Trade Nigeria: Eleven Exemplary Entrepreneurs In Nigeria

These eleven first-generation Nigeria entrepreneurs started from humble beginnings but turned around their fortune with the right mix of intelligence, ambition, determination, and perseverance. Long before Nigeria’s economic boom, their stories of hardship, labor and success set new benchmarks, and serve as an inspiration to everyone.

Nigeria’s top entrepreneurs have continued to reap the benefits of having built successful businesses that are currently worth billions of naira. Here’s the complete list of the exemplary entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

1. Aliko Dangote.

Aliko Dangote is Africa’s richest man and is the number one on our list of famous entrepreneurs. He hails from Kano and was born into a wealthy family on the 10th of April, 1957. He is the great-grandson of Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, the richest African at the time of his death in 1955.

Dangote is a business tycoon, philanthropist and investor. He owns the Dangote Group established in 1981, which is now a multinational industrial conglomerate. 

The conglomerate is one of the largest in Africa employing over 30,000 people and it generates revenue worth billions of dollars annually.

Aliko Dangote was educated at the Sheikh Ali Kumasi Madrasa and Capital High School, Kano where he obtained his secondary school certificates. He has a bachelor degree in business studies and administration from Al-Azhar University, Cairo.

Aliko Dangote had an interest in business as a child. For instance, he sold cartons of sweets in order to make money even as a child.

As of March 2019, Dangote had an estimated net worth of $10.6 billion. Currently, He is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 100th richest person in the world and the richest in Africa. His business covers areas like fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), cement, oil and gas.

Amazingly, he surpassed the Saudi-Ethiopian billionaire, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi, in 2013 with over $2.6 billion to become the world’s richest person of African descent.

2. Mike Adenuga

Mike Adenuga is one of the famous entrepreneurs in Nigeria. He was born on 29th April 1953 at Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria, into the family of Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Snr, a school teacher, and Omoba Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga, a business woman of the royal Ijebu descent.

Adenuga received his post primary school education at Ibadan Grammar School. He then went to Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro, for his Higher School Certificate (HSC). He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York, with degrees in Business Administration. While in the US, he worked as a taxi driver to help fund his university education.

Mike Adenuga owns stakes in the Equitorial Trust Bank now Sterling bank plc and Conoil, an oil exploration firm (formerly Consolidated Oil Company). Conoil got a drilling license in 1990 and in 1991, his consolidated oil firm struck oil in the shallow waters of Southwestern Ondo State.

Also, he is ranked as the second richest person in Nigeria and Africa with his net worth estimated at $9.4 billion according to Forbes as of 2019. He is also the founder of Globacom, one of the largest telecommunications company in Africa with presence in Ghana and Benin.

3. Femi Otedola.

Femi Otedola, a fine gentleman, made our list of famous entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Femi Otedola was born on the 4th of November, 1962 to Michael Otedola and lady Doja in Ibadan. Sir Michael Otedola was a one-time Lagos State Governor who served from 1992 to 1993. 

Otedola is a Nigerian billionaire and businessman who currently heads the Board of Directors, Forte Oil Plc. The business tycoon graduated from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo, in 1985, and immediately joined the family business.

Femi started out his career right from his home in the 1980s. He worked as marketing personnel for his family’s printing business for a while before venturing into oil and gas. He felt that the oil and gas business was a viable business opportunity which led him to establish Zenon Petroleum Oil and Gas Limited in 2003. Zenon Petroleum Oil and Gas have 147,000MT storage capacity capable of distributing fuels to large manufacturing companies in Nigeria.

Zenon went further to obtain 28.7% share in African Petroleum Limited. Femi Otedola was later appointed the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of African Petroleum Limited because of Zenon’s shares in African Petroleum. He later acquired additional 29.3% share of African Petroleum Limited (56% shares in total) making him the largest shareholder of African Petroleum Limited.

African Petroleum Limited was later changed to Forte Oil Plc with lots of improvement in management and technology put in place which was pioneered by Femi Otedola. Forte Oil gained access to the global market after selling 17% of its equity to Swiss Commodity Trader Mercuria Energy Group.

Otedola is a big-time investor acquiring properties all over the world. In February 2007, he acquired a real estate worth N2.3billion from the Federal government through the Zenon of Stallion House. This acquisition was believed to be a step in the right direction towards the expansion of his numerous business empires.

4. Folorunso Alakija.

Folorunsho Alakija, is a woman and half and she made our list of famous entrepreneurs. She was born on July 15, 1951 to the family of Chief L. A. Ogbara in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

At the tender age of 7, Folorunsho travelled to the UK for her primary education at Dinorben school for Girls in Hafodunos Hall, Llangernyw, Wales.

She returned to Nigeria to attend Muslim high school Sagamu, Ogun state, Nigeria and finally went back to the UK for her secretarial studies at Pitman’s Central College, London. The Philanthropist also studied fashion designs at the Central school of fashion and the American College, London.

She is the group managing director of the fashion label-The Rose of Sharon Group. Folorunsho Alakija is also the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited, an oil exploration company in Nigeria with a stake in Agbami oilfields. 

Alakija kick-started her career in 1974 as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises, Lagos, Nigeria. After that, she joined First National Bank of Chicago which later became FinBank. Finbank was later acquired by First City Monument Bank.

After she left Finbank, she started a tailoring company, Supreme Stitches. Supreme Stitches was changed to Rose Of Sharon House Of Fashion which became a household name. Folorunsho served as the National President and lifelong trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN). While she served, she promoted Nigerian culture through fashion and style and left an indelible mark.

Ranked as one of the successful and famous entrepreneurs in Africa by Forbes, Folorunsho is also one of the richest black women in the world with a net worth of $2.1 billion. She temporarily unseated Oprah Winfrey as the richest woman of African descent in the world in 2014. 

As of 2016, she is listed as the second most powerful woman in Africa after Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the 80th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

5. Abdul Samad Rabiu.

Abdulsamad Isyaku Rabiu is an industrialist, a philanthropist and worthy to be on the list of famous entrepreneurs in Nigeria. He was born on the 4th of August, 1960, in Kano state, Nigeria into the family of late Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu.

Abdulsamad is the founder and Chairman of BUA International Limited, a Nigerian conglomerate engaged in manufacturing, infrastructure and agriculture. He is also the chairman of Nigerian Bank of Industry (BOI).

He received his primary and secondary education in Kano state, Nigeria. Abdul then before proceeded to the United States, where he obtained a degree in Economics from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

Abdulsamad learnt the rudiments of business from his father, and industrialist and moved to Lagos to kickstart his entrepreneurial journey.

He founded the BUA International Limited in 1988 to trade commodities, just as his father did. Abdul started with the importation of rice, flour and edible oil. He then expanded by importing steel, billets and iron ore. They were also supplying multiple rolling mills in the country.

In 1990, Delta steel company (owned by the government), contracted BUA International to supply raw materials. BUA was paid with finished products by the government. The government contract gave BUA the much needed windfall.

In 2005, BUA acquired the largest edible oil processing company, Nigerian oil Mills Limited, and then set up 2 flour milling plants in Lagos and kano. Three years down the line, BUA commissioned the second largest sugar refinery in sub-saharan Africa, breaking the eight years monopoly in the sugar industry in Nigeria.

6. Theophilus Danjuma.

Theophilus Danjuma (born 9 December 1938) is a former Nigerian defense minister and the founder of oil exploration company South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO), which owns upstream assets in Nigeria, Republic of Benin, the Central African Republic and Madagascar. According to Forbes, his net-worth in 2015 was estimated to be $0.75 billion.

He also owns real estate plus a stake in Notore Chemical Industries, a manufacturer of urea fertilizer, as well as a stake in NALComet, one of Nigeria’s largest shipping companies. His net worth fell from a year ago due to the sustained weakness in oil prices.

 

7. Tony Elumelu.

Tony Elumelu(born 22 March 1963) is a Nigerian economist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Tony Elumelu owns a controlling interest in Transcorp and is the most powerful person at United Bank for Africa. He became known when he led a small group of investors to take over a small commercial bank in Lagos. The Bank was  Standard Trust Bank (STB). in 2005, the bank merged with United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Tony Elumelu was the MD/CEO.

He has a stake in telecommunication company, MTN. Elumelu with his success has chosen a path to empower the next generation of African Entrepreneurs through his Tony Elumelu Foundation which holds several programs and offers grant to young African entrepreneurs.

For the success and impact, Tony Elumelu deservedly takes his place among the most successful Entrepreneurs in Nigeria

In 2015, he was ranked by Forbes as the 31st richest person in Africa with a Net worth of $700M

 

8. Orji Uzor Kalu.

Orji Uzor Kalu is a politician and a business magnate and is worthy of the famous entrepreneurs list. He was born on 21st April, 1960 to the family of Mr. Johnson Uzor Nesiegbe Kalu and Mrs. Eunice Kalu, in Abia state, Nigeria. Orji Uzor Kalu attended Christ the King School, Aba and Government College, Umuahia, for his primary and secondary education respectively.

Uzor has a degree from Abia state University, a certificate in Business administration from Harvard university, and honorary doctorates from Abia state University and University of Maiduguri.

He is the chairman of SLOK holdings, Daily Sun Newspaper and the New Telegraph Newspaper in Nigeria. He also was the former governor of Abia state between 1999-2007. Uzor is currently an incoming senator of the federal republic of Nigeria, who will assume office June 12th, 2019.

Kalu’s journey into entrepreneurship started at a young age. He started by borrowing his startup fund from his mother which he used to venture into palm oil business. He would buy the oil from the eastern part of Nigeria and sell in the northern part of Nigeria. Kalu later ventured into furniture on a large scale and this led him to establishing SLOK holdings.

SLOK holding is a fully owned Nigerian group of companies with business interest in almost all sectors of the Nigerian economy with strong presence in Western African. The SLOK group is focused on Oil and gas, banking and finance, media and publishing, real estate, trading, manufacturing, insurance, tourism etc.

Prior to his election to office as governor of Abia state, Uzor Kalu had served as the chairman of the Borno water Board, and also the chairman of the Cooperative and Commerce Bank limited.

He is the chairman of the Daily Sun and The Telegraph Newspapers which are among the widely read newspapers in Nigeria with a daily circulation of about 130,000 and 100,000 respectively.

Uzor Kalu was listed in the Forbes 2015 Africa’s 50 Richest and was ranked 49.

9. Jim Ovia

Jim James Ovia is a popular Nigerian banker and he is one of the famous entrepreneurs in Nigeria today. He is an economist and a philanthropist. He was born in Agbor, Delta state, Nigeria, on the 4th of November, 1951.

Jim Ovia is the founder of Zenith Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Nigeria. He is the chairman and largest individual shareholder in the financial institution with a stake of slightly more than 9%.

He owns prime real estate across Nigeria and mobile telecom operator Visafone, which had 3 million subscribers before it sold to MTN. Jim is an Alumnus of Harvard Business School.

Following the deregulation of banking sector during Babangida’s administration in the late 1980’s, Jim Ovia alongside some investors started Zenith Bank in 1990. He was at the helm of affairs of the bank for 20 years until his resignation in July 2010. He was reappointed the chairman of the bank in 2014.

Asides banking, Jim Ovia also has an interest in technology. He founded Cyberspace Network Limited in 1995. Cyberspace Network Limited was one of the pioneers of internet services in Nigeria. The company provides software services and network services including 4G LTE, CYBER MAX, METRONET.

He also founded Visafone Communications Limited, a Nigerian wireless network provider in 2007. The company was later acquired by MTN, a leading telecommunications company in Africa in 2015. Before the acquisition, Visafone had more than 3million subscribers.

 

 

10. Oba Otudeko.

Oba Otudeko (born 18 August 1943) is a Nigerian entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Honeywell Group and is also the chairman of FBN Holdings Plc. The conglomerate’s operations stretch across oil and gas, flour milling, real estate, and marine transportation.

Another piece of his fortune is in the oceanfront Radisson Blu in Lagos, Nigeria He is also the founder of Oba Otudeko Foundation. According to Forbes, his net-worth in 2014 was estimated to be $550 million.

11.  Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma

Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma (born 1961 in Nnewi, Anambra State) is a Nigerian business magnate and investor.  Innocent Chukwuma is the founder of Nigeria’s first indigenous automobile manufacturing company, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing popularly known as just Innoson. Innocent Chukwuma was born into the family of Chukwuma Mojekwu. He is the youngest child in a family of six.

He is a big example of what hard work, dedication and commitment can do. Innocent Chukwuma did not attend University but today he is the owner of a car manufacturing company.

He started his business by selling spare parts in south eastern Nigeria. From there he started Innoson. The company manufactures 70% of the parts locally and sort for the rest from Japan, China, and Germany.

He definitely deserves his spot among the most successful Entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

The above information was put together by Trade Nigeria.

Trade Nigeria, a Foreign Direct Investment  (FDI) and a Public-Private Partnership project that works with the Government to promote trade and investment, support economic growth through diversification and industrialization of the nation and turning population into a productive nation.

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