He is like the Phrygian king in Greek mythology, Midas, who had the gift of turning everything he touched into gold. But unlike Midas, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and University of Lagos alumnus, Dr Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, founding president of Masters Energy Group, is not a creature of mythology. Overseeing a conglomerate with over 13 subsidiaries traversing oil and gas, banking, insurance, aviation, shipping, dredging, logistics, and construction and power, Ogah is rooted on the home turf in the reality arena. He is turning his dream and imaginative business mettle into gold in the nation’s strategic energy sector and more. This unassuming son of a sanitary inspector and retired railway worker, great philanthropist, banker, extra-ordinary entrepreneur shares with SHAKA MOMODU, in this encounter, the magic behind his towering achievements in business and his interest in a better society

His achievements speaks louder than amplified percussion in an orchestra held inside a massive ampi-theatre. His is the story of a man who is making a difference not only in the business front but also in his community and beyond. At the level of small talk, you can hardly get the best out of him. But sooner than later it becomes obvious that this thinker, ex-banker and restless entrepreneur has other far more serious things on his mind. You immediately glean this when the conversation meanders into business, risks, success or failure of business ideas. His physical frame pales besides the size of his mental prowess and vision. One marvels by the sheer audacity and size of his ventures. His views of compassion and empathy for the poor is carefully balanced on the need to make profit and grow his business.
As he leans forward to provide insights into the workings of his mind in this interview, he transmits unmistakable vibrations of energy deeply rooted in community service. You are blown away as he takes you on an excursion tour of his business trajectory. Everything appears insanely massive but that is to the undiscerning and perhaps, the uninitiated. In the world of Uche Ogah, size appears to be everything. Though, reluctant to take credit for anything, according to him, he is merely “crystallizing God’s vision in him.”

Just one instance of his big vision projects is the establishment of a gigantic industrial complex, Masters Industrial City, located at Onuaku in Uturu, Abia State, a sleepy community, largely forgotten by government but is being gradually put on the industrial map of, not only Abia State, but the entire South East region and beyond. A son of the soil has risen and he is gradually but steadily transforming the community to potentially becoming an industrial hub, once the project streams into life on completion by second quarter of 2014. This particular facility sits on a total of 623 hectares of virgin land donated by the local community for the purpose of development.

On the key motivation behind this new project? Dr. Uche Sampson Ogah, President of Masters Energy Group smiles briefly. “It was mainly to create more jobs. A whole lot of youths are idle. Today, we have over 200 people for a start working on the project on a daily basis. If you look at the lives of the people that have been employed by this project you can see considerable improvement. That is why we don’t experience vices such as kidnapping and armed robbery around here because everybody is engaged. To be honest, that is what really motivated the idea of setting up this project.”

In further clarification, he explains that the laying of the foundation of the project was done by the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Theodore Orji, in December 2011 and gives some insights into the related project delay. His words: “Originally we wanted the completion time to be within 12 months, but because of the crisis in the industry, it slowed the pace of development of the project. Our intention now is that before the end of 2014 we would have commissioned the project officially. At the end of the day we should be able to generate a minimum of 5,000 jobs and you will see a big difference in the lives of the people working there and difference in the community.

“If you pay N100, 000 a month to someone in Lagos and pay the same amount to someone in Abia around here, you will see that the person from Abia will appreciate it more and his own N100, 000 will be able to do more than that being paid to someone living in Lagos. It contributes to the transformation agenda of the Federal Government and if you take a look at the entire place, I believe this is what you will call real transformation. Transformation you can see, verify and feel.”
Not many know that the Masters Energy Group employs over 6000 Nigerians in gainful employment, according to the big boss. But looking at the big picture, industrial cities all over the world follow certain specific patterns and it would be enlightening to glean the particular development model Ogah is pushing here - in terms of how many companies and the mix and diversity of the domiciled industries in the entrepreneurial city. According to the business guru, the industrial city would have ALSA Petrochemical Industries limited, which involves a petrochemical plant. It we would also host on completion, a lubricant plant, a plastic manufacturing plant and a food processing plant. The outfit would also have an organic fertilizer processing plant, a palm oil processing plant and a steel processing plant for the production of pipes and steel for the E&P for the oil and gas industries.

At the back of the massive complex, notes Ogah, “We would have what we visualize to be an agricultural city. The agricultural city that would house a gigantic poultry farm which is going to be one of the best if not the best in the South-East of the Niger . It is going to have a fish farm; it is going to have a green house where we would produce vegetables and other arable products for export. At the end of the day we want to develop this place far beyond where we are today and to key into the transformation agenda.”

But a curious fact becomes apparent. All the projects associated with the Masters Energy Group boss are massive, including even his Port Harcourt project involving a gas plant. What could possibly inspire all of these? He quickly provides something of a divine hand. “For me, God and his words are my inspiration because God gives us the vision and when God gives us the vision, he drives us because we can’t drive ourselves the way he would drive us.

“As for the Port Harcourt gas plant you made reference to, yes we have finished with the final drawings for that project and we just got approvals from the Rivers State government and DPR. We’ve also concluded with our technical partners from France . In the next one month, we would finalize the funding aspect and we will then kick-off the development of that project. If you check the landscape for that project right now, you will see how things have already started changing. Everywhere has been sand-filled. We are developing a gas plant there and a fabrication yard which would be our fabrication unit for the E&P jobs. So it’s going to be a marvelous project and a sight to behold when we are done with the project.”

Again, the question of size comes to play; Masters Energy Group is reputed to own the biggest depot and jetty facility in the country located in Port Harcourt. “Oh yes. even though we do not struggle for publicity. It is non-contestable that we have the biggest depot in the country. The issue we have is that our depot has not been fully utilized to its full capacity; which is why we are appealing that we need government patronage to fully harness the potentials of that depot. It was built with the strategic intention of ensuring that the entire South-East and South-South is awash with petroleum products all seasons, with a total capacity of 158,000 metric tonnes.”
There is more. Often, Ogah’s conglomerate has been credited with making products readily available in the region since his Port Harcourt depot came on stream. In explaining the true position, he notes that in reality, this was true. “Well, it is the fact of the matter and everyone knows this because Masters Energy has become a household name in the entire South-South and South-East. Masters Energy controls the market. Once we have product we always dictate the market and we make sure that these product gets to the masses. Currently we have over a hundred retail outlets and that gives us the capacity to deliver these products conveniently to the masses.”

In the course of his business diversification and expansion, he explains that going into lubricant blending and production was a natural next step as a downstream company. “An entrepreneur needed to consolidate in whatever area he is, just as it is done in other places around the world. Today, we have Masters Gas and we also have Masters Lubricants. We want to make sure that we have fully consolidated in the downstream so we can move up to the next level,” he adds.

Switching to related specifics, he tells THISDAY that capacity-wise, over 300 trucks load from that depot daily and delivers to different regions in the country which includes South-South, South-East, South-West, North-East and all over.
What is the funding profile of the Industrial City under construction in Uturu and what is the estimated cost of project completion? Ogah smiled, not exactly willing to give much away in terms of specifics but admits it runs in the billions of naira mark. “I cannot give a specific figure for now. I can’t say for now until everything has been fully articulated, which, as I mentioned, is one of the last things we will deal with before it kicks off. The project is being funded from both foreign and local sources. There is also some equity funding involved. So, we can say what the actual cost is by the time we have completed the budget. But I know that it would run into billions.”

He goes on to give a picture of the international dimension of the project, explaining that for the fabrication company, “We are working with Zamile in Egypt and they are one of the best fabrication yards we have in the world. What we want to do is to build to last. So whatever you are doing you have to be able to build it to last the test of time for generations to come.”

THISDAY checks revealed a surprising level of positive fellow feeling and immense gratitude by members of the contiguous communities to his projects. Could it then be by deliberate design or mere coincidence that the massive projects by Master’s Energy Group have significantly impacted the host communities? Clearly coincidence is out of the equation as Ogah, a deliberate thinker concerned with human progression leaves little to chance.

Hear him: “For me, as I have said, it is the vision that God gives you that you carry on. It is God that drives me and whatever he says I should do is what I do. For us everywhere we go and everything we touch we always aim to achieve real transformation. We started transformation in Port Harcourt when it was a militant zone. Now, if you go there it has attracted so many companies. At the end of the day our interest is how we can maximize investment towards the South-East, so the region can develop economically and we can arrest the restiveness of the youth in the region. We want people to be gainfully employed, live a better quality of life and we want to reduce the rate of vices within the region.”

On the challenges of his business odyssey, he took a deep pause, cleared his throat, momentarily trying to articulate his response. Then he took a deep breath and in a measured and carefully chosen words, stated. “The challenges are not much different to the challenges that every small scale industry faced in the past but we have been able to weather the storm better than most. The challenges still continue but because God drives our vision, our successes will continue.”

Just seven years on, Masters Energy Group has penetrated the market and is taking the business world by storm. What was the magic behind the rapid successes his companies have attained and what guides his work ethic? Wasting no time, and as if anticipating the question, he revealed: “it’s about doing the right thing the right way,” stating further that “once you are known for doing things the right way, people will identify with you. No matter the amount of years you have been in business, if it is one or two years. You have to do things with integrity and vision.”
On work ethics, he tells THISDAY, “It is simple hard work. Hard work doesn’t kill. A great man once said that great men achieve what they are achieving while their contemporaries are sleeping. So, we keep working. Our slogan is Johnnie Walker “keep working” (laughs).”

In all these conquests, did his conglomerate receive any governmental support? Ogah notes that every business man needs support from its government. “We want to appreciate the Minister of Petroleum Resources for her support so far, what she has been doing in office, but we are still appealing for more patronage from her and other stakeholders too to assist local businessmen. If we can get this, I believe Nigeria will go far beyond where we are today. Because the so called internationals have kept us in bondage for ages and if you look at the progress so far, what has been driving the successes and employment generation is the local businessmen and women. That is why we believe that local businesspeople should be encouraged if we want to move on to the next level. Instead of killing our own and pulling them down.”

Driving into his Onuaku community, it is easy to see why Ogah enjoys such immense adulation from his people. His footprints are planted firmly in their everyday lives of his people. Virtually all the houses in the community were rebuilt by the Masters Energy boss. All the mud houses were pulled down and rebuilt in sparkling modern architecture, the central road and other adjourning ones in the community are all asphalted with street lights courtesy of Ogah. The community primary school was also rehabilitated and equipped with computers. His Foundation regularly doles out scholarship to indigenes and non-indigenes to further their education both within and outside the country. Medical bills are routinely paid for by him for many ailing people both within and outside his community.

Born forty-four years ago in Onuaku, Uturu, in Abia State, Dr. Ogah is an accounting graduate of Institute of Management Technology, Enugu, with a distinction. He later proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka for a Post-graduate diploma as well as the Ogun State University, Ago-Iwoye for a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance as well as master’s degree in business administration from the University of Lagos. A philanthropist of a a different hue, he has built electricity, prototype houses for villages and awarded scholarships and built medical facilities for towns and villages.

His close associates describe him as “really a man of the people”. Immensely successful by every conceivable standard. Yet, his whole life is about being simple. Preferring to work quietly behind the scene and very reluctant to talk about his philanthropic work. He seems to be guided by the divine admonition that his left hand mustn’t necessarily see that which his right hand is giving out.
So much for a man whose life’s underpinning philosophy is impacting other peoples’ lives on a larger scale.

wow i like this man,abians choose right o