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.