Nafiu Bala Rabiu is the Managing Director of Balnara Universal Limited. In this interview, thirty year old Rabiu who is also the Co-Founder/General Manager, Cement Distribution Operations, Piyo Global Ltd and the youngest distributor of BUA Cement in Nigeria, shares his aspirations.
What is your highest level of qualification?
O’level. I have never been a fan of school from the onset. My life took a different turn after my secondary school, I had to start working immediately and later on when I found stability, I figured if I could make it this far without any certificate, then I might as well keep doing what I do best. I decide to never look back or think about furthering my education.
Tell us more about your cement distribution company?
Well, with all sense of unassuming nature, I believe the breakthrough is a timely reflection of the hard work deployed by the three companies (Ramu, Balnara and PIYO) over the years across all areas. Our rise to becoming one of the top ten BUA Cement distribution companies in the country is quite remarkable considering the fact that the three companies started from the grassroots. We began operations quite early and during a period where there were not too many cement distribution companies.
Since our first appearance; we have consistently improved our companies up till this level.
What would you say is the edge your company has over other companies?
In our market, one has to be smart otherwise you would be pushed to the stage of loss. This has been the case with many businesses that have crashed from the business arena. I would say the edges we have over other companies are down to three major reasons. First is our deployment of cutting edge technology by taking our company to the digital sphere. We are highly innovative.
Secondly, we engage in a series of customer surveys to enable us to have chief data on our clients’ insight of our services. You know researching your client is crucial.
Thirdly, our services are cost-effective in the market prices. I believe it is one thing to provide quality products, and another thing entirely to be affordable. It would amount to nothing if your services are top-notch but not unaffordable to your clients.
What challenges do you encounter in doing business?
Well, it is known to many if not all that challenges are a part and parcel of life, and the same applies to business. One of our major challenges is insecurity.
In some cases, I constantly need to be in Okpella plant, Edo State, Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, then Abuja and Lagos to hold meetings and supervise some ongoing projects. Some of these places I cannot go to without security or bulletproof vehicles. So it is a big challenge considering how expensive security is in Nigeria.
One personal challenge is when I started working as a teenager nobody except my elder brother wanted to believe in me until they saw I was doing well.
Another challenge is not being able to employ every other competent person that I know. I receive a lot of CVs in my email on a daily basis from friends and family, everybody wants to get employed. It breaks my heart that I cannot employ all of them. There are a lot of great minds out there, but no job opportunities or companies to employ them.
You love travelling, do you think of business when on vacation?
Well, not just think, but I have to do business. I constantly have to attend to my staff because they ask questions and wait for directives on what to do. Did I mention the company’s mobile application is available 24/7? Well, it is and I am always busy even on vacation.
What is your relationship with the Chairman of BUA Group, Mr Abdulsamad Rabiu?
He is my cousin and he respects hard working people, so him seeing how hard working I am has made us quite close. There are lots of pictures and videos to prove my claim.
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