Half a century is a long time in a man’s life. For Scott Tommey, chairman of Osmoserve Global, an indigenous company that provides marine and engineering services to the oil and gas industry, parastatals, states, and federal governments, it is no less. He understands and appreciates this, and how far he has come in life, more than anyone else perhaps.
That is why as Scott turns 50 in a few days, he has been filled with praises for the good life he has led so far. Unlike his heydays, however, the patently and decidedly self-effacing billionaire businessman and philanthropist would not be rolling out the drums to celebrate the landmark birthday due to the new global normal of social distancing. Were things normal, Scott would have shut down a whole city anywhere in the world to celebrate his attainment of the golden age. He is blessed and prosperous like that.
Privileged Nigerians have not forgotten how he hugged the headlines on his 40th birthday many years ago when he ferried hundreds of people to Dubai for the party which is still talked about with gusto in social circles. But now he is older and wiser. For his 50th, he would settle for pockets of mini-celebrations by family, friends and associates while basking in the blizzard of good wishes and felicitations that would buffet him.
There are so many reasons to celebrate though. He is hale and hearty; in a year when supposedly healthier, wealthier, more influential, and younger people are dropping dead at the speed of light, he or his household didn’t receive a card from a chiropractor. Neither is the thought of Led Zepplin’s summation that age 50 is halfway up the stairway to heaven on his mind. He is, however, not unmindful of the fact that at 50, life now seems shorter but in words and deeds, he evinces his gratefulness to God for the grace and good health to daily wake up without any aches and anxieties.
Students and ardent followers of history know that humanity is replete with stories of audacious and relentless men and women who go the extra mile to achieve greatness and outstanding success against all odds because of their ability to think outside the box when the majority of their contemporaries would rather stick to their comfort zones. This has been the distinguishing and enduring catalyst that has propelled Scott to the enviable heights he has attained.
With the ingenious outputs of his sound and savvy mind, he has scaled mountains, broken glass ceilings, and created new records. Though he operates in a conventional industry where strict adherence to stipulated ethos rule supreme, his pragmatic and unconventional approach to life has undoubtedly earned him a special place in the economic, political, intellectual, and social space of Nigeria. And, it is why he is respected and renowned for his industry and ingenuity.
Over the years, Scott has built a world-class multi-billion business enterprise in Osmoserve, which specialty has brought physical infrastructural transformation to the region and given jobs to countless of the region’s hitherto unemployed youths. He once said that Osmoserve was formed to also help address the infrastructural challenges in the Niger Delta and bring infrastructural transformation to the region by creating jobs and employment opportunities for so many unemployed Niger Delta youths.
The indigenous company has earned the founder a reputation among top business executives in the country. Though an indigene of Akwa Ibom, Osmoserve’s operational base is in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, his humanity extends beyond Nigeria. An astute manager of both human and material resources, Scott is reputed as a man that is immensely endowed with towering intelligence, depth of character, and charitable authority in the marine and engineering services.
A Computer Science graduate, he bagged his MBA at the University of Bauchi (Bauchi state). Indeed, Scott’s journey to the summit of entrepreneurial success is strewn with tales of struggles and sacrifices, determination and destiny, faith and fortitude. Growing up was normal for him as he was born into a royal family in Afia Nsit village, Eket Local Government, Akwa Ibom State by a civil engineer father who could afford the best things of life for his children until tragedy struck when he lost his mum when he was barely 16 years of age. Seven years later, it was his father’s turn to give up the ghost. Though grief-stricken, Scott was very determined to brave all odds to be a success story. And, by every ramification today, he is one of Nigeria’s veritable billionaires
