There is no gainsaying that becoming a billionaire is an ambition which is as lofty as it is impossible for the vast majority. Yet what is a pipe dream to many has long since become reality for Zenith Bank chairman and co-founder Jim Ovia. The banker, property developer, tech investor and all-round business mogul is a card-carrying member of the financial elite.
Jim proudly holds the enviable record of being the first banker from Nigeria to ever crack the dollar billionaire club. He is also the fourth Nigerian after Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga and Folorunsho Alakija to join the billionaires league. By any parameters, Jim has achieved everything there is to achieve. But it wasn’t always plain sailing for the man who is worshiped as a god in banking circles.
There is no smoke without fire and as a teenager Jim’s passion for the banking profession already burned bright enough to power an entire city. While studying for a degree in Business Administration from Southern University Louisiana, he enjoyed a stint as a clerk in Barclays Bank, DCO. After his MBA he joined International Merchant Bank as a financial analyst, subsequently rising to become a senior manager by 1987.
Determined to blaze the trail in bringing banking in Nigeria into the modern age, Jim co-founded Zenith Bank in 1990 under the core mantra of “People, Technology and Service”. Nearly 3 decades later, the small business that operated out of Ajose Adeogun Street on Victoria Island, Lagos has become a banking behemoth offering a multitude of financial services deployed through cutting-edge technology and robust customer service.
Jim’s track record as an astute and dependable banker helped Zenith to successfully scale through the banking consolidation exercise of 2004 which sent some unlucky banks to the morgue. Since then the bank has grown from strength to strength to become one of Africa’s premier financial institutions with earnings in excess of $1 billion.
As Zenith’s chairman, CEO until 2010 and largest shareholder, Jim has no doubt reaped tons of bucks from his major brainchild over the years. He peaked at $1.1billion on the Forbes rich list and regularly hovers at or near the top of every annual Nigeria’s richest banker list.
The man who founded Visafone also has a large real estate portfolio that further swells his coffers in a daily basis. The Civic Centre in Victoria Island and the exclusive Aquamarine boat club are just two of the commercial properties owned by the grandmaster of banking.
Jim has his fingers in almost every major business pie from banking to telecommunications, from ICT to education and real estate. His 9% stake in Zenith alone nets him a cool $400m based on conservative estimates.