Waziri Yakubu Gobir: A Social Entrepreneur Par Excellence

By – Glory Aregbesola

This week’s SpiceyGist Personality of the Week is a distinguished fellow who is blazing the trail in social entrepreneurship, Waziri Yakubu Gobir.

Yakubu Gobir (Wazirin Kasar Hausa) is a thoroughbred business tycoon, a social entrepreneur par excellence and an astute politician from Ilorin East Local Government (LG), Kwara State.

He was born in London on 19th October, 1965 into the family of late Ambassador Abubakar Garba Gobir.

The eloquent, urbane and well-travelled social entrepreneur has an alluring personality. His good human relations, empathetic attitude, awesome taste for luxury and attention to details are attributes that distinguish him from his contemporaries.

Yakubu Gobir had his primary and secondary school education at Cheltenham College, England. Thereafter, he returned to Nigeria and graduated with a degree in Pharmacy from Ahmadu Bello University – Zaria, in 1985. He is also a graduate of INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France and Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.

Yakubu Gobir has extensive experience in the private sector, spanning over three decades.

He started his career at Pfizer and Hoechst in Nigeria. He worked there for some years and having garnered enough experience, he went ahead to establish his marketing and distribution company – Smart Mark Limited in June 1998.

Smart Mark Limited has over the years, opened up the Nigerian market to several multinationals including – Swatch, Sara Lee, Wella, L’Oreal, Nike, Levi’s,  Converse, United Colors of Benetton, T.M. Lewin, Tommy Hilfiger and Unilever.

In 2014, Yakubu Gobir launched INVIVO – a large format retail pharmacy chain. INVIVO is a social enterprise which has a clinic and lab at each location. Over 80,000 people are treated for free every year. The company has about 500 people on its payroll.

In the political spheres, Yakubu Gobir is a man who knows his onions on the intricacies of politics and good governance.  As a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, he has time and time again distinguished himself as a true progressive.

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Yakubu Gobir has a deep passion for the Kwara Project. Not only did he campaign vigorously for APC during the last General elections, but he also played a pivotal role in the decisive defeat of the PDP in Kwara State.

His donation of a befitting State Party Secretariat and 200 branded vehicles to President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign was headline news nationally, and a sensation on social media for weeks during the 2019 elections.

Yakubu Gobir remains one of the biggest financiers of the APC in Kwara State. His effort and that of other progressives in installing a people-oriented government in Kwara will not be forgotten in a hurry.

In the social spheres, Yakubu Gobir has stamped his name in gold in the hearts of both the aged and young with his sustainable social intervention programmes.

The exploits of the Harvard-trained business mogul in social entrepreneurship is unrivalled as far as Kwara State is concerned. The establishment of The Gobir Organization Foundation was borne out of his passion for elevating Kwarans out of poverty into prosperity.

Established in 2018, The Gobir Organization Foundation is a philanthropic organization committed to improving the quality of lives of the people of Kwara by providing result-driven solution towards ameliorating the challenges faced by the people.

The Gobir Organization Foundation focuses on high impact social investment programs targeted at poverty alleviation, healthcare, education, entrepreneurship support, agriculture and youth development. Through the foundation, a lot of Kwarans have been given a new lease to life.

Watch the video below to know more about The Gobir Organization Foundation

Yakubu Gobir has over time, mastered the art of Diplomacy. He is an expert at attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and trade. He speaks English, French, Hausa and Yoruba fluently.

Yakubu Gobir was conferred with the title “Wazirin Kasar Hausa” in appreciation of his service to humanity.

This self-assured social entrepreneur is married and blessed with adorable children.

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