Dozy Mmobuosi, a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, is close to buying Sheffield United, an English club, for about 90 million pounds despite the club’s transfer restriction.
According to reports, Mmobuosi is purportedly nearing deal completion. He reportedly needs to pass the owners and directors test of the EFL, but apart from that, he is qualified.
Nigerian businessman Dozy Mmobuosi is estimated to be worth $7 billion.
He is the owner of Tingo Mobile PLC and Tingo International Holdings, which accounts largely for his net worth.
He also runs the Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation with a mission to promote the progress of Africa and create an environment where Africans can thrive.
Tingo Mobile’s digital agri-marketplace platform, Nwassa, provides farmers in Nigeria and beyond with weather forecasts, in addition to information on markets and digital payment options via Tingo Pay. His first tech venture was ‘Flashmecash,’ Nigeria’s first SMS banking solution. He later sold it for a good profit.
Aside being a tech entrepreneur, Mmobuosi is also a football investor. He has “funded scouting schemes, training programmes and talent management for Porsche United and Nassarawa United, two formidable grassroots clubs in Nigeria,” according to GQ.co.za.
He is also set to become the new owner of the British football side Sheffield United for a reported fee of around $108 million. The Times reports that he is in the final stages of buying the Bramall Lane club subject to meeting key conditions.
The owner of the Championship club, according to the BBC, is in talks with the Nigerian billionaire after American businessman Henry Mauriss failed in a bid to take over the Yorkshire club.
Should Dozy Mmobuosi pass the English Football League’s owners’ and directors’ test, he will assume ownership of the club and help lift the recent transfer embargo by settling the club’s debts, according to the BBC.
The team is currently under a transfer embargo as a result of defaulting on transfer payments owned by another club.