It is quite incontrovertible that leaving aside funds and fortune, true philanthropy requires very little: a compassionate, understanding heart that is quick to open, embrace and to share. This is the rare quality of energy magnate, Igho Charles Sanomi. As a successful businessman, Sanomi finds equal satisfaction in blessing and building others. The 47-year old founder of Taleveras Group, an international commodities trading company with operations in several African countries, has been so open and embracing in his good deeds.
He is known for his humanitarian efforts through the Dickens Sanomi Foundation, a charity organisation he established with his siblings to honour his father. They have funded philanthropic projects and granted scholarships to impoverished children through the Foundation. The efforts have earned Sanomi recognition from Cancer Research UK and the Bobby Moore Fund in the UK for his philanthropy towards bowel cancer research.
Despite his very private lifestyle, these recognitions have kept coming. Some days ago, the Global Initiative for Peace, Love, and Care (GIPLC) presented Sanomi with the inaugural 2022 GIPLC Golden Heart Award in recognition of his support for vulnerable children in Nigeria and around the world. The maiden award was presented to Sanomi during GIPLC’s End of Year party for 2,000 orphans in Abuja for his exemplary kindness and massive support for the less fortunate. The award was established and endowed to annually recognise and honour men and women who have demonstrated exceptional, tangible, and exemplary care and support to vulnerable children around the world. Among GIPLC’s numerous interventions over the years, perhaps the most well-known was the case of Ali Ahmadu Chibok, who was paralysed after being run over by a motorcycle ridden by Boko Haram terrorists when they invaded his village in Borno State in 2014. Due to severe spinal cord injuries, Ali was condemned not to be able to walk again.
After contacting hospitals in the United States, UK, and Dubai, GIPLC discovered a Dubai hospital that provided corrective surgery for Ali. Sanomi’s foundation facilitated the corrective surgery in collaboration with GIPLC and pledged to fund Ali’s education up to the university level. Ali has fully recovered after several years and is back at school in Abuja, Nigeria.