To make wealth is an achievement; the way it is spent is style. In
most cases, successful individuals who have created wealth through wise
and diligent investments in business hardly squander their money. They
usually prefer to reinvest their capital, including the accrued profit
over the years, into their businesses to increase their asset base and
level of affluence.
The tendency, therefore, is that the richer they are, the more their
business interests expand. In line with this corporate tradition, the
rich investors get richer and, when they spend, they do so in a big way
worthy of mention. This is because of the extensive attention attracted
by their rare wherewithal and will to spend, including doling out money
on humanitarian grounds. Among Nigeria's privileged people are:
Aliko Dangote
Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa.
He is the founder, Dangote Group, West Africa's largest publicly listed
conglomerate with diverse business interests such as sugar refining,
flour milling, textiles, real estate and salt processing. Dangote
Cement, Dangote Foods (noodles) and Dansa Juice complete the chain. His
total net worth is about $16.1 as at March 2013.
Dangote spends money in philanthropic activities. He has stepped up
his philanthropy in recent years, giving over $100 million to causes
ranging from education and health through flood relief, poverty
alleviation to the arts. He acquired a private jet in April 2010 as a
personal gift on the occasion of his 53rd birthday. The Bombardier
Global Jet Express XRS (one out of a few) was estimated to cost $45
million. Dangote is also said to have purchased a private luxury yatch
at the cost of $43 million made exclusively for his enjoyment. The yatch
is named Mariya after his mother.
Mike Adenuga
Otunba Mike Adenuga built his fortune in business from banking,
mobile telecom service and oil. He founded Globacom, now Nigeria's
second largest mobile phone network, in 2006. Globacom has more than 24
million subscribers in Nigeria, and also operates in the Republic of
Benin. Adenuga made his first fortune at the young age of 26 in the
1970s by distributing lace and other materials. He later had another
opportunity to expand his fortune during the military regime of Ibrahim
Babangida when he was awarded a contract for the construction of
military barracks in some military installations in the country. He is
presently worth $4.7 billion, thus justifying him as one of Nigeria's
super-rich businessmen.
Adenuga is a philanthropist who spends a lot of money on selfless
activities aimed at bringing succour and assistance to less-privileged
people. Adenuga also takes his philanthropic goodwill to the area of
sports development in Nigeria and Africa through his selfless
investments in sports. His demonstration of philanthropic largesse cuts
across sponsorship of Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) and
the Super Eagles. This was one of the points highlighted by President
Goodluck Jonathan at his (Adenuga's) 60th birthday. "You are celebrating
60 years of a remarkable life filled with monumental achievements in
high entrepreneurship, philanthropy and dedicated service to God and
country," the president said.
Similarly, the president of the Confederation of African Football
(CAF), Mr Issah Hayatou, used the occasion of Adenuga's birthday
celebration to appreciate his contributions to the society. He
recognised that Adenuga had not only affected Africa positively through
his accomplishments in business but has also been the pillar of sports
on the continent.
Adenuga loves spending money on what gives him joy. It could be said
that, partly for this reason, he acquired a private Bombardier Global
Express jet, fitted with the latest flight facilities. It is one of the
most luxuriously built private jets in the world, just like that of
Dangote.
Jim Ovia
Jim Ovia started building his fortunes when he founded Zenith Bank
Group in 1990. The bank has grown to become West Africa's second largest
financial service provider by market capitalisation and asset base. His
sources of wealth are banking, telecommunication and real estate
investment.
He also owns Quantum Luxury Properties Limited, a private equity fund
with special focus on Africa. Ovia's total net worth is about $825
million.
He has embarked on the establishment of a free, co-educational high
school, James Hope College, in Delta State, the place where he pondered
his future as a young man. The school, an 18-month project, launches in
September with an initial capacity for 420 students. He is also the
founder of Mankind United To Support Total Education (MUSTE), an
organisation providing scholarships for the underprivileged.
Abdussamad Rabiu
Lagos-based business tycoon Abdulsamad Rabiu is a son of Khalifa
Isiyaku Rabiu, one of Nigeria's most successful businessmen in the
1970s. Little wonder therefore that he followed in his father's
footsteps in business with interest in importing basic commodities such
as rice, sugar and cement in the 1980s.
Abdussamad heads the BUA Group, a conglomerate with $1.9 billion in
revenues and interests in sugar refining, vegetable oil processing and
flour mills. The BUA Group also operates the BUA Cement, Nigeria's first
floating cement terminal, as well as Nigerian Oil Mill which processes
edible oil. According to Forbes magazine report, he is the 21st richest
African and is worth $675 million.
Folorunsho Alakija
Billionaire oil tycoon, fashion designer and philanthropist, Mrs
Folorunsho Alakija is worth at least $3.3 billion against a recent
Forbes' rating which quoted her net worth as $600 million. She began her
professional career in the 1970s as secretary of defunct International
Merchant Bank of Nigeria, one of the country's earliest investment
banks.
In the early 1980s when banking was seen as one of the most lucrative
jobs, she took a bold step towards realisation of her personal dreams
by quitting her job in the bank to study Fashion Design in England. She
returned to Nigeria a few years later to establish Supreme Stitches, a
high-profile fashion firm which provides special services to exclusive
clientele. She also founded Rose of Sharon Foundation, a charity
organisation.
This fashion design business led her into fortune. She was in a
position to make and sell high-level clothing to the fashionable wives
of some military big shots and other society women.
In May 1993, Mrs Alakija set out for oil business. It was then she
applied for an allocation of oil prospecting licence (OPL) to explore
617,000-acre block granted to her company, Famfa Oil Limited. However,
at that time, she had no experience in oil exploration -- she was just a
new entrant in the business.
Also, Mrs Alakija is widely reported to own a private jet, Bombardier
Global Express 6000 which cost about $46 million, added to acquisition
of a property at Hyde Park. This is one of the ways she spends her
wealth, which gives her happiness. Furthermore, she is a philanthropist
who derives joy in giving assistance to widows and other less-privileged
in society.
Tony Elumelu
Mr Tony Elumelu (CON) was born in Jos on March 22, 1963. He is a
renowned economist, banker, investor and generous philanthropist.
Elumelu is a recognised African leader in corporate business. After
leading United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc to a higher level with the
acquisition of Standard Trust Bank (STB) during the consolidation of the
banking industry in 2005, he retired from the management of UBA in July
2010.
On establishment of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, he stated the
foundation's objective as to "prove that the African private sector can
itself be primary generator of economic development". Among the roles of
the foundation are deployment of resources to generate reliable
solutions to the business constraints that derail and clog the growth of
business in the private sector in Africa.
Moreover, Elumelu ploughs a lot of resources in philanthropic
activities. Apart from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, he was also a member
of the World Economic Forum's Regional Agenda Council on Africa. He is
also part of the Bretton Woods Committee which brings leaders in the
global banking industry together. Voluntary development of human capital
is one of the cherished interests where Elumelu spends his wealth. He
also partners with the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative (AGI)
with high focus on strengthening the role of the private sector in
economic transformation policies of some African countries. This
partnership is named Blair-Elumelu Fellowship Programme.
Elumelu, the originator of the concept of Africapitalism as an
economic philosophy that reflects the commitment of players in the
private sector towards the economic transformation of Africa through
long-term investment, is a consummate patriot with a full-blown
obsession for how he can make his country and continent a better part of
the world.
Interest in paying family hospital bills, unpaid school fees,
providing for families who cannot provide their needs -- all form part
of what Elumelu does through his catalytic philanthropic method of
assisting human beings within the shores of Nigeria and Africa.
Hajiya Bola Shagaya
Hajiya Bola Shagaya is hailed as one of Nigeria's richest
businesswomen. She is the CEO of Bolmus International Limited. She has
interests in several sectors ranging from oil and gas, banking, cash
crops export, real estate, fast-moving consumer goods and photography.
She has been a very influential figure in Nigeria's corridors of
power for decades and has excelled in a society where the role of women
has been restricted traditionally. Her rise to affluence and power is
not attributed to parental or marital influence. This woman of means has
skilfully built her network and wealth from a humble background, and
has proven herself as an outstanding power broker with impressive
entrepreneurial skills.
In the manner of an astute entrepreneur, she saw opportunities in the
populous image-conscious Nigerian market, prompting the expansion of
her Konica marketing operations to photo laboratory services; that was
the birth of another of her companies - Fotofair (Nigeria) Limited.
Today, Fotofair is a leading photo laboratory company in Nigeria with
over 30 laboratories spread across the nation.
Hajiya, as she is fondly called, has impressively carved her path in
the sixth-largest oil producer's oil and gas sector. As far back as the
late 1980s, during the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida-led military
administration, she had steered her oil and gas company through the
highly connected and contested Nigerian oil and gas sector to secure
allocations for oil blocks. Thus began her reign as an indigenous oil
marketer.
Around 2005, she became the managing director of Practoil Limited
and, in 2011, she founded another exploration company, Voyage Oil and
Gas Limited.
Shagaya, who is of Yoruba extraction, a tribe distinguished as party
enthusiasts of the over 200 tribes in Nigeria, often attends the biggest
social events dressed in "anko" with Nigeria's first ladies -- a local
practice of Nigerian women indicating bosom friendship by wearing the
same traditional attire especially to social functions.
The one-time patron of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria
(FADAN) is a collector and retailer of the finest and most exquisite
jewelleries from different fashion capitals of the world. "I love
fashion, artworks and beautification endeavours," she said.
The graceful billionaire is not all about heavy-weight work. "I'm
also a lover of sports, especially Polo", she said. She has consistently
supported Polo tournaments in Nigeria over the years.
Femi Otedola
Femi Otedola is the CEO of African Petroleum Plc. He was one of only
two Nigerians (alongside Aliko Dangote) to appear on the 2009 Forbes
list of 793 dollar-denominated billionaires in the world, with an
estimated net worth of over US$1.2 billion. Femi Otedola is the Nigerian
president and chief executive officer of Zenon Petroleum and Gas
limited.
Forbes magazine estimates Femi Otedola's net worth at $1.2 billion
and ranks him as the 601st richest person in the world. According to
Encomium magazine, Femi Otedola's net worth is $3.5 billion.
He owns a private jet called Challenger Global 5000 and a yatch almost similar to Dangote's named Nana after his wife.
Emeka Offor
Sir Emeka Offor, as he is often addressed rarely grants interviews,
rather, he prefers his works, businesses and philanthropy to speak for
him.
His multi-million business interest, Chrome Group, is a multifaceted
organisation which originally started as an engineering outfit handling
projects such as refinery maintenance, has today become by the grace of
God, a conglomerate with diverse interests in Oil and Gas,
Finance/Investments, Telecommunications, Insurance, Maritime,
Destination Inspection, Real Estate and the Power Sector.
He once said in a newspaper interview that he is a son of a
policeman, born in Kafanchan in Kaduna State. Offor is a goal-getter and
founder of Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, a platform through which he
doles out millions of naira for philanthropic purposes.
A member of Rotary International and deeply involved in the 4
cardinal pursuits of the Rotary Foundation, which are; peace and
Conflict Management, Maternal and Child Death, Basic Education and
Literacy, and Polio and Guinea Worm Eradication. He has made an
outstanding donation of 250,000 USD for Peace studies at Chulalongkorn
University in Bangkok, Thailand, $250,000 for Polio eradication;
$250,000 for Guinea worm eradication; and another $250,000 for Women
empowerment programmes in Nigeria. He was inducted into the Foundation
Circle of the Arch Klumph Society of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary
International, an honour reserved for individuals who have donated over
$250,000 to its causes. Through his Foundation, he has donated over $1
million, making him the highest donor from Africa.
This Anambra State-born politician and businessman has heavily
invested in education. The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation is the largest
single sponsor of Books For Africa, a non-profitable organization,
bringing in over $10 million worth of books, computers and other
educational materials to our national institutions of learning and
public libraries. He was reported to have also used his money to
enthrone a governor in his home state.
Andy Uba
Initially named Nnamdi Uba and currently a member of the National
Assembly as a Senator of the Federal Republic, Senator Andy Uba is a
member of the famous Uba family in Anambra State. He is stupendously
rich and was reported to have declared his assets to be worth N3trillion
though he denied ever doing so.
Uba has a lot of lucrative business interests and he is connected with a number of charity works via a Foundation.
