Mohammed Indimi: Biography, net worth, family life, achievements
Mohammed Indimi: Biography, net worth, family life, achievements
Alhaji Mohammed Indimi is an oil tycoon, businessman, and philanthropist from Nigeria. He is the founder and chairman of the privately held oil exploration and production company Oriental Energy Resources Limited. Despite growing up in poverty, he put forth a lot of effort to become one of Africa’s most prosperous businesspeople. His charitable deeds cannot go undetected; as a result, he has received multiple honorary doctorate degrees from prestigious universities in Nigeria, Ireland, and the US.
Biography
On August 12, 1947, Mohammed Indimi was born in the Northern region of Nigeria into the Alhaji Kurundu family. He and his parents raised a family in Maiduguri, Borno State. His father, Alhaji Mamman Kurundu, was a well-known merchant in hides and skins who collected animal hides from communities near Maiduguri. Young Mohammed Indimi did not receive a formal education since his father could not afford it, in contrast to the majority of successful Nigerians. “As an unlettered person by western standards, I still supervise people with master’s and PhDs who are working in my organization,” he claimed in Premium Times. No educator in the west can claim to have instructed me on the pronunciation of the letter “A” throughout my childhood.
His Little Start
Mohammed Indimi started trading animal hides and skins with his father when he was quite young. When he had mastered the trade, in 1963, he became independent and established his own company. Young Indimi ran his company so successfully that he gained the respect of other important traders in the area. During the Biafra war, he eventually expanded his business operations to include the sale of clothing. Due of the difficulty in bringing items into Northern Nigeria, ingenious Indimi came up with a new strategy by crossing the Cameroon border to purchase ready-made clothing to resell.
Expanding his entrepreneurial endeavors
In Maiduguri, there was a flour scarcity in 1973. Bags of flour were being imported by the state government and sold to the residents at a discount. Sokoto state at the time had extra flour to sell, unlike Maiduguri. Mohammed got in touch with the Chief Commercial Officer of the Ministry of Commerce in charge of the sale in Sokoto state, bartered, and purchased 50,000 bags of flour. He then drove the flour bags to Maiduguri, where he sold them and made a handsome profit. During the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 1979, a different commercial opportunity presented itself. The South Chad Irrigation Project, a pumping station constructed with canals from Lake Chad, was scheduled for commissioning at the time by the former president.
The water had pulled back three months before the station was scheduled to be put into service, necessitating the purchase of industrial water pumps. Mohammed Indimi profited from the chance. He made the trip to Florida to find the water pumps for them, provided the pumps, and assisted in finishing the job. He went one step farther than rivals by monopolizing the industry, as is the case with every economic opportunity in Nigeria. He accomplished this by swiftly establishing an agency so that no one else could sell water pumps. He constructed Maiduguri’s first pump plant in six years. According to him, the factory saw such great success that he began to generate actual revenue. Even while he claimed that the water pump business offered him “real money,” that was really just the beginning of the treasure he had discovered.
Oriental Energy Resources Limited
The savvy businessman expanded his business portfolio into the oil and gas sector while remaining in the water pump business. In 1990, he founded Oriental Energy Resources, an offshore oil exploration and production firm. General Ibrahim Babangida, then-president of Nigeria, granted Indimi an oil prospecting license in September of that same year. This permit allowed his oil company to drill at least three exploratory wells and collect seismic data for up to 1000 km. Today, Oriental Energy has widened its portfolio and has three offshore Nigerian properties in development. These include OML 115, Okwok Field, and Ebok Field (OML 67). Oriental Energy presently produces an average of 19,000 barrels of oil per day from 27 producer wells, according to the business website. Over 60 MMbbls have been generated by the company since its start.
Mohammed Indimi’s Charitable Giving
- Mohammed Indimi is a well-known humanitarian whose charitable endeavors span the fields of social welfare, housing, health, and education. In order to help individuals and families in Northern Nigeria escape hunger, illiteracy, and poverty, he established the Muhammadu Indimi foundation (MIF). His charity paid for several students from the north, largely Borno natives, to attend the International African University of Sudan in 2016.
- The MIF has also significantly strengthened and helped those impacted by the Boko Haram crisis in the North East. They constructed a 100-unit housing development for N600 million and gave food, clothing, schools, and hospitals to those who had been internally displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State.
- Indimi donated a multi-million-dollar International Business Centre to Lynn University in the United States, which was named after him, in addition to his humanitarian efforts in the Northern state. Through his business and charity, he built a new residential estate in Enwang with 100 units for N700 million, distributed over 470 scholarships in Akwa Ibom State, and established a sponsorship program for the petroleum and chemical engineering department at the University of Uyo.
- Mohammed Indimi is a member of the following boards: M & W Pump Nigeria Limited, which is associated with MWI Corp of Deerfield Beach, Florida, has appointed Mohammed Indimi as its chairman. He is on the boards of various organizations, including the International African University of Sudan, Arab Contractors O.A.O. Nigeria Limited, and Jaiz Bank.
Mohammed Indimi: Biography, net worth, family life, achievements
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Recognition and Awards
- In 2012, Indimi received the Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (OFR) designation, one of Nigeria’s National Honors.
- In 2013, Lynn University in Florida awarded him an honorary doctorate.
- In 2017, the University of Uyo awarded him an honorary doctorate.
- He was awarded the 2017 Vanguard (Nigeria) Businessman of the Year title.
- In 2018, the Nigeria Defense Academy awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Family Life
Fatima Mustapha Haruna is the wife of Indimi. Jibrila, Yakolo, Ibrahim, Ahmed (who is the husband of Zahra Buhari, one of the daughters of the current president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari), Ameena, Mustapha, Rukaiya, Amina, Zara, Mairama, Amouna, Meram, Habibi, Tijjani, Aya, Abdulrahman, Abdullah, Fatima, and Adama are his 20 children.
Net Worth of Mohammed Indimi
The estimated value of Mohammed Indimi’s net worth is $1.3 billion (700 billion naira). He is regarded as one of the wealthiest Hausa individuals in Nigeria and the co-founder of Jaiz Bank.
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