Abdul Samad Rabiu

IWA Team

July 28, 2026

Abdul Samad Rabiu
Founder/Executive Chairman, BUA Group

Abdul Samad Rabiu is a respected businessman, philanthropist, and industrialist. He is the Founder and Chairman of BUA Group, which he established in 1988. Over the years, the business has grown into one of Nigeria’s largest privately owned conglomerates, with interests spanning foods, manufacturing, and infrastructure. Its investments cut across major sectors of Nigeria’s economy.

Rabiu also founded the Abdul Samad Africa Initiative (ASR Africa), an Africa-focused social development and renewal fund created to strengthen Nigeria and other African countries. The initiative supports programmes in Health, Education, and Social Development.

In January 2020, Rabiu merged his privately owned Obu Cement Company with the publicly listed cement company of Northern Nigeria. At the time, he already held a controlling stake, making the deal worth about US$3.3 billion. The merger produced BUA Cement Plc, which became the third-largest company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange by market capitalisation at the time of its listing.

Building on this momentum, he later consolidated his food businesses—covering sugar, edible oils, rice, flour, and pasta milling—into BUA Foods Plc, which listed on the Nigerian Exchange in December 2021. Together, both companies rank among the top 10 most valuable publicly listed firms in sub-Saharan Africa.

Today, BUA Group has developed from a modest company founded in 1988 into a globally recognised conglomerate—contributing meaningfully to Nigeria’s GDP and creating employment opportunities for tens of thousands of Nigerians.

 A former chairman of Tropical Commercial Bank from 1993 to 2000, two-time former Chairman of Nigeria’s Bank of Industry, Abdul Samad’s ever-expanding conglomerate boasts of several subsidiaries.

Abdul is a recipient of several honorary doctorate degrees from various universities and is a fellow of the Institute of Directors. He currently holds the prestigious Nigerian national honours of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) and Commander of the Order of Niger (CON), as well as the highest civilian national honour in Niger Republic.