One of Nigeria’s richest entrepreneurs, investors and philanthropists, Abdulsamad Rabiu, has made it to Bloomberg Billionaire Index for the first time.
The global leading business platform ranked Rabiu as the 287th richest man alive and the second richest Nigerian after Alhaji Aliko Dangote with a $7.63 billion net worth.
In the last 24 hours, Rabiu lost $40 million to stock swing but has gained $1.16 billion in net worth year to date, according to the data available on Bloomberg.
Rabiu, 62, is the founder and chairman of BUA Group, a leading conglomerate based in Lagos, Nigeria. The group owns Bua Cement, Nigeria’s second-largest cement producer after Dangote Cement and had revenue of $847 million or N361 billion in the 2022 financial year.
Bua Group is also the proud owner of the largest pasta and flour plant, BUA Foods, listed on Nigeria’s exchange in 2022.
The majority of Rabiu’s fortune is derived from his stake in BUA Cement, the second-largest cement producer in Nigeria, according to the company website. He owns about 98% of the company directly and through three other companies, according to its 2023 first-quarter report and the 2022 annual report.
He also controls a 93% stake in BUA Foods, which owns the largest pasta and flour plant in Nigeria, according to the company’s 2023 first-quarter report and the 2022 annual report.
Other businesses within the BUA Group are not included in the valuation because requisite details are not known.
A liability is included based on an analysis of costs for acquisitions, insider transactions, taxes, market performance and charitable contributions.
Rabiu was born in 1960 in Kano, a city in northern Nigeria. His late father, Isyaku Rabiu, founded Isyaku Rabiu & Sons which spanned manufacturing, finance and real estate.
After studying Economics in Capital University in Ohio, he returned to Nigeria at the age of 24 and oversaw the family business.
Rabiu founded BUA Group in 1988, importing food, iron and steel. The company became a manufacturer of cement and sugar through series of mergers, including the acquisition of Cement Company of Nothern Nigeria (CCNN) in 2009.
BUA Cement began trading publicly in Nigeria in January 2020. BUA Foods went public two years later in January 2022.