Jim Ovia: All hail iconic banker at book launch

“When the dust settles and the definitive history of contemporary Africa is written, Jim Ovia will be prominently cited as one of the founding fathers of Africa’s modern banking system.

“Africa Rise & Shine enshrines how Ovia pioneered the creation of one of the continent’s most successful banks, and demonstrates how believing in yourself, aiming for excellence, building a team, and listening to your gut-all with an unwavering ethical stance-frame the model for the next generation of great entrepreneurs everywhere.

“Jim Ovia’s story redefines the power of today’s self-made man.”- David Applefield, Special Projects Representative, Financial Times

The size and calibre of dignitaries at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos venue of the launch of Africa Arise And Shine on Monday, September 17, authenticated the zenith Jim James Ovia has attained in the global banking world.

If the event were to be a political rally, Ovia’s electoral victory would have been assured and delivered. Even as a book launch, it attracted the who-is-who of Nigeria’s economic, social and political class, almost putting on hold the commercial city’s major decisions while it lasted. Indeed, only the few in his class could boast of such a select rich personalities on the higher side of the ‘table.’

As a must-attend A-list event, Ovia pulled Nigeria’s top political and economic players to the venue. And even President Muhammadu Buhari, who could not attend the ceremony, commended the entrepreneurship of the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank for his contributions to the country’s economy, especially the financial sector.

Buhari said in his message at the public presentation and launch: “I commend you in this contribution to the knowledge base of Nigeria’s entrepreneurs, particularly the Nigerian youth.

“Your journey in building one of our country’s most iconic enterprise is an encouragement to our fellow citizens. Congratulations on this achievement.”

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo lauded Ovia’s philanthropic gestures, particularly his investment in education.

All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said: “What is most telling about Jim’s personality is how he has remained a humble man, despite his herald success.”

While commended the astute banker for his humanitarian and philanthropic gestures, Tinubu added: “The same sense of compassion enabled Jim to help multitude through his supervision of many colleges and humanitarian works.

“He gives back to society by helping educate and train the generation of African entrepreneurs.”

To the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, Ovia possesses many qualities worthy of emulation, saying: “The book conveys an inspirational message on universal principles that are applicable in every country, which can serve as a guide to millions of young Nigerians on how to succeed.

“These principles are devotion to knowledge, commitment to excellence and courage to dare where many feared.

“As you will find in the book, these factors were instrumental in enabling him to build a US$16 billion conglomerate from barely N203 million at start-up of this empire.

“For those of us who know him and have worked under him, Ovia is a stickler for knowledge and is deeply committed to excellence.”

Emefiele said those were important principles that should guide local and foreign investors in their approach to the Nigerian and African markets, noting that the key success factors for investors should be clear understanding of the potential of the market, leveraging technology and innovation in providing superior products and services to a market of about 200 million people, in the case of Nigeria.

“If these principles are followed, like Ovia has done in Nigeria as well as in other parts of the world, you can expect to receive huge rewards for your efforts,” he stated.

Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode highlighted Ovia’s contributions to the accountancy and banking professions in Nigeria and called on leading entrepreneurs in Africa to take time to expose the younger generations to their inspiring stories, with a view to showing them how to become successful business owners.

Ambode stressed the need for successful entrepreneurs, like Ovia, to tell the story of how they were able to navigate the business climate to inspire others who looked forward to be like them.

“Obviously, there is no person that has actually gone through the profession of accountancy that would not have had something to do with Jim Ovia,” Ambode added.

On his part, the author said Internet was changing the world and had enabled people to do online transactions, online sales, online education and everything.

He said that an economy driven by technology would always blossom, adding: “So, for us to blossom the Nigerian economy, let’s start to digitise the economy. If we digitise the economy, it will continue to grow.

“If we use technology to drive our manufacturing process, our agriculture and healthcare, we will know what that will do for us.”

He said the desire to change the narrative of African continent inspired the writing of the book. “The narrative of Africa has been something so pathetic.

“When you Google about Africa then, the first things that came out is that it is a continent of complex, a continent of corruption and of coups.

“That was played out very dramatically when The Economist magazine had on their front page that Africa then was a continent of coup and a continent of corruption.

“But after two decades, that narrative started changing. Today, we now know that Africa is truly rising.”

He stated further: “Twenty years ago, only few African countries had mobile phones, but today, all the African countries, not only have mobile phones, they also have broadband technology and Internet penetration is high.

“Africa is rising by embracing technology. Amazon is now over $1 trillion. This Amazon doesn’t have a factory anywhere; they don’t have any oil well at all, but it has over $1 trillion in market capitalisation and richer than Nigeria and twice the GDP of Nigeria.

“It is because they embraced technology and the Internet.”

Africa Rise And Shine, published by ForbesBooks, chronicles the story of how he built one of Nigeria’s largest financial institutions, Zenith Bank Plc, within the last three decades, recounting the series of events that led to Ovia’s triumph in Nigeria’s difficult business turf.

From over three decades experience, Ovia, through dogged determination nurtured Zenith Bank to maturity and sustainability, making it the billion-naira institution it is today.

No wonder S&P recently affirmed its national scale ratings on the bank at ‘ngA/ngA-1’ and ‘’B’ long-term and ‘B’ short-term issuer credit ratings.

The global rating agency said the outlook is stable, adding: “The affirmation reflects our view that Zenith will continue to display better asset quality indicators than its domestic peers and sound revenue generation over the next 12-18 months despite the generally slow economic recovery in Nigeria.”

As at June 30, this year, the total assets of the bank were put around N5.3 trillion (about $15.3 billion), making it the second-largest bank in the country.

Reminiscing on his humble beginning with the bank, Ovia, whose rich banking experience is like a textbook case study, took Forbes through how he started out with a single branch in Lagos on the ground floor of an impoverished residential duplex that he shared with a private tenant.

“At the time, there were no high-rise office structures in the area and we were not able to afford any standalone structures,” he told Forbes Africa at his iconic Civic Centre on Ozumba Mbadiwe in Victoria Island, Lagos, “the sprawling high-rise office structure we occupy on this rainy Saturday morning is a far cry from the early years.”

He recalled erecting a signage and the company logo in the impromptu commercial space where they could carry out the banking business.

Prior to Zenith Bank, he worked at Barclays Bank in Lagos at the age of 18 for three years as a clerical officer before traveling abroad to study Business Administration at Southern University, Louisiana, in the United States (US) and later proceeding to the University of Louisiana, Monroe, US, for his Master’s degree, also in Business Administration.

Upon graduation, he joined Union Bank for his national service and on completion of the mandatory one-year service, Ovia joined the Merchant Bank of Africa, then owned by Bank of America, and for over three years before applying for a banking license, the granting of which gave birth to Zenith Bank.

“We knew it was going to be a bank that was well run. We knew it will be a bank that will be very efficient and we knew it will be a bank that will offer good and excellent service, because that is one of the reasons we set up the bank in the first place,” he stated.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that Ovia set out from the onset to run Zenith differently from the usual banking system obtainable then, adding: “When you go to many Zenith Bank offices, you will still not see any crowds in the banking hall, yet we are still providing the best quality service.”

Above all, his self-confidence and belief in his entrepreneurial instincts, was a driving force, even in the face of teething challenges.

He knew his worth and was determined to make success out of his endeavours, and Zenith Bank was like a launch pad.

But that is not the reason he has a spring in his step these days. In chronicling the key lessons entrepreneurs could learn from the rise of Zenith Bank, he said: “Among the most important of those lessons may be my experience that it is not necessary to be born rich or in influential circles in order to achieve success.”

This was alluded to by no less an entrepreneur than Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, who wrote in a blurb on the back of the book: “Jim Ovia’s entrepreneurial flair demystifies Africa. Africa Rise and Shine shows his meteoric rise from humble beginnings to building a formidable bank. This is a wonderful African success story.”

Nigeria and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, Founder and President of Dangote Group, wrote: “Jim Ovia has been my friend and a trusted banker over the last 25 years.

“Africa Rise and Shine lays bare the secrets to Zenith Bank’s success from one of Nigeria’s most respected businessmen.”

“Jim’s inspirational tale of success against all the odds is an important lesson of how adversity can always be surmounted. His principles of doing business can be applied globally, as demonstrated by Zenith Bank’s London Stock Exchange listing.

“This book is an essential read for anyone that wants to do business in Africa.”

And Ovia concurred: “I think the readers of this book will gain the spirit of commitment, empowerment, focus, hardwork and discipline.

“They will learn that if you are disciplined and work hard, definitely you will do well. The book is about passing on these principles and documenting how it is to do business in Africa, particularly Nigeria.”

Apart from Zenith Bank, he also owns prime real estate across Nigeria and until recently, owner of mobile telecom operator, Visafone, with over three million subscribers across the country, which he has since sold to multinational telecoms giant, MTN.

As an undergraduate in the US, the billionaire businessman fell in love with computer technology, as he recalled: “It so happened that halfway through my studies, my keen interest in computer science and information technology was heightened… I couldn’t help it and decided to incorporate computer science into my programme.

“One of my uncles advised me against this, as he reckoned that it was an immature industry at that point. Business Administration was the way forward,” he told The International Herald.

Having toed that line at an early state of relative obscurity in the country, it is no wonder that Ovia, like a man who foresaw tomorrow, was able to navigate the uncharted course to berth a thriving business empire, cutting across banking, telecommunications and real estate and become one of Nigeria’s, nay Africa’s ‘big boys,’ amassing over $850 million in the process and emerging the continent’s 6th richest man, according to Forbes.

From a humble beginning as a banking clerk to a humble chief executive, Ovia has over 30 years industry experience.

He entered the industry as a career clerk at Barclays Bank, DCO, and now Union Bank in 1973, worked as Financial Analyst at International Merchant Bank (IMB) and rose to position of Senior Manager in 1987.

Ovia was Head of Corporate Finance department at the Merchant Bank of Africa between 1987 and 1990.

At the founding of Zenith Bank, along with other investors in 1990, at a time banking was at the rudimentary level and manual stage, with customers experiencing delays and going through challenges in virtually all transactions.

He recalled with nostalgic feeling: “When we started Zenith in 1990, it was extremely difficult, as the necessary resources and infrastructure to do business, particularly banking, were not in place. There were no ATMs, no mobile phones and ICT was a rarely known concept in the business space.”

Ovia’s previous experience in the use of computers, especially as a part-time computer operator at Baton Rouge Bank and Trust Company in 1977, came handy in Zenith Bank carving a niche for itself as an ICT-driven bank, making the bank foremost in the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to banking in the country.

From a small commercial bank on Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, he has transformed Zenith Bank to one of Africa’s leading financial institutions.

In 2004, basking in the euphoria of undisputable achievements public confidence, Zenith Bank’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) was oversubscribed, a feat that enabled it to weather stormy consolidation exercise of 2004, followed by massive branch expansion across Nigeria, over 500 at the moment, and establishment of subsidiaries in other African countries, such as Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, United Kingdom and Peoples Republic of China.

His passion for Information Technology (IT) did not end there. When the Internet was still relatively new in the country in 1995, Ovia founded Cyberspace, one of the pioneers in provision of Internet services in Nigeria, and was also the pioneer president of the Nigeria Internet Group, an organisation dedicated to pervasive employment of Internet in the country.

He also founded the ICT Foundation for Youth Empowerment, which focuses on improving the socio-economic welfare of Nigerian youths by inspiring and motivating them to embrace ICT.

Ovia is the proprietor of James Hope College, Agbor, as well as the University of Information and Communication Technology, Delta State; Chairman of the Nigerian Software Development Initiative (NSDI), as well as National Information Technology Advisory Council (NITAC); member of the Honorary International Investor Council, as well as the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI).

Ovia is a recipient of the Zik Award for Professional Leadership in April 1999, the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) national honour and the Lagos State University (LASU) honorary doctorate in Finance in 2005, among numerous others.

He had, at various times, headed various non-governmental organisations (NGO), including as chairman of the Committee on ‘Nigeria Polio-Immunisation Action Group,’ which, in collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to eradicate the scourge in Nigeria.

Regarded as the ‘godfather of banking by Forbes Africa,’ Ovia was born on November 4, 1951, from Agbor in Ika South Council of Delta State is estimated to worth over $980million as at last year.

An alumnus of Harvard Business School (OPM), he served as chief executive officer of Zenith Bank Limited from its establishment in 1990 until 2010, when he moved into the chairman role, following a peg on the tenure of bank executives by the then Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, now Muhammadu Sanusi 11, the Emir of Kano.

He was a member of the Governing Council of Lagos State University (LASU); Board of Trustees, Redeemer’s University For Nations, Lagos; Governing Council of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (1999-2007) and Board of American International School, Lagos (2001-2003).

Some of the other dignitaries at the book launch included Governors Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom); Darius Ishaku (Taraba); Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo); Ibrahim Shettima (Borno); Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti Governor-elect); National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole; APC chieftain, Chief Segun Osoba; elder statesmen, Dr. Christopher Kolade; Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Chief Akintola Williams; Tony Elumelu; Folorunso Alakija; Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu I.