We thought to curate an updated list of the young wealthy Nigerians that do not often make the headlines for your reading pleasure.
- Igho Sanomi is one of Nigeria’s youngest billionaire businessmen, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. He was born in Agbor, Delta State, on 17 May 1975. He is the executive director of Cosmos oil AG and founder of Taleveras. He is the founder of Taleveras Group- Igho Sanomi’s business interests include telecommunications, shipping, aviation, engineering, construction and real estate investments. He is also the son of a former Assistant Inspector General who makes millions of naira from his energy, building, and power business enterprises. It is also noteworthy that his company has vast shares in two Nigeria oil blocs. Sanomi founded Taleveras Group (a Nigerian energy-trading company) in 2004. According to Forbes, Taleveras trades over 100 million barrels of crude oil and several million tons of gasoline, LPG and jet fuel. In April 2012, Taleveras acquired production sharing contracts (PSCs) for three offshore oil blocks on Ivory Coast. In June 2013, Taleveras sold a 65% stake in one of its Ivorian offshore upstream projects to Lukoil of Russia for an undisclosed price. Taleveras also owns a stake in a power distribution firm in Nigeria. Venture-Africa, a bimonthly Pan-African business magazine about African capitalism, described the group as trading nearly a billion barrels of crude oil and millions of tons of condensates, gasoline, jet fuel, condensates and LPG every year. Taleveras also owns substantial stakes in two oil blocks in Nigeria and lucrative production sharing contracts (PSCs) in three offshore oil blocks on Ivory Coast. The group Power subsidiary constructs electrical substations in Nigeria and recently acquired a majority stake in the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company. Taleveras has an annual turnover of several billion dollars, and Igho Sanomi is the group’s controlling shareholder.” On 30 July 2013, Taleveras Group acquired Afam Power. One of the Nigerian companies reportedly awarded oil-lifting contracts in the federal government’s bid, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to award nearly half of the 2012–2013 lifting contracts (worth $60 billion) to indigenous companies—promoting local content and “downsizing contracts awarded to international oil traders”. In October of that year, Taleveras Group signed a technical agreement with Alstom Group to rehabilitate and expand the 776-megawatt Afam power plant in Rivers State. Patrick Kron, chairman and chief executive (président-directeur général) of the French engineering conglomerate, signed the agreement with Taleveras Group during his visit with Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerian business leaders and members of the international business community in Lagos, Nigeria.
- Ladi Delano is a British-born Nigerian technopreneur who, along with his co-founder and co-CEO Jide Odunsi, is making waves with his latest venture, Moove, the world’s first mobility fintech service. In 2019, Delano teamed up with fellow British-born Nigerian technopreneur Jide Odunsi to co-found his latest venture, Moove Africa BV. The project provides revenue-based financing to ride-hailing drivers in sub-Saharan Africa and has already enjoyed tremendous success, securing a highly profitable partnership with Uber and raising over $174.5 million in funding. Having captured the African market, Delano now aims to scale the model to new market needs in Asia, MENA, and Europe over the next six months. Although he has Nigerian heritage, Delano was born, raised, and educated in London in the UK. According to startuptipsdaily.com, he attributes much of his success to his parents, who he describes as “unsung heroes” who made multiple sacrifices and did everything in their power to ensure their children received the education and support they needed to succeed in life. His father, a corporate executive and an MBA lecturer, spent hours studying business techniques with Delano, educating him on the things that, 20 years later, would turn him into one of Nigeria’s most successful entrepreneurs. He earned an MPA from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Master of Science from Oxford University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Global Business from Oxford University. When Delano’s parents moved to the US shortly after he left college, Delano joined them. Within three weeks, he’d landed an internship with Merrill Lynch. After the end of the training, Delano moved back to London, where he and a group of friends decided to capitalize on the growing market for vodka by venturing into the liquor business. The result, Solid XS, became a success… at least in terms of sales. But while there was no shortage of customers, the high cost of doing business in London ate up most of the start-up’s profits. Determined not to give up, Delano moved the business to China. It proved a wise move, and within very little time, Solid XS accounted for over 50% of the vodka market in the country. After several years of building Solid XS into one of the dominant forces in the Chinese liquor market, Delano decided to sell after the company after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 began to bite hard. After receiving an offer from a rival firm, Delano sold the business for $15 million, which he promptly reinvested in his next venture. In April 2012, Delano decided to move to Nigeria, a country he considered ripe for investment. After arriving, he formed Bakrie Delano Africa (BDA), a $1 billion joint venture with BakrieGroup of Indonesia, a conglomerate with interests across various industries, including infrastructure, property development, mining, oil and gas plantations, media, and telecommunications.
- Obinna Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana, is a Nigerian Based businessman, entertainer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and show killer; he is the chairman and the owner of the popular Cubana Groups. Obi Cubana was born on 12 April 1975. Obinna Iyiegbu, best known as OBI CUBANA, is from Oba, a community in Demili-South Local Government Area in Anambra State, Nigeria. Obi Cubana Net worth: Obi Cubana is currently one of the richest and the most influential personalities, entertainers, show promoters, and entrepreneurs in Nigeria. His net worth is estimated to be $500 million, and this is based on his income, properties, and asset. The nightlife entrepreneur, who recently ventured into the real estate business via his Casa Cubana home, also has his eyes set on inscribing the Cubana signature in the United Kingdom with a Cubana Club. The club’s building began in earnest last year and was expected to have been completed and launched by February 2022. However, work is still ongoing on the building, which will also house a restaurant mainly serving Nigerian food. Cubana has also expanded his business empire by incorporating a hotel and launching his brand of bitters, an alcoholic drink infused with herbs, spices, fruits, roots, tree bark and other botanicals. Although the hotel arm of his Cubana Group, known as Cubana Suites, was already in existence, it operated on a meagre scale. It did not have the luxury associated with his brand. He had to shut it down for two years, go back to the drawing board, re-strategize and reopen it just two days before St Valentine’s Day with a bang. He recently unveiled the bitters, which he aptly named Odogwu Bitters.
- Jowizaza, a Nigerian Igbo billionaire, he is 35 years old and originally from Anambra State. Real name, Joseph Eze Okafor, Jnr, popularly called Jowi Zaza, is one of the youngest billionaires in Nigeria. He has so much wealth at the young age of 36. His billionaire dad created the businesses and has since passed them over to him. He is not just a billionaire but a socialite known within elite Nigerian circles. The billionaire businessman is the chief executive officer of Jezco Oil Nigeria Ltd, a multi-million dollar oil and gas firm founded by his father in 1980. After eight years of its establishment, the company became a fully licensed oil service company and an independent marketer of petroleum products in 1988. Joseph Eze Okafor: Jowi Zaza’s father, Joseph Eze Okafor Snr, is a business magnate from Anambra and the founder of Jezco oil. The original owner of Jezco Oil, Chief Joseph EzeOkafor Snr, is the dad of Nigerian entrepreneur and socialite Jowizaza. In the past, Mitsubishi Motors has given Jezco Oil Nigeria Limited an award of appreciation for Jezco Rosy’s special lubricants. He is said to own a factory that makes gasoline dispensers. Chief Joseph Okafor is currently worth $2 Billion and is blessed with two sons and five daughters. Jowizazaa is the Jezco Oil former boss’s successor and new Managing Director. His father founded the famous oil and gas firm Jezco Oil and Jezco Lubricants in the 1970s. The company currently operates filling stations with retail stores across the country.
- Seyi Tinubu CEO of Loastsad Promo media. Seyi Tinubu is 36 years, born October 13, 1985. Seyi is the only surviving son of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the leader of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress. Tinubu is also the 2023 presidential candidate of the party ahead of the elections. Seyi had become of the most influential Nigerians and wealthy too. Seyi Tinubu is worth $1.5 million. HE is an entrepreneur, a businessman and a politician who has been active in the campaign that led to his father’s emergence as APC Presidential candidate. He is the CEO of an out-of-home advertising company, Loatsad Promo media Ltd, Patron of STL Polo Team and a member of several organizations’ boards. Loatsad Promo media Ltd is an outdoor advertising company which calls some of Nigeria’s leading blue-chip and multinational companies as part of its clients. Tinubu is highly sought after for developing tailor-made solutions for successful brands for his sound legal experience and commonsense approach to international business transactions. According to multiple sources, his company gets the first right of refusal before any advert is placed in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial city, with an estimated 20 million people. Since opening Loatsad Promo media years ago, Tinubu has overseen over 1000 completed advertising transactions by the firm representing billions in transaction value. And he also enjoys patronage from state actors due to his father’s political connections.
The information in this article was curated from online sources. The source or its editorial team cannot independently verify all details.
