When Nigerian banker Jim Ovia appears again on the early days of Zenith Financial institution, the figures nonetheless give him pause. In 1990, he put collectively N20 million—$5 million on the then change fee of N4 to the greenback—to start out a financial institution in a market already crowded with established lenders.
Almost three many years later, that call sits behind Nigeria’s most worthwhile financial institution, with shareholders’ funds of more than $3.3 billion as of September 2025 and a market cap of about $1.9 billion. Right this moment, Zenith Financial institution is Nigeria’s tenth most respected publicly listed enterprise.
A affected person path to billions
Ovia, now 74, has typically described the story not as a rush to scale however as one constructed on quiet, affected person capital. In a recent video reflecting on Zenith Bank’s beginnings, he returned to the numbers that body the journey. “I began Zenith Financial institution with N20m in 1990. That’s about $5m on the similar fee of N4 to the greenback,” he mentioned.
On the time, Nigeria’s banking system was smaller, regulation was evolving, and entry to capital was restricted. 20 years later, he famous, the financial institution’s shareholders’ funds had risen to roughly $4 billion, a stage he described as a exceptional return on funding. “From $5 million to $4 billion. You are able to do the maths. It gives you some hundreds proportion return,” he mentioned.
Zenith Financial institution’s present steadiness sheet tells the identical story in additional exact phrases. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the financial institution reported shareholders’ fairness of N4.73 trillion, or about $3.31 billion, complete belongings of N31.17 trillion ($21.9 billion), and retained earnings of N2.56 trillion ($1.8 billion). On the Nigerian Alternate, it stands as Nigeria’s most worthwhile lender and the second-largest monetary companies group by market worth, with a cap of N2.75 trillion ($1.92 billion) on the time of writing.
Scale, persistence, Nigerian alternative and the Jim Ovia story
For the Nigerian banker and main businessman, the lesson lies much less in boldness and extra in perseverance. He has urged younger Nigerians to stay centered and decided, particularly when progress feels sluggish. “They need to stay centered. They need to stay decided,” he mentioned, including that returns of this scale are unusual in mature markets.
“These sorts of numbers, these sorts of returns, you don’t get it even in God’s personal nation, America. You don’t get it in Europe. You don’t get it in Russia. You will get them in Nigeria.” He cautioned that adversity is a pure a part of the enterprise world. “You’ll all the time expertise adversity and challenges in any enterprise initiative, whether or not it’s in Europe or it’s in America,” he mentioned, noting that many entrepreneurs stroll away at that time.
Ovia’s business empire extends properly past Zenith Financial institution. Ranked amongst Nigeria’s richest enterprise figures, Forbes in 2013 pegged his net worth at $900 million. He’s additionally behind the Civic Heart Towers and performed a key position within the development of Visafone Communications, the cell operator that had 3 million subscribers when it was acquired by MTN Nigeria in 2016. Nonetheless, Zenith Financial institution stays the clearest expression of his method to constructing worth over time.
After securing a license from Nigeria’s central financial institution in 1990, Jim Ovia led Zenith Financial institution right into a sector dominated by established lenders. Through the years, conservative lending, sturdy capital buffers and tight price controls helped it handle forex swings, shifting regulation and financial downturns. The financial institution expanded past Nigeria into West Africa and the U.Okay., and in 2024 it opened a department in Paris, focusing on Francophone Africa and components of Europe.
The numbers from current years underline how that regular method has compounded. In 2024, Zenith Bank posted a record profit of N1.032 trillion ($670.7 million), a 52.5 % improve from the N676.9 billion ($440 million) reported in 2023. Within the 9 months of its 2025 monetary yr, profit reached N764.2 billion ($536.1 million).
Zenith Financial institution’s capital elevate fuels pan-African push
Jim Ovia, who holds a 16.2 % stake and serves as chairman, has remained central to technique because the Zenith Financial institution pushes outward. That push has been backed by capital. A N350.4 billion ($229.74 million) elevate via a rights concern and public provide lifted Zenith Financial institution’s share capital to N614.65 billion ($402.69 million), clearing the N500 billion ($327.36 million) threshold set by the Central Financial institution of Nigeria for lenders looking for worldwide growth.
With that in place, the bank has unveiled plans to begin operations in Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. The Abidjan department gives publicity to an economic system that has averaged 6.7 % annual development over the previous 5 years and gives a gateway to the CEMAC bloc, broadening Zenith Financial institution’s footprint throughout West and Central Africa.
Zenith Financial institution can also be trying east. The financial institution has filed for regulatory approval to acquire Kenya’s Paramount Bank, a proposed deal that may mark its first main step into the Kenyan market and lengthen its attain into East Africa. The purpose, based on the financial institution, is to serve the total spectrum of shoppers whereas diversifying regional earnings.
Taken collectively, the arc from a $5 million begin to greater than $3.3 billion in shareholders’ funds is, for Ovia, much less about velocity than about restraint. It displays decisions made early, the self-discipline to again groups and management, and the willingness to let worth construct yr after yr with out dashing. In his telling, the numbers matter—however so does the persistence behind them.
