Nigeria, with a population of over 220 million people, remains the most populous Black nation. It is still Africa’s largest economy, with a GDP of $440.78 billion in 2021 (the highest on the continent) and expected to reach $454.00 billion by the end of 2022. The GDP size is an indication of the high volume of production activities taking place in the country; without a doubt, Nigeria has many billionaires and millionaires among its entrepreneurs and businessmen……CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
As a result, it is not surprising that Nigeria has three billionaire families among the eight wealthiest families in Africa. In this article, we will look at some of Nigeria’s millionaires who have made an enviable name for themselves in the business world.
Tony Elumelu
Tony Elumelu is the Chairman of the United Bank of Africa, an economist, entrepreneur, financial expert, and philanthropist. His fortune was amassed through investments in United Bank for Africa, Heirs Holding, and Transcorp. He established the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which provides $5,000 grants to nearly three thousand African youth startups each year.
In 1997, he led a small group of investors in the acquisition of the fledgling Crystal Bank in Lagos, Nigeria, renaming it Standard Trust Bank and merging it with United Bank for Africa. He transformed United Bank for Africa from a Nigerian bank into a multinational bank with operations in 20 African countries, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He has extensive real estate holdings as well as a minor stake in MTN Nigeria.
He is a member of the USAID Private Capital Group for Africa Partners Forum, the co-chairman of the Aspen Institute Dialogue Services on Global Food Security, and a member of the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Initiative’s Global Advisory Board. In Nigeria, he has received two national honors: MFR (2003) and OON (2012). His fortune is derived from the financial services, oil production, real estate, hospitality, agriculture, and healthcare industries.
Femi Otedola
Femi Otedola owned a majority stake in Forte Oil, a publicly traded Nigerian oil marketing company. He later sold his 74.02% stake to Prudent Energy and Services for $200 million in June 2019. He founded Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, a petroleum products marketing and distribution company with four cargo ships and more than 100 fuel-tanker trucks.
With a 5.07% stake in First Bank PLC, he is the second largest shareholder. He has investments in energy, real estate, finance, shipping, and insurance. Otedola is estimated to be worth slightly less than a billion dollars.
Abdulwasiu Sowami
Abdul Wasui is the Founder and CEO of Prudent Energy and Services Limited, as well as the Chairman of Ignite Investment and Commodities Limited. He serves on the boards of Prudent E&P Limited, Ignite Investment and Commodities Limited, Prudent Gas Limited, and Prudent Effsow Commodity Limited.
Orji Uzor Kalu
Slok Holding, an African conglomerate with interests in shipping, banking, oil and gas, aviation, and media, was founded by Orji Uzor Kalu. He began his business at the age of 19 by trading rice and palm oil. He amassed wealth and popularity in the early 1980s when the Nigerian military government awarded him a contract to import and supply arms and ammunition to Nigeria’s defense forces. He was the governor of Abia state in southeast Nigeria for two terms (1999-2007), and his net worth is estimated to be $300 million.
Kalu, who was born on April 21, 1960, is a senator from Abia State’s North Senatorial District and the Chief Whip of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In Nigeria, Kalu is the Chairman of the Daily Sun and the Telegraph newspapers.
Folorunsho Alakija
Folorunsho Alakija is an entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is currently the richest woman in Nigeria and was previously the richest woman in Africa. She serves as the Executive Vice Chairman of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian oil exploration company with a stake in the Agbami Oil Field. She was born on July 15, 1951, and her given name is Apostle Folorunsho Alakija. She began her career in office administration, then moved on to banking before leaving to build her own empire. She founded her first company, ‘Supreme Stitches,’ a high-end fashion company that she later renamed the ‘Rose of Sharon House of Fashion.’
In addition, she established Digitalreality Print Limited, a highly technical large-format printing and direct imagery paper printing press. She is the Executive Vice Chairman of Dayspring Property Development Company Limited and the Group Managing Director of Rose of Sharon Group.
She is a co-founder of the Rose of Sharon Glorious Ministry International, a faith-based Christian ministry, in addition to her businesses. ‘Alone with God,’ ‘University of Marriage,’ ‘Growing with the Hand that Gives the Rose,’ ‘The Cry of Widows and Orphans,’ and ‘Window Shop for Your Spouse’ are among Folorunsho’s nine books. She is worth slightly less than a billion dollars.
Jim Ovia
He is the founder and chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, which was established in 1990. He skyrocketed the bank to become one of Africa’s leading financial institutions, with operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, China, and the United Kingdom. He is also the Chairman of Prudential Zenith Life Assurance, one of Africa’s leading life assurance companies, and the Founder and Chairman of the Jim Ovia Foundation.
Ovia is also the Chairman of Zenith General Insurance Limited, Nigeria’s most profitable general insurance company, and the owner of the popular Civic Center and Aquamarine Boat Club, a hospitality company aiming to capitalize on Nigeria’s rapidly growing hospitality sector. He also owns Civic Towers, a fifteen-story commercial structure. He founded James Hope College, an education school that provides scholarships and educational services to Nigerian students, and he received two Nigerian national honors, MFR (2000) and CON (2000). (2011). Ovia, who was born on November 4, 1951, is the author of ‘Africa, Rise and Shine.’
Theophilus Danjuma
Theophilus Danjuma is a well-known businessman and the founder and chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO), a Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company focused on creating value in the exploration, development, and production of African opportunities. SAPETRO is the second-largest operator of offshore east and southern Africa acreage.
SAPETRO owns a stake in Nigeria’s deep-water OML 130 and OPL 246. It owns 100% of the Sèmè Oilfield in Benin and a stake in two deep-water blocks in the Mozambique Channel in Madagascar: the Juan de Nova Permit and the Belo Profond Permit. Danjuma had a distinguished career in the Nigerian Army, retiring as chief of army staff in 1979.
He is the founder and chairman of the TY Danguma Foundation, and he was previously the chairman of AGIP Africa. In 1979, he founded the NAL-COMET Group, which has interests in shipping, oil servicing, terminal operation, clearing and forwarding, underwater engineers, electrical and electronic supply and installation, transformer manufacturing, fishing, food product importation, and distribution.
Prince Engr. Arthur Eze
He is a businessman, philanthropist, and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Atlas Petroleum International and Oranto Petroleum, the largest privately-held Africa-focused oil exploration and production group in Nigeria, founded in 1991. The group has 22 oil and gas licenses operating in 12 jurisdictions across Africa.
Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah
Ifeanyi Ubah is a Nigerian businessman and a serving Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District in the ninth Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is also the Founder and CEO of Capital Oil, a petroleum distribution and marketing company founded in 2001. He exports motor tires and spare parts to many West African countries.
Ifeanyi Ubah is also the founder of The Authority Newspaper. In 2015, he bought Gabros International Football Club and renamed it Ifeanyi Ubah F.C., which plays in the top division of the Nigerian Premier Football League. He is the owner of FC Ifeanyi Ubah International Stadium……CONTINUE READING
