Lake Oil Group, a multinational conglomerate that deals in a number of products is a successful venture that was founded by billionaire Ally Awadh in 2006 when he was only 27 years old.
Currently, Ally is regarded as one of the wealthiest people in Tanzania. His inspirational story began when he was one time reprimanded by his dad when he asked for extra ‘pocket money’.
At that time, Ally was pursuing an undergraduate degree in Canada. It was a rude shock for him given all his life he had been spoonfed and even attended some of the best schools in early days.
“My father basically got tired of me always calling him to ask for more money, so one day he bluntly told me on the phone that I was an adult, and if I wanted any money, I needed to start working for it. It was a reality check for me,” Ally told Forbes.
But every dark cloud has a silver lining and the dad’s response sounded as an alarm that awakened Ally from being an entitled young man to a go-getter. In fact, it was this Damascus moment that made him an enterprising juggernaut in just a few years later.
At first, he was employed at McDonald’s in Canada, something that he says imparted and improved his customer relations skills. He served clients after evening classes and was able to earn a few coins which he saved.
Immediately after graduating with a Business Administration degree from Brock University, Ally started exporting second hand clothes, popularly known as mitumba to his home country of Tanzania. On his first consignment, he doubled his fortunes and continued with the business until he made enough capital to diversify.
He then began importation of used trucks from UK and subsequently set up a milk processing plant which he sold. By mid 20’s Ally was already a millionaire in US dollars.
