Our Founder and Chairman

Engr. Mustafa Bello, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), a Registered Member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering practices in Nigeria (COREN), holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering (B.Engr. (Civil)), where he was Awarded Shell prize for best Project and Thesis in the Faculty of Engineering in 1978 with a Second Class (Upper) Division.

He held several private and public assignments/appointments at State and the Federal levels some of which include Chairman, Niger State Housing Corporation Board.

As politician, he was appointed Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), Niger State Branch, July 1997, Senatorial Candidate for Niger North Senatorial District in 1998 and Minister of Commerce of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 to 2003), the Executive Secretary and the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (2003 – 2014).

He served on the Board of the Royal FrieslandCampinaWAMCO Nigeria Plc. (2016 – 2024) and currently on the Board of Zenith Bank Plc. as a Non-Executive Director (2017 to date).  He’s equally on the following Medium Scale Enterprise Boards of NAK Steel Milling and Processing Co. Ltd., owners of the erstwhile Katsina Steel Rolling Co. Ltd. (2023 – date) as well as it’s Sister Company NAK General Merchant Nigeria Limited.

He is the pioneer and the current Chairman of the Invest-In-Northern Nigeria Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle for the Economic and Social Transformation of the Northern Region of Nigeria and a strong member of the Growth & Development of Northern Nigeria Ltd./GTE (GDNN), another Special Purpose Vehicle for promoting Investment & Social Security of the North.

During his tenure as the Minister of Commerce of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (1999 – 2003) Engr. Mustafa Bello was the sole architect of laudable initiatives which he carried single-handedly. Some of these laudable programs, include, but not limited to:

• The development of the laudable CAC-ONLINE project in 2001 which was the Digital Transformation of the then manual Corporate Affairs Commission CAC (Or Corporate Registry) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to a Revolutionary fully Digital Capable Public Sector Enterprise that has the capability to deliver service online (CAC On-Line) and remotely capable of Registering a Company from anywhere, conduct Search or verify information on companies doing business in Nigeria.
• Comprehensive Action Plan from 2000 to December 2002 (3yrs) that was aimed at developing the Domestic Economy and boost exports within the framework of Domestic Economic Strengthening Strategy (DESS) of Government of Nigeria in 1999;
• Execution of Bilateral Protocol that established the Nigerian Trade office at Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China as well as several other bilateral and Multilateral Protocols beneficiary to the economy of Nigeria, the Sub-Region and the Continent,
• Development of a new WTO-consistent Trade Policy for Nigeria that addressed nearly all trade-related bottlenecks that hitherto hindered smooth flow of trading activities between Nigerian and its trading partners in 2002.
• Repositioned the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, (NIPC) from a position of invisibility to the most prominent and most efficient Public Sector Service provider organization which enhanced the quality of business services offered by public sector to private organizations in Nigeria.

Engr. Bello attended conferences, was head of missions and meetings both within and outside the country. Notable among them were:

• Leading of a Nigerian Delegation to the 3rd WTO Ministerial Conference at Seattle, USA, 29th Nov – 2nd Dec. 1999;
• Leading of a Nigerian delegation to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD X, Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 2000
• Participation at the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, South African Economic Summit at Durban, South Africa, 21st – 23rd June 2000 as well as attended all the World Economic Forum Annual Meetings in Davos, Switzerland (2000 – 2007);
• Hosting of OAU/AEC 4th Ordinary Session Conference of African Ministers of Trade at Abuja (17th – 21st Sept, 2001), Nigerian. etc
• Leading of the Nigerian Delegation to the WTO Ministerial Conference at Doha in 2001;

Other assignments or responsibilities handled by Engr. Mustafa Bello include:

• Member, Federal Republic of Nigerian Committee on the Revitalization of the Nigerian Economy, 1999 – 2002
• Chairman, AGOA advisory and implementation Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria (1999-2002)
• Chairman, African Trade Ministers and Group Chairman of OAU/AEC, LDC’s and ACP Ministers of Trade to the last most successful Qatar, Doha WTO Ministerial Conference in 2002.
• Member, Presidential Committee on Trade Malpractices: 2004 to 2007.
• Member, Presidential Economic Management Team, (2003 – 2007)
• Member, Presidential Committee on Revitalization of the economy, (2003 – 2007)
• Was publicly commended by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair on February 7^th, 2002 at the Joint Sitting of our National Assembly as “An Eloquent Advocate for Africa” resulting from his successful management of the Doha WTO Ministerial Conference of 2001 as the Chair of the African/ACP/Asia-Pacific Ministers of Trade.