As God blesses Greg Uanseru with yet another year, although his birthday celebration this year may be somewhat muted in comparison to his 60th a few years ago, it is undeniable that he is phenomenally blessed. His life is a story of grace, vision, courage, diligence, resilience and of course, divine favour.
While the Edo born man is not given to frivolities, there are certain successes that cannot be hidden. When some of Nigeria’s wealthiest and most influential men take you as their friend and hold you in high esteem, it’s usually because your results over the years are inspiring and you have yourself proven to be a worthy contemporary. Ask Femi Otedola, Herbert Wigwe, Ibrahim Dankwabo, Tonye Cole, and his State Governor Godwin Obaseki about him and you are likely to get similar attestations of his character, business acumen and dynamism. Greg Uuanseru went from austere beginnings to getting a job as a cabin crew of Nigerian Airways. He somehow knew innately as he took to the skies working that job that the sky would not be his limit. Eventually he began working the airline’s international routes and even back then, he stood out as a young man with a very bright future. Perhaps it was seeing other men travel the world on business trips or it was the convergence of time and chance to favour him that nudged him to launch out as an entrepreneur. Whatever it was, it was clearly one of the best decisions he ever made.
Today the company he founded and eponymously named the Greg Continental Agency Limited has grown tremendously and launched him into the strata of Nigeria’s wealthiest. It’s not just that he is a billionaire that is remarkable. It’s that he has built a thriving business organization that empowers others to pursue and attain their dreams. Today the firm is now known as GCA Energy Limited with Greg Uanseru serving as its President and Chief Executive Officer. The man has become an oil magnate with GCA Energy enjoying thriving international partnerships built on trust and a proven commitment to professionalism. In its early days, the company became an agent to Siemens Building Technologies UK Limited and provided crucial support services to Nigeria’s then thriving oil refineries and petrochemical companies, providing spares, fire engineering and gas chromatography. Pivoting off that, the company’s service delivery portfolio stretches across Nigeria’s vast oil and gas sector to clients in Onshore/Offshore Procurement Support, Maintenance, Metering & Calibration, Fire Engineering and Environmental Services.
Not many Nigerians have beat the odds to rise from inauspicious beginnings to billionaire status doing legitimate work as Greg Uanseru has done and is still doing. His company’s stated vision of being the dominant Onshore/Offshore Equipment/Spares Supplier and Support Services provider in Nigeria is being realized. As Nigeria’s image keeps taking a beating internationally and locally due to the likes of HushPuppi committing cybercrime, if there was ever a time to celebrate the likes of the GCA Energy CEO and use them as role models for the younger generation, that time is now.
