Meet The Nigerian Ice block Seller Who Became A Billionaire, Owns 120 Filling Stations, 600 Trucks, And Airlines
Three decades ago, Alhaji Auwalu Abdullahi Rano who hails from Northern Nigeria, was selling ice blocks and groundnut oil. Today, he is one of the richest black people in world with a net worth of $3 billion. This is his story.
Alhaji Auwalu Abdullahi Rano, popularly known as A.A Rano was born on the 7th of February 1974 in Lausu town, Kano State, Northern Nigeria.
Unlike most billionaires today who were born into a wealthy family, Rano was born into an average Muslim Hausa-Fulani Nigerian family.
At the age of 20, Rano started hawking petroleum products on the streets of Lausu, where he was born. A focus and dedicated Rano quickly began to grow. He then started to sell ice blocks as his retail business was booming.
As his retail business grows more and bigger, Rano opened his first retail stores/outlets in Kano at just 22 years old. He named his business A.A Rano Nigeria Limited.
Nigeria is one of the world’s largest oil producers, and Africa’s second largest oil producer after Libya.
Oil has made lots of billionaires in Nigeria today. With the high demand of oil in the world, billionaires like Rano take advantage of this opportunity.
His conglomerate, A.A Rano Nigeria Limited has, since its establishment, become one of Nigeria’s largest oil companies.
The former ice block seller is now the owner of A.A Rano Oil and Gas Company, which owns 120 filling stations across Nigeria, over 600 trucks & LPG terminals as well as acquired vessel.
He also owns an airline company called Rano Air, which was launched in 2019. Rano Air currently has five aircrafts that operate locally in Abuja, Lago, Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Maiduguri.
Alhaji Auwalu Abdullahi Rano also owns RanoGaz, a state-of-the-art Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal, a rice milling company, Rano Lubricant, Lausu Marine and Logistics, AA Rano Terminal, and AA Rano Road Haulage.
As a billionaire who came from an average family, and hawked the streets of Lausu in Kano State, Rano hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
With the establishment of the AA Rano Foundation, Rano has carried out dozens of community initiatives in his native land in Kano.
He has helped immensely in deprived areas of need such as health, education, water provision, and empowerment initiatives for youth and women in Kano State.
It’s not easy to become a Rano today, but with hard work and determination, and focus, you, too, can become like Rano irrespective of your background.
