Nigerian cement magnate Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the wealthiest man in Africa, plans to endow a foundation he set up twenty years ago with a $1.2 billion gift, ThisDay Live reports.

The gift to the Dangote Foundation will be funded out of the Dangote Group CEO's personal fortune as well as shares from his publicly listed companies. Founded in 1994, the foundation supports initiatives in a variety of areas, including education, health, and youth empowerment. Dangote told ThisDay that the foundation would place greater emphasis in the future on large-scale initiatives that cultivate meaningful change in the lives of youth and women. Interventions focused on youth and women currently supported by the foundation include a national cash transfer program that disburses small grants ranging between $50 and $80 to poor rural women and youths seeking to start small businesses. The foundation also partners with the Bank of Industry to provide low-interest loans to micro-, small, and midsize enterprises in Nigeria.

With a net worth of $25 billion, Dangote recently became the first African to be ranked by Forbes among the twenty-five richest people in the world. The foundation, which is headed by Adhiambo Odaga, a Kenyan national who previously served as the Ford Foundation's chief representative in West Africa, plans to grow its team and reorganize its board in 2014, Dangote told ThisDay. "The stage is set now for the next stage of our institutional growth," he added. "Since the Dangote Foundation is now twenty years old, this initial endowment will assure that the foundation has secure and steady funding to carry out its mission as we significantly scale up our work."