A Ghanaian company has secured one of Africa’s most significant collateral management contracts, overseeing operations for the continent’s largest refinery project. DMT Collateral Management Company Limited’s appointment to manage collateral for the Dangote Refinery in Lagos comes from four major lenders: Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation, Standard Bank South Africa, and Access Bank Nigeria.
That’s not a small endorsement. These institutions don’t hand out collateral management responsibilities lightly, especially for a project of Dangote Refinery’s scale and complexity. And the timing makes this even more significant: Aliko Dangote announced just days ago plans to expand the refinery’s capacity from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day, which would make it among the largest refineries globally.
Founded in Accra in 2009, DMT Collateral has built its reputation in commodity and structured trade finance. The company’s track record suggests they’ve been building toward this moment through consistency rather than flash. But here’s what makes this appointment particularly interesting: it’s another data point suggesting African financial services firms can compete for and win contracts that would’ve automatically gone to European or American companies a decade ago.
DMT’s portfolio shows deliberate capability building. In 2019, Vitol and Ghana’s Tema Oil Refinery contracted the company to manage processing of 8 million barrels of crude oil into refined products. That’s not entry-level work. It requires sophisticated monitoring systems, real-time verification capabilities, and the kind of operational rigor that prevents costly mistakes.
Three years later, the Bank of Ghana appointed DMT to verify and monitor oil imports under the government’s Gold for Oil Programme, a national initiative designed to stabilize fuel supply while preserving foreign reserves. Again, this wasn’t a participation trophy. The central bank needed accurate, trustworthy oversight of a politically sensitive program with significant implications for Ghana’s economy.
Now comes the Dangote Refinery contract, and it’s worth understanding what collateral management actually involves. It’s not just counting barrels or checking invoices. Collateral managers verify that assets securing loans actually exist, are properly valued, and remain under appropriate control. They’re the financial intermediaries who give lenders confidence that their security interests are protected, which directly affects lending terms and project viability.
For a refinery that officially began fuel production in September 2024 and is now processing hundreds of thousands of barrels daily, with multiple product streams and complex supply chains, that’s a demanding assignment. The lenders need assurance that inventory is accurately tracked, storage conditions meet specifications, and product movements align with contractual obligations. Get it wrong, and you’re talking about potential disputes involving millions of dollars.
Paul Sannie Minlah, DMT’s Managing Director, frames the appointment as part of the company’s pan-African evolution. “DMT is becoming a truly Pan-African company, one that reflects Africa’s growing capability in delivering world-class collateral management solutions,” he noted. It’s the kind of statement that could sound like corporate boilerplate, except the contracts back it up.
DMT holds ISO certification and operates from Accra with offices in Johannesburg, positioning itself to serve major commodity and energy transactions across the continent. According to the company’s website, they also have operations in Dubai. That geographic footprint matters because collateral management increasingly requires local presence combined with international standards, understanding both African market realities and global financial expectations.
There’s also a competitive angle worth considering. As African infrastructure projects attract more international financing, the collateral management market is growing. DMT’s appointment to the Dangote project gives it credibility that should translate into additional opportunities. Success breeds success in financial services; clients and lenders want firms with proven track records on complex, high-value transactions.
However, the real test comes in execution. Winning the contract is one thing; delivering flawlessly over months and years of operations is another. The Dangote Refinery represents a particularly challenging assignment given recent developments. The refinery dismissed 800 employees in September 2025 over sabotage accusations, and reports emerged in November 2024 that Dangote was in talks with commercial lenders, development banks, and oil traders to secure funds for crude supplies.
These operational complexities mean DMT’s collateral management role becomes even more critical. When a refinery faces staffing challenges and crude supply financing questions, lenders need extra assurance that their collateral is properly monitored and protected. That’s precisely when collateral managers earn their fees.
The refinery’s scale alone introduces complexity that DMT will need to manage consistently. The facility is situated on 6,180 acres at the Lekki Free Trade Zone and is supplied with crude oil by the world’s largest sub-sea pipeline infrastructure spanning 1,100 kilometers. With the planned expansion to 1.4 million barrels per day, the monitoring and verification requirements will only intensify.
For Ghana specifically, DMT’s success offers an interesting case study in how homegrown firms can leverage domestic credibility into regional leadership. The company started by serving Ghana’s petroleum and commodity sectors, built expertise and reputation, then expanded to handle increasingly sophisticated assignments across West Africa and beyond. It’s a growth trajectory that other Ghanaian financial services firms might study.
The broader implication is that African institutions are gradually capturing market share in specialized financial services that were once the exclusive domain of international firms. That doesn’t mean foreign companies are being pushed out, but it does mean they’re facing capable local competition for high-value contracts. Competition generally benefits clients through better service and more competitive pricing.
What remains to be seen is whether this appointment becomes a reference point that opens doors for other African collateral managers, or whether it remains an outlier showing what’s possible but not yet typical. The answer will depend partly on DMT’s performance and partly on whether other African firms can demonstrate similar capabilities.
For now, DMT Collateral has earned recognition that extends beyond Ghana’s borders, managing assets for one of Africa’s most ambitious industrial projects. That’s a milestone worth noting, even as the harder work of daily execution continues away from announcement headlines. The company’s ability to navigate the operational complexities at Dangote Refinery while the facility scales up production and pursues ambitious expansion plans will be the real measure of this appointment’s significance.
