Nneji, at firm’s Silver Jubilee
Moses Akaigwe 08072100049
Beyond celebrating ABC Transport and its founder, Mr. Frank Nneji, stakeholders in the road transportation industry who converged on Owerri last weekend as part of the company’s 25th anniversary, took home with them motivational lessons on successful entrepreneurship.
And one of them was that even against daunting challenges, a business can be started on a small scale, grown to a giant enterprise with divisions and branches spread nationwide and the west coast of Africa, and floated on the Nigeria Stock Exchange.
It was a lesson from the ABC Transport success story as told by Nneji himself, who explained that the event at the Mega One Events Palace, was about celebrating excellence borne out of innovation and passion to improve, even in the face of turbulent operating environment which stifles growth and productivity.
He provoked a lot of thoughts among the guests when he called on government to refocus its policies in order “to make the most of our economic potentials”, urging the stakeholders in transportation to look for workable solutions to the challenges confronting them in the sector.
“After all, if ABC Transport could achieve all it has achieved under such challenging conditions, the prospects in a business friendly environment are unimaginable! I therefore call on all stakeholders in their various capacities to provide a blueprint that would create more opportunities for successful indigenous start-ups and enterprise.”
Nneji recalled his unpleasant experience during an ill-fated Owerri-Lagos journey 26 years ago, which was characterised by crude practices, like customer abuse, discomfort caused by over loading and ‘attachment seats’, insolence by bus the crew, and a breakdown at Ore. The disappointment drove him into the transportation business in order to make a difference.
“On February 13, 1993, when ABC Transport [then known as Associated Bus Company} commenced operations from 21 Mbaise Road Owerri, many industry watchers wrote us off. We were often referred to as ‘dreamers’ because the model we adopted to run our operations was widely seen as naive and unrealistic.
“As a matter of policy, we adopted an uncompromising focus on the quality of service rendered and gradually began resetting the standards for road transport operations in Nigeria by providing a suitable alternative land travel means for the discerning traveller who would have otherwise gone by air. From then onwards, everything else is history.
“Today, after 25 years, ABC Transport operates from over 35 locations and travels to more than 100 locations daily within and outside Nigeria, and has over 500 vehicles in its fleet. The ABC Group has three subsidiaries and boasts of staff strength of more than 2,000, and its business holding spans passenger operations, consolidated cargo and haulage services, hospitality and tourism.
“It also carries out vehicle assembly through its subsidiary Transit Supports Services {TSS}. ABC Transport was the first and remains the only publicly quoted transport company on the Nigerian capital market. You can see from the above account that ABC Transport is a typical Imo state business expanded to the rest of Nigeria and West Africa.”
Using its own technical and financial team, ABC Transport, through TSS, was able to revive the erstwhile moribund ANAMMCO, Enugu, where it now produces heavy duty trucks and buses.
Apart from the corporate achievements listed above, the Managing Director said the company also impacted very positively on its publics in many ways, including paying a total dividend of N836.15m to its shareholders since 2006 when it went public.
Among other ways the front-running road transport services provider impacted on various communities included: Building classroom blocks in various local communities in Imo state including Community Primary School, Uratta; donation of auto engines to the Automobile Departments of Trade College, Owerri and Ahiara Technical School; donation of luxury buses for technical teaching in Mechanical Engineering Departments of Imo State University (IMSU), University of Nigeria (UNN), Federal Polytechnic Nekede, and Lagos State University (LASU); and providing logistics training through ABC‘s Driver Training Academy (DTA).
One of the highpoints of the celebration was the presentation of two Toyota Hiace mini buses to two of the company’s pioneer drivers, Peter and Leo, in appreciation of their faith in the organisation and accident-free records.