
The offer was initially scheduled to close on October 13 but was extended by two weeks to allow wider participation across Africa, following what the company described as strong interest.
The offer has a minimum subscription requirement of 10 shares. It also includes a green shoe option that allows an additional 30 per cent of the shares on offer to be sold if demand exceeds the available allocation.
The foundation also acknowledged the support of the Nigerian Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission in advancing the programme’s financial inclusion goals.
The women’s initiative is running alongside the foundation’s Tertiary Students Share Subscription Grant Initiative.
Under the student programme, the foundation supports eligible students by covering the cost of 10 shares each, enabling them to participate in the refinery’s IPO without paying for those shares themselves.
The foundation said its broader goal is to reach two million women across all 774 local government areas in Nigeria, widening access to investment opportunities and encouraging greater participation in the capital market.
