Today, August 4, industrialist extraordinaire, philanthropist and chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, clocked 60. Understandably, there would not be any party because of the raging coronavirus pandemic. Still, the auspicious day would avail friends, relatives and associates to felicitate with a man whose ingenuity and industry have seen him grow from just being an entrepreneur with interest in a particular business to becoming a respected and renowned empire builder. In business and philanthropy, the Forbes-rated billionaire whose taste for everything luxury and the good life is legendary, continues to set the pace.
He wears his entrepreneurial strength and savvy like a badge of honour, on his chest; shining it with sweat, as true virtuous men do. He stands tall, wading through odds with the courage of a knight and the confidence of a champion. Unlike the proverbial warrior who lives to sing the song of his own deeds and derring-do, Abdulsamad remains impressively humble and immune to conceit, treading a rare path to acclaim thus, attracting honour in torrents and from home and abroad. Little wonder, BUA Cement is now the third most capitalised company in Nigeria on NSE listings.
He makes history every hour, to which he industriously adds page after page, volume after volume as if nature were holding up a monument to his exploits. To his staff, family, friends, beneficiaries and other loved ones, his smiles have been their anchor; and his shoulders their rampart of comfort. Abdulsamad’s citizenship of humanity, they claim, depicts his love of life and undying compassion for the needy and less privileged.
Not surprisingly, Abdulsamad loves the good life that wealth brings and he doesn’t shy from living la vida loca. He owns beautiful and expensive properties in the popular Eaton Square, Gloucester Square; another one on Avenue Road known as Millionaires’ Row and in Hyde Park, all in London. Abdulsamad also owns a permanent penthouse suite at the prestigious and most expensive hotel in Cape Town, South Africa; a beautiful mansion in Johannesburg, also in South Africa; and a Penthouse mansion in Buckhead, Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States of America. For the ease and comfort of globetrotting, the billionaire silver-spoon also owns a Gulf Stream G550 private jet.
But Abdulsamad is not your conventional billionaire. With a keen sense of adventure that has seen him navigate successfully the world of business, last year, he thought of breaking through polar ice and the only way he reckoned he could do that was to buy a €25million super luxury 45metre Benetti yacht anchoring in the South of France. Sources say whenever the Kano-born billionaire businessman feels like unwinding, he sails across the blue seas of Monaco with family, select friends and associates while savouring the finest hospitality befitting his status.
Beyond his love for business and the good life, Abdulsamad is reputed as one of Africa’s biggest philanthropists. Amid the doom and gloom of the pervasive fear of the Corona-Virus pandemic, and the flagging faith of Nigerians per their survival, the billionaire chairman of BUA, through his social impact and philanthropy arm, raised hopes and planted joy in the bosoms of Nigerians.
Often called ‘Mr Talk and Do’ by many Nigerians, Abdulsamad has shown that he is not just about making money but making it available as resources for advancing the lot of humanity. Through his BUA Foundation, he supervised the construction of a 7,000-square-meter paediatric ward that he donated to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. He also constructed the Centre for Islamic Studies at the Bayero University, Kano. Some weeks ago, the foundation presented three ambulances and N200million donation to Adamawa State in line with BUA’s promise to work with Nigeria and support Nigerians in fighting the pandemic and only last week, they provided an update on a 200-bed permanent, special care facility in Kano State.
The BUA Foundation, through its chairman, has so far committed over N7 billion in cash, foodstuffs and medical supplies amongst other things to the federal and state governments and various humanitarian agencies. Earlier, the foundation had donated 31 ambulances to Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Sokoto, Jigawa, Katsina, Edo and Kwara States as well as cash sums ranging from 100million and above to eight states and N300million to the presidential task force on Covid-19. Not forgetting that at the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria, he announced a donation of N1billion in cash through the BUA Foundation to CACOVID (the private sector coalition spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria) and also placed an order for an additional donation of equipment and medical supplies to some states in Nigeria. Lagos, Jigawa, Kano, Ekiti, Ogun, Edo, Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Sokoto are the other states that have benefitted from Abdulsamad’s kind-hearted gesture.
Interestingly, while he is not known to be in the habit of throwing parties in the manner of a conventional socialite, the harsh reality of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of many prominent Nigerians since its outbreak, precludes such convergent merry-making. Those close to him say he will spend the day quietly with family and few friends reflecting and retrospecting on the years gone by and what lays ahead to strive for; a sort of personal ‘New Year’ where resolutions and promises can be made and for the betterment of humanity. Of course, he has so much to thank God for.
