Becoming an entrepreneur extraordinaire is not mere lip service; it takes consistent effort and focus to grow from just being an entrepreneur with interest in a particular business to becoming a respected and renowned empire builder. Yes, cement mogul and chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, is one of the few blessed men who started from the scratch, kept their nose to the grindstone and turned seemingly insignificant ideas into behemoth industries.
Yes, Rabiu is a man that would be sent to Mars and still treat it as a stepping stone to Saturn – the quality of constant invention and self-improvement that has earned him worldwide acclaim and prosperity.
However, in a year that saw many billionaires lose chunks of their money due to plunging stock prices and weaker currencies, with the number of African billionaires shrinking to 20 from 23 last year, the extremely wealthy industrialist, Samad, returns to the Forbes Africa’s Richest List. He was off the list in 2015 but his return was facilitated largely, according to the influential American magazine, by the merger of his Kalambaina Cement firm with publicly traded Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled. “Rabiu now owns 97% of Kalambaina, which operates a new cement production facility, and started selling cement in mid-2018. Separately, Rabiu’s OBU Cement recently expanded its operations, adding a new production line,” the magazine stated.
The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, and the Chairman of Globacom, Dr Mike Adenuga, top Forbes’ Africa Billionaires List released on Wednesday. Dangote saw his wealth drop by $2bn from $12.2bn in January 2018 to $10bn in 2019. But Dangote retained his position as Africa’s richest man for the eighth consecutive time. Adenuga, with interests in oil exploration and real estate, moved up to be Africa’s second richest man, while Abdulsamad is the third richest Nigerian on the list. The American magazine said Adenuga’s net worth dramatically increased from $5.3bn to $9.2bn because he provided more detailed information about his assets.
Indeed, the BUA Group commissioned its $350 million Kalambaina Cement Plant in Sokoto State in July 2018 with an installed capacity of 1.5 metric tonnes per annum and is the largest single private sector-led investment in North West Nigeria.
Findings revealed that Samad is currently one of the very few economic giants and magnates enjoying the respect of several world leaders courtesy his enviable business culture. Rabiu simply focuses on his enterprise and applies himself to it conscientiously and with a towering sense of personal and professional business ethics.
From the ancient city of Kano, Samad, a silver spoon, is the son of Isyaku Rabiu, one of the richest and most influential businessmen in northern Nigeria in the 1970s and 80s. Apart from CCNN, BUA Cement Limited also owns a $2 billion cement factory at Okpella in Edo State in Nigeria, which has a production capacity of 6 million metric tonnes per annum. BUA Cement also owns Edo Cement Company and BUA Cement Port Harcourt, which continue to operate as private companies.
Abdulsamad Rabiu, one of Nigeria’s most successful businessmen, is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate that has interests in sugar refining, real estate, edible oils, logistics and port operations. Rabiu, one of Nigeria’s largest private property owners, also owns homes in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Despite the shield and myth that money has created around him, Samad is reportedly a down-to-earth family man.