By Funsho Arogundade
Dr. Muhammadu Indimi is not your flight-by-night success story. The billionaire businessman was born into business and had his tutelage under his late relatively successful father, Mamman Kurundu, a renowned trader in hide and skin in his time. His father noticed the enterprising qualities in him early and gave him capital to help him start his own business. Indimi watered the little seed and decades after, it has germinated into a behemoth entrepreneurship landmark. From that little beginning, Indimi has turned into a distinguished businessman and philanthropist whose business interests span the oil and gas, real estate, financial services and construction sectors.
Whenever the complete story of successful indigenous participation in the Nigerian oil and gas space is to be told, the name of Indimi must be written as leading the way for others to follow. He is the founder and chairman of Oriental Energy Resources, one of the leading indigenous oil and gas companies in the upstream sector. Indimi’s model and approach to the hydra-headed issues in the oil sector, the rare rigour, perseverance and strategic positioning employed to get Oriental Energy to become a force to reckon with in the industry, both locally and internationally, has been his key value. The astute entrepreneur is also the Chairman of M&W Pump Nigeria Ltd, which partnered with MWI Corp of Deerfield, Florida, USA to execute so many landmark projects in the country. He has also founded many other successful indigenous companies and sits on the Boards of Jaiz Bank Plc and International University of Africa, Khartoum, Sudan, and Arab Contractors O.A.O. Nigeria Ltd. But not done with extending his business interest, the billionaire oilman was said to have invested extensively into the construction giants, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and was recently appointed into the Board as a non-executive director.
Last week, Indimi was announced as a non-executive director of Julius Berger on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) platform. The construction giants revealed that the decision was made during an emergency board meeting on November 7, 2024, and took effect immediately. Expressing confidence in Indimi’s extensive experience and proven leadership, the Board of Directors emphasised that his contributions would significantly enhance Julius Berger’s strategic direction and drive the company’s continued growth.