Abdulsamad Rabiu, a Nigerian businessman, has an estimated net worth of $700 million. He is the founder of BUA Group, a major Nigerian business empire with investments in cement manufacturing, sugar refining, real estate, steel, oil and gas, shipping, port operations, and general manufacturing.
One of the group’s standout assets is the BUA Cement 1, a 200-meter-long vessel designed to carry heavy cargo. It is the first floating terminal of its kind in Nigeria. Outside the BUA Group, Rabiu also owns valuable real estate properties—$62 million worth in the UK and $19 million in South Africa. This includes a house on Gloucester Square in London valued at nearly $16 million, and a luxury penthouse at The One & Only Hotel in Cape Town worth about $12.6 million.
Born in Kano, Abdulsamad comes from a prominent family. His father, Ishyaku Rabiu, was a well-known businessman who gained wealth through trading shortly after Nigeria gained independence.
By the mid-1970s, Ishyaku had become a significant political figure. However, following the 1983 military coup that ousted President Shehu Shagari, he was arrested and jailed. At the time, Abdulsamad was studying in the United States for his bachelor’s degree. He came back to Nigeria at the age of 24 and found that his father’s business was in serious trouble. With very little experience, he had to step in and try to rebuild the family’s declining business empire.
In 1988, he launched out on his own by founding BUA Group. The company began by importing rice, sugar, cooking oil, steel, and iron rods. Over the years, he successfully turned a struggling start into a thriving business.
Abdulsamad attributes his rise from millionaire to billionaire status to a number of bold and strategic decisions that helped him build the successful empire he runs today.
