Despite the harsh terrain and business challenges involved with starting a business in Nigeria; the successful entrepreneurs listed below held their ground and fought their way to the top. In a country with a population of over 160 million inhabitants and millions of businesses; these 20 entrepreneurs diligently carved their names in the sands of time.
Check out the list below.
1. Alhaji Aliko Dangote – founder of Dangote Group, Richest man in Africa and Richest black man in the world
2. Mike Adenuga – Conoil, Equatorial Trust Bank, Globacom
3. Femi Otedola – ZENON Oil and Gas
4. Orji Uzor Kalu – Slok Group
5. Cosmos Maduka – Coscharis Group
6. Jimoh Ibrahim – Nicon Insurance, Global Flee
7. Jim Ovia – Zenith Bank, Visafone
8. Pascal Dozie – MTN Nigeria, Diamond Bank
9. Oba Otudeko – Honeywell Group Nigeria
10. Alhaji Sayyu Dantata – MRS Group
11. Umaru Abdul Mutallab – former Chairman First Bank Plc, Mutallab Group
12. Prince Samuel Adedoyin – Doyin Group
13. Dele Fajemirokun – Chaiman Aiico Insurance, Xerox Nigeria, Chicken Republic, Kings Guards etc.
14. Chief Cletus Ibeto – Ibeto Group
15. Raymond Dokpesi – Daar Communication, AIT,
16. Tony Ezenna – Orange Group
17. Chief Molade Okoya Thomas – Chairman CFAO Nig and other six french companies
18. Ifeanyi Ubah – Capital oil and gas
19. Leo Stan Ekeh – Zinox Computer
20. Fola Adeola – GTBank
21. Chief Ade Ojo – Elizade Motors Nig LTD, Distributor of Toyota cars
Fola Adelaide don die naa...abi?
ReplyDeleteShoo....
Where's Davido's father na ? Omo Baba olowo wey ur papa?
Deleteso they mean Tony elumelu is not amongst 9ja top 25?forbes is a big joke
DeleteDid you kill Fola Adeola? LOL! You mean Mr Aderinokun.
DeleteWhere is my name??? Ojoro don start o!
ReplyDeleteFYM
DeleteYeye list...where is my name?
ReplyDeleteNa every week forbes dey release list now? Anyways make una helep me praise Jehovah! I saw my name on the list! NO 22... >>>> CLICK HERE! To see the face of the Nigerian girl who trades her nude photos for money!
ReplyDeleteThe terrorist Mutallab's daddy. hahahahahahaha. Ade Ojo and Otudeko are richer than a lot of these men. No Alakija?
ReplyDeleteThey must be delusional
ReplyDeleteIfeanyi Uba whose liabilities are more than his assets?
Well said.
Deleteone day i know i will make this list
ReplyDeleteMy own time is coming and I shall be on dat list..
ReplyDelete~meemah~
its not fear oh... Igbinedion no even enter top 20
ReplyDeleteTolu Elumelu is not on this list??? and also WTF is Raymon Dokpesi doing there?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm..... Where is baba olowo (Davido's father)?
ReplyDeleteLadun,are you sure this list is from Forbes or you mde it up yourself cos some names on this list has absolutely no bussines here. We are talking bout people who still owe their staff.
ReplyDeleteLmao!!!
DeleteWow, one day my name is gonna b on dat list. I thought davido's dad wud b on d list. Anyway congz men, I'm on my way 2 d top
ReplyDeleteHapi for them.
ReplyDeletei can count 9 of my people on the list, dont worry i will soon join una to be 10
ReplyDeleteThis forbes list of nigerian richest is not in other oba otudeko should be second to dangote while people like A-Z petroleum chairman chicason group should be in their Dokpesi is a big doubt for me, Davido father Chief Deji Adeleke should be their Pacific group chairman and partner to Dangote group
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of punctuation marks?
DeleteHow many of them come from South South where the oil money comes from. This is why there can not be peace in Nigeria
ReplyDeleteEntrepreneur is the key not some business man or trader. Click to view my Art works
ReplyDeleteGet ur facts right , that aint from Forbes at all .. Better go and find the real source of that list
ReplyDeleteE be like say Forbes don dey collect bribe. Plenty names on this list should not appear at all, haba. Silent billionaires nah den plenty for these country o. Some of this ones nah wash
ReplyDeleteUse the wealth to creat jobs for the young generation to divert dia attention on Internet fraud and other related crimes...chikena!
ReplyDeleteIfeanyi Uba you are so rich you have no use for Anambra money.I guess its power you seek.If God decides to make you governor pls transform Anambra to the Dubia of the middle east with your biz expertise.
ReplyDeleteAfter Kalu stole govt money finish and do Vodafone still dey 9ja? Abeg fake list
ReplyDeletecheck your facts Kalu had money before he entered government. he was even the one that sponsored Obasanjo's campaign
DeleteSponsored OBasanjo's campaign bawo? Many of them donated. He's rich but his money isn't near these ones. If you add the money he stole from Abia maybe but they don't like adding politicians.
DeleteMoney making brains,,,
ReplyDeleteStinkingly rich men...just imagine yourself getting married to one of their children....MEHN!!!
ReplyDeleteI can't see my name here, what's happening???? Click Here To See Juicy Gist
ReplyDeletethey know the kind of useless empty news that exited the average Nigerian.
ReplyDeletethe same otedola that was owing billions less than 5 yrs ago,instead of pushing him to a chapter 13 like the law says what did they do? they fraudulently over valued his collateral and wrote off the debt who suffers, the average depositor paying high fees and being ripped off.. dangote whose basis for wealth is the unfair monopoly and ripping NIGS off.GOD dey when they die i hope they hang the forbes placard on their neck and bury them with it as a life time achievement.
the likes of bill gates,laurene jobs,even zuckerberg,warren beatty etc have gone past forbes and leaving proper charitable legacies our own numbskulls are revelling in ignorance
Warren Beatty?????? Am a bit confused????
DeleteChapter 13 bankruptcy is not something you "push" someone into. The goal of Chapter 13 is to enable income-receiving debtors a debtor rehabilitation provided they fulfill a court-approved plan.
Luca, The Aboki-Na-Mallam Group is beginning to doubt your "perceived" intelligence. Seriously!!
Warren Buffett he meant.
DeleteSteve not LAURENE.
and in your "perceived intelligence"after reeling out the dictionary meaning what stage was otedola's indebtedness before amcon did their government magic?
Deletehe was at a point where he could not come up with the loans,the banks fore closed and all of a sudden after settling with dangote,they over valued his collateral to match up with his debts and wiped it off.
so i maintain he should have been compelled to file for bankruptcy in a sane country
@ladunsbiggestfan
Deletethanks for the correction on warren buffett i was typing in a hurry and eating at the same time.
i meant LAURENE NOT STEVE.steve jobs is dead and LAURENE is the widow who inherited his estate pls google her charity initiatives.
*multitasking*
DeleteTrue, his wife has taken over his foundation/trust. Even though most of these schemes are a form of tax evasion.
My thoughts @lucabree..you see the average 9ja heaping praise on a bunch of opportunists and scammers..if 9ja were law abiding and EFCC really did their work over 85% of those on the list would be in prison for all sorts of malpractices...
ReplyDeleteNot even 1% of my local area talk less of Lagos holding the whole country to ransom...and where are the old military leaders??..the top looters..
@anon13.06 i no fit shout
DeleteTrue.the way evil and useless business people like dangote,otedola ,jimo ibrahim and co daily rape the financial institutions is the reason why the average NIG depositor are still paying double digit APR on loans.
Deletethey borrow billions from banks to leverage and run their business after making profit they won't return the money back rather will bribe the consortium of bank officials or do the 419 otedola did.at the end of the day depositors will suffer by paying through their nose in form of useless bank charges to cover the short fall.
this is why all of them have banks or large share in banks to be able to continue their 419.
i can assure you that if dangote was to pay only 50% of his loans he will not be the richest man in africa talk less of richest black man he is a criminal
@ Lucabracee, your paranoia has put you on the brink of delusion. How can you be so misguided? Agreed there a fraudsters on the list but calling Dangote useless? How can you say they are not paying back their loans? Particularly Dangote. The CBN's MPR is the key determinant of interests paid on loans and not Dangote and co not paying back their loans. The banks reserve the prerogative so set interest rates for different categories of borrowers largely dependent on the risk of default.
DeleteDangote's value has nothing to do with "paying back 50% of his loans". Its about the value of his investments. When you attain to their heights, you would understand what negotiation is and you would understand money better. Wealth, assets will always put you in a good position to negotiate.
"To him who has, more will be given and to him who does not have, what he HAS will be taken away":JESUS CHRIST
while i totally acknowledge your obviously superior knowledge in finance and economics,i believe you are sadly erroneous in your assertions.
Deletefirst off the meaning of delusions means i believe in something that is false.
well for a start jimoh ibrahim publicly attested to this in a public interview,still looking for the interview and will post it when i find it..
second i might not be well versed in economics but one thing i know for sure is that just like insurance, loans repayment is a key economic determinant in setting interest rates.we are not on about GDP here but an economic issue directly related to banks and financial institutions…if more people default on insurance,the cost will transfer back to those buying insurance in form of higher fees same principle goes with loans.
so how do you measure the risk of default? it is a known fact even without the aid of economic indices that Nigeria is a largely saving economy.due to the socio cultural environment most Nigerians save money in banks rather than access credits,that is why banks have been so lazy in just relying on depositors funds to run their business as opposed to a western financial institution.the point of my preamble is if a set of people are mainly saving rather than credit dependant would you say they are at risk of default?
when he is a top official in Nigeria stock exchange,he has half of bank and financial institution officials even Govt agency amcon in his pocket,he is a member of the national financial advisory body on presidential level pls tell me how Nigerians will get an objective value of his investment?
were you not in Nigeria just last year or year before when his friend femi Otedola blatantly in plain view committed financial fraud in concert with amcon over valuing collateral and wiping out his debts? who do you think are paying off the difference if not depositors?
Dangote is using our deposit to run his business,and i bet you he is not worth 40-50% of what they are touting if his debit and credits are objectively worked out forbes will only use the figures his accountants make available to them
The list is so warped. Adeojo should be in the top ten to start with. He not only owns elizade, he also owns almost 80% of toyota nigeria wo i wonder how okoya of cfao could be higher than him since they buy from adeojo and cfao does not even do a fraction of elizade sales nevertheless toyota nigeria.Adeojo spent some N15B in raw cash to build his university not borrowed money.
ReplyDeleteJim Ovia and Otudeko should be higher up.Apart from the sprawling honeywell, otudeko has the sole franchise for blackberry and i think samsung in nigeria and owns 40% of SLOTS amongst a ton of other stuffs including radisson blu.
Ifeanyi Uba has no business on the list. Apart from being a fraudster, he wants to use the "little" money he has to win Anambra governorship so he can start chopping another level of money.
Why is Alakija not on the list and if the likes of Adedoyin are there, then i think Bola Shagaya should be there or na only men list? Enuf said....very crappy list!
Former Chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, has said that thieves worse than convicted former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, are walking free in Nigeria today and they are known.
ReplyDelete“There are worse people than James Ibori in Nigeria. Probably, he was not the smartest one among them, but there are some crooks worse than James and I still see them. Some of them are even being celebrated right now in our country.”
Luca meant...Warren Buffet!!
ReplyDeleteNa wa o, God please make me rich, amen!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm men making money like it's shit
ReplyDeleteThank God i made it number 2... >>>> click here to know about companies recruiting Nigerians free visa.
ReplyDeleteI bet IBB and OBJ are richer than those guys...and even Danjuma but Forbes doesn't recognise people whose wealth came from glaring dubious means. Naija billionaires should go and understudy white billionaires and their thrust towards charity. The ones we have here use their wealth to oppress the common man on the street with their crazy convoy and entourage. Mike
ReplyDeleteSo in your warped imagination...this lot are not dubious??...God help free you people from your mental slavery...
ReplyDeleteYes o Luca!!...dem never they repay their loans most people here don't know nothing...don't get me started on non payment of taxes..they robbing you lot blind...nuff said already!!
thats Nigerian mentality for you.
Deletebefore bill gates,warren buffet and co can be on the list the Government IRS have collected their taxes,they have deducted employee loans scheme,they have deducted their short,medium and long term loans,they have forecast the average fluctuation of their shares.
earlier this month,we all read how pensioners were battling mike adenuga to pay their pension he has spent on his business, forbes dont live in Nigeria so they didn't see that one.
as rich as he is why was he embezzling a paltry 20-30billion naira? if bill gates tries that stunt in america he will end up in same jail with madoff.
the likes of dangote and co are sole signatories or use people they can control on employee pension funds,they regularly do insider trading in stock exchange,they dont pay tax and we are celebrating them for shagging us and our economy up the asshole
Watch out for my name on the list soon!
ReplyDeleteI do not know what kALU IS DOING ON THAT LIST. where IS Alakija ? Everything in NIgeria is politics.
ReplyDeleteAs for Mi,I no want money wey no go let mi fear God..shikena,all dese people on dis list have estates in hell,dey'll all be neighbours sef.
ReplyDeletePublic disclaimer
ReplyDeleteThe information that was published in a recent article that made reference to a list of the wealthiest Nigerian businessmen was not created nor produced by Forbes Africa or its parent company Forbes.
Forbes Africa its parent company in the United States its affiliates and subsidiaries including staff hereby unequivocally disassociates itself from the article the content thereof and any information that is related to it.
Public disclaimer
ReplyDeleteThe information that was published in a recent article that made reference to a list of the wealthiest Nigerian businessmen was not created nor produced by Forbes Africa or its parent company Forbes.
Forbes Africa its parent company in the United States its affiliates and subsidiaries including staff hereby unequivocally disassociates itself from the article the content thereof and any information that is related to it.