When share ownership becomes personal: The African mindset of the Dangote IPO
I have been watching the memes and social media reaction to the Dangote IPO with a great deal of amusement — and interest. Profile pictures captioned "Partners of Dangote." People watching Dangote trucks on the road to make sure the drivers are behaving properly. People deliberately buying the company's products because, after all, "this is now our company." Others joking about checking whether employees are working hard, or turning up at Annual General Meetings dressed up, proud and ready to ask questions. One viral would-be shareholder, after seeing a Dangote tanker he was unhappy with, declared: "Dangote, we need a board meeting." Dangote himself has joked that his "partners" are calling him for a board meeting. Some of these memes are genuinely funny. I love the energy. But underneath the humour, I see something important happening.