Question: “Ndubuisi, who is the Richest Man in Abia?”
My Response: Your question is often asked in markets, chatrooms, clubs, etc, not just for Abia State, but for the Igbo Nation. So, I give it a trial. Here is the deal: in many Igbo communities, wealth is not only the number you can tally in your bank ledger. Instead, it is how many boys you turned into men, and how many girls you transformed into women. In fact, in some villages, before you are permitted to speak in the square, you must first point to lives you have touched; only then will the elders yield the floor. Simply, money without impact is vanity.
Take my community, Ovim. One of our “richest men” remains Dr. E. N. C. Ukpabi. He had a PhD in Geography from America before Nigeria’s independence and was the first indigenous students’ dean at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His home was an open house for all, and his generosity so shaped destinies that during church baptisms, when asked for their “Saviour,” some responded “Dr. Ukpabi.” The Bishop, of course, would redirect them back to catechism. Yet, that anecdote captured a truth: a man without a swollen bank account became the messiah of his people. That is wealth!
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 19 (Feb 9 – May 2, 2026): big discounts for early bird.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register for Tekedia AI Lab: From Technical Design to Deployment (next edition begins Jan 24 2026).
Scale that thinking across Igbo land. People built companies only to hand them to apprentices, who later became competitors. I shared this Igbo Apprenticeship System in the Harvard Business Review as a thesis for stakeholder capitalism. The global debate is still framed as shareholder versus stakeholder capitalism. But long before, our ancestors had codified a richer capitalism, where community thrived when individuals prospered. And in that worldview, the richest man is not he who has the tallest mansion, but he who has built the largest number of men and women.
“Nwaany? b? ?z? mmad? si enweta mmad? ?z?” – a woman is the road through which a man reaches another man. The proverb reminds us that wealth is validated only in the lives it connects and elevates. That is the Igbo way. That is the Abia way. And that is how we know who the richest man truly is.
So, change the question to: “Ndubuisi, who is the Most Impactful Person in Abia?” lol. Now, you are talking. Nice day at work, Good People.
---
Connect via my
LinkedIn |
Facebook |
X |
TikTok |
Instagram |
YouTube