Nigerian Entrepreneurs

Full Name: Jim Ovia.(CON)
Date of Birth: November 5, 1951.
Place of Birth: Ibadan, Nigeria.
Net Worth: $850 Million
Nationality: Nigerian
Source Of Wealth: Banking.
Marrital Status: Married.
Education: Masters Degree in Business Administration: North East Louisiana University, Southern University Louisiana, Harvard Business School.
Residence: Lagos, Nigeria
Children: 2


Jim Ovia is co-founder and CEO of Zenith Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading banks. He was born on November 5, 1951, at Agbor in the Delta State of Nigeria. He is also an investor in real estate across Nigeria. His other assets include Visafone, a mobile telecommunication outfit.

Under his stewardship Zenith survived the crash of the mid-1990s when Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s then military ruler, closed down foreign exchange dealing loopholes and forced many unsound banks out of business.
Uncluttered by the bureaucracy of established rivals, Jim Ovia set about an aggressive programme of building up accounts with government agencies and the private sector with a dynamic team of young professionals that quickly established a market presence.

Ovia looked to strengthen his relationship with government after the restoration of civilian rule in 1999 and became close to the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo. As with other oligarchs, he raised substantial funds for Obasanjo’s re-election campaign in 2003 and went on to become a trustee of the Obasanjo presidential library and a director of the controversial Transcorp.

Jim Ovia attended Southern University Louisiana, where he obtained a B.Sc in Business Administration in the year 1977. Later he proceeded to the North East Louisiana University, where he obtained a Masters Degree in Business Administration in 1979. He also did an Executive Management Program in the Harvard Business School.

In August 2014, Jim Ovia commenced the construction of $1.5 billion petrochemical complex in Akwa-Ibom State Nigeria. Forbes listed Jim Ovia as the 30th richest man in Africa in the year 2014.

He serves on the boards of the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council. He is a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic. He is a Fellow of the 2006 class of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Jim Ovia is a motivational speaker and has delivered speeches at several conferences. He has authored several published and unpublished works and he is in the vanguard of promotion and propagation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria.