Talent Mobility and Leadership Development in the Dangote Group of Companies, Lagos: A Conceptual Review

This article examines how talent mobility may foster leadership development within the Dangote Group of Companies, one of Africa’s largest diversified conglomerates. The article adopts a qualitative conceptual review approach and synthesises evidence from the strategic human resource management (SHRM), talent management, and leadership development literature to develop a context-specific framework for understanding internal mobility as a leadership development strategy. Drawing on Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984), the Resource-Based View (Barney, 1991), and Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964), the article identifies four major themes: experiential leadership development, succession planning and leadership continuity, knowledge transfer and organisational learning, and contextual barriers to talent mobility. The synthesis suggests that talent mobility practices such as job rotation, cross-functional assignments, cross-business-unit transfers, and geographical postings consistently contribute to leadership capacity development in large and diversified organisations. The review further indicates that contextual factors including hierarchical organisational cultures, talent hoarding, limited HR analytics capability, and infrastructural constraints may hinder the effective implementation of talent mobility initiatives within emerging economies. The article contributes to the literature by extending discussions of talent mobility and leadership development beyond their dominant Western settings to the relatively underexplored context of African conglomerates. It concludes with synthesis-based recommendations for HR practitioners and senior executives seeking to strengthen leadership pipelines through internal talent mobility.