Nigeria’s Dangote Group has signed a transformative investment agreement with the Zimbabwean government, committing at least US$1bn to major projects spanning energy, infrastructure and industrial production. The deal, one of the largest private-sector commitments in Zimbabwe in recent years, was finalised on 12 November 2026 following a meeting in Harare between Dangote Group founder and CEO Aliko Dangote and President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The wide-ranging investment package includes a major cement plant, extensive power-generation facilities and a large-scale pipeline to transport petroleum products. Dangote confirmed that the pipeline project—which will be over 2000km long—will run from Namibia’s Walvis Bay, through Botswana, to Bulawayo. It will be supported by a new fuel storage hub in Walvis Bay, aimed at reducing Southern Africa’s reliance on fuel imports from Europe and Asia.
In addition to cement and energy ventures, the agreement also covers fertiliser production, positioning Zimbabwe as a regional industrial hub. “The broader investment is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even more than a billion… really it will be over a billion because of the pipeline,” Dangote said.
A spokesperson for President Mnangagwa said the pipeline could significantly lower fuel import costs and help reshape Zimbabwe’s production structure. The deal marks a major boost for the country’s economic reform agenda and signals deepening engagement between the Dangote Group and Southern Africa’s industrial sector.
