Darlington Ugota: A 'Prophet' With Honour In His Hometown @ 36.
In the gospels of Mathew and Mark, the biggest challenge of Jesus Christ who, for good reasons, is regarded as the greatest being that lived on earth was revealed. This challenge which has become a general phenomenon is that great icons or people of valuable talents and great influence are often ignored in their communities or place of origin. For instance, the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and King of kings which was recognized globally was snubbed by the people of Nazareth, the tiny home community of Jesus Christ located in Northern Israel. For them, Jesus Christ was merely the son of a carpenter! The significance of this challenge was enormous for the people of Nazareth. This is true because even though Jesus Christ went about doing good and raising the dead, He did not perform any miracle in Nazareth. This phenomenon still hangs on Nazareth till date; and that is why even though approximately 31% of the world's population, or about 2.38 billion people, practice Christianity, Nazareth still remains largely an Islamic community even as one reads this.
Engr (Dr) Darlington Ugota, MNSE.(Chairman, Esthington Group of Companies)
The story of Ebonyi-born pathfinding multi-talented multibillionaire business mogul, Dr. Darlington Ugota and his people of Unwunwagu community as well as Ebonyi State is positively different from the aforestated Nazareth scenario. Born on April 25, 1989 to the family of disciplinarian Ugota Nwankwo in the pastoral community of Akpugo, Unwunwagu Idembia in Ezza South LGA of Ebonyi State, Ugota, a mechanical engineer, sports promoter and philanthropist could be said to have discipline, diligence and crave for distinction running in his veins. He had his formative education at Community Primary School, Unwunwagu Idembia between 1997 and 2003. Between 2003 and 2009, Ugota was in Seiro International Schools, Onueke, for his post-primary education. In 2009, Ugota who had become popular for his addiction to scholarship and excellence secured admission into the prestigious first indigenous university in Nigeria, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), to study mechanical engineering. He graduated with second class upper division in 2014. Ugota served his fatherland under the National Youth Service Corps in Edo State.
Armed with those academic laurels, valuable skills, good learning and sound character at a time the Nigerian and world economies were headed to global recession, Ugota who brimmed with the traditional courage of "lions and lionesses" set out to Abuja with one great vision: To create his own world of functional, excellent and prosperous business empire that will thrive against all odds within and in spite of the grossly-mismanaged national economy. That versatile Ugota has surpassed this seemingly tall vision is evident in the fact that within a decade, Engr. Darlington Ugota's Esthington Group of Companies has grown into a coveted international blue chip business conglomerate with interests in real estate, construction, energy, food, sports, human capital development and oil and gas.
In his home state of Ebonyi and elsewhere, Engr. Darlington Ugota is celebrated as one of the greatest private investors in humanity. The unique thing about Engr. Ugota is that he does not enjoy giving people fish. Through his Esthington Empowerment Foundation, he has turned many beggars of fish into fishermen through massive business mentorship and sponsorship programmes, local and oversea scholarship offers to indigent people, community healthcare programmes et cetera. Through Ugota's Esthington Sports Academy, Ugota has identified many sports talents from the streets and villages and is painstakingly developing, honing and priming them for stardom. The unique thing about Esthington human capital development or empowerment programmes is that they are transformative, migrating the beneficiaries from grass to grace or dignity; and he organizes them outside camera lenses and megaphones in order to protect the dignity of the beneficiaries. In Ebonyi State, it is popularly said that, "No one meets Ugota and still remains the same".
Young and unassuming Engr Ugota is a progressive and a good governance activist. He is the National patron of the foremost good governance support group in Ebonyi State, Francis Frontiers. For Ugota, "Only bad people will not support the positive transformations going on in Ebonyi State under the administration of Builder Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru."
Engr. Darlington Ugota, a husband of one wife found his missing rib in Mrs Esther TooChukwu Darlington-Ugota (Ugo Eze 1 of Ezza Ezekuna) and the union is blessed with vibrant and promising children.
Engr. Ugota, a member of Nigerian Society of Engineers, a registered COREN Engineer and member of Real Estate Developers' Association of Nigeria, holds many honours, awards and titles including Aka Ji Mba 1 of Ezza Ezekuna; Ugomba 1 of Echara Ikwo; a special award in sports development by Sports Writers' Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Ebonyi State chapter; and the United Nations Ambassador of Peace Award.
It is instructive that within a space of 36 years, Engr. Darlington Friday Ugota, the lanky village lad of Akpugo Unwunwagu Idembia has through dint of hardwork, scholarship, courageous business ventures and God's grace metamorphosed into a successful captain of industries, a man of excellence, destiny-helper and pillar of inspiration for the African youth constituency.
Let us therefore join the teeming business mentees, empowerment beneficiaries, people of goodwill, supporters and well-wishers of Engr Darlington Friday Ugota, a prophet with honour even in his hometown, to give him 36 hearty cheers.