Ado Muhammad: An industrialist with a big heart

In addition to being the founder and chairman of one of the best lubricant-producing companies, AMMASCO Group, and the fastest-growing lubricant plant in West Africa, Alhaji Mustapha Ado Muhammad is a serial entrepreneur, businessman, industrialist, and economist. However, he has more side to him that is just as inspiring. He is a philanthropist and a man of goodwill.

His impact and experience in the industrial sector have been accorded their well-deserved accolade. However, besides being an award-winning industrialist, ALH Mustapha, whose lubricant blending company was born out of a need to have an environment safe from air pollution caused by bad engine oils, has gone ahead to show that it is more than creating and building successful businesses. He is invested in the people and the welfare of everyone around him.

His deep concern for youth unemployment in Nigeria has made him one of the country’s leading employers of labour. Despite modern technology and Ammasco’s financial capabilities, which allow the company to purchase machines that facilitate manufacturing, workers are retained and cared for. According to Alhaji Mustapha, as long as the company is not running at a loss, his greatest joy is seeing workers earn a living through their contributions to the company.

His company, AMMASCO Intl. Ltd., holds a record as being one of the largest employers of labour in Northern Nigeria, with over 10,000 employees. His company is also one of the largest conglomerates that covers lunch for its staff to keep them healthy and increase productivity. According to the CEO and Chairman of AMMASCO, he takes intentional pleasure in employing widows and orphans so they can have a stable income to take care of their children, take care of themselves and go to school.

He was commended by the government in 2016 for installing street lights all around the vicinity of the Ammasco headquarters.

In March 2020, Alhaji Mustapha Ado built, renovated, and commissioned a nine-classroom block at his alma mater, Gobirawa Project Primary School in Kano state, as part of Ammasco’s corporate social responsibility.

And on July 30, 2020, Ammasco built and commissioned a new block and dining room in the main “Gidan Marayu” (meaning orphanage) in Kano state.

Over the years, he has established a valuable partnership between Ammasco and the Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association (NATA). Alhaji Mustapha sponsored the training of technicians within Nigeria and empowered over 130 members of the Kano State Association. He distributed toolboxes across the 36 states of the federation including Abuja and thousands of mechanics were empowered with tools worth hundreds of millions of Naira in June 2020.

The company also donated millions to the association. The distribution was intended to acknowledge the union’s contribution to the development of the automobile industry. Ammasco International, in the same year, procured over N500 million in mechanical tools for distribution to technicians across the country.

Alhaji Ado Mustapha led Ammasco International Limited to provide and distribute food items and relief materials in IDP camps in Maiduguri in 2017. In addition, he provided palliatives to members of the National Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) in Enugu and Bayelsa in response to the coronavirus pandemic that affected them in 2020.

According to his staff, he is not a stiff boss who issues orders from above and goes to bed. Rather, his diligence and efficiency in leading from the frontline make everyone around him more responsible. He is well known for unfailingly providing provisions for his staff, those in his village, and those around him who are in need, especially during Ramadan.

Alhaji Mohammed Mustapha Ado is proof that you can be the leader of a great conglomerate and yet a man of the people. And not just a man of the people, but a man who loves shows it, and is deeply loved as well.