In 2025, Nigeria’s economy will be significantly shaped by a powerful cohort of business titans, whose expertise and visionary leadership are expected to ignite substantial growth.
These influential figures play in various facets of the economy; from oil and gas to banking; manufacturing to power generation, these titans are poised to spearhead transformative initiatives, drive innovation and create new opportunities across key sectors. With a focus on investment, infrastructure, and economic diversification, they will play a crucial role in navigating the complexities of both local and global markets. Their collective efforts are set to lay the foundation for a more dynamic, sustainable, and competitive economy in the years ahead.
Aliko Dangote
The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is certainly a man to have a critical hold on the economy in 2025 and beyond.
Dangote, who sits atop a group of flourishing businesses, is not resting.
He plans to expand his footprints in the Nigerian petroleum products to offshore markets Africa and Europe in 2025.
With the coming on stream of the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery in 2024 ,Aliko is sure to expand its customer network base across Nigeria.
The Dangote refinery plays a significant role in local production, accounting for 87 per cent of the current total locally-refined petrol.
His foray in the West Africa oil market clearly makes him an undisputed leader in the downstream value chain with new countries last week signing on for product evacuation.
The new customers on the list included; Ghana, Cameroun, Angola and South Africa while it continues to export Diesel across the globe.
Abdulsamad Rabiu
The Chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, is set to give players in his line of business a run for their money in 2025.
Rabiu, who is almost completing his 200,000 barrels per day refinery in Akwa-Ibom, set to come on stream in 2025 is another game changer for the country as it sets to attain self sufficiency in petroleum products production.
The refinery plans to produce the highest grade of petrol-Euro-V standard gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and polypropylene for the domestic and regional markets.
In the construction industry sector, the Chinese whom for years have dominated the Plaster of Paris(POP) segment are already jittery as BUA launches Nigeria’s largest POP plant with an unbeatable offer of ex-factory price of N8,000.
This investment and offer is set to disrupt the POP market in 2025, as BUA settles to have a larger share of the market with unbeatable price offers.
Femi Otedola
The foray of Femi Otedola, the Chairman of Geregu Power and FBN holdings into the power and financial services sector is already yielding results as his investments in Geregu Power is a savior for the country’s power sector as it currently generates .
In January 2024, the power plant recorded a 58% surge in net profit to hit N16,1 billion.
There are plans by the company to increase its generating capacity to 1.2GW.The capacity of Geregu 1 is expected to increase from 435MW to 500MW, in addition to the establishment of a combined cycle to generate an additional 200MW and new constructions using lower emissions turnines with an additional capacity of 500MW.
Otedola as Chairman of FBN Holdings is set to take the bank to greater heights in 2025 through repositioning, cost saving measures among other management strategies.
In June, Otedola increased his stake in FBN Holdings with an additional purchase of N546.674,.034 units of shares valued at N12.01 billion.
Anthony Elumelu
The Founder and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Anthony Elumelu, is another business titan to look out for this year.
Through his chains of businesses, he reinforced his commitment to improving lives and transforming Africa, through long-term investments in strategic sectors of the African economy, including financial services, hospitality, power, energy, technology and healthcare.
Tony is the Chairman of pan-African financial services group, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), which operates in 20 countries across Africa, the United Kingdom, France, the UAE, and is the only African bank with a commercial deposit taking presence in the United States. UBA provides corporate, commercial, SME and consumer banking services to more than 35 million customers globally.
He also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of the leading producers of electricity in Nigeria and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand. He is the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Oil & Gas, an upstream oil and gas company, whose assets include Nigerian oil block OML17, with a current production capacity of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with an additional 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources of further exploration potential. Heirs Oil & Gas is committed to creating resource based added value on the African continent.
Taiwo Afolabi
Billionaire businessman and Chairman of SIFAX Group, Mr.Taiwo Afolabi is certainly a man to watch out for in 2025.
Having previously made a success in maritime and aviation, turning around the moribund SAHCOL in a profit making venture post privatisation, a similar feat he had earlier recorded when he became a terminal operator at the seaport.
Not satisfied with his grip on the economy. Afolabi further made inroads into the hospitality sector, getting the franchise holder right for the global hotel chain in Nigeria-Marriot.
Two weeks ago, Afolabi further cemented his leadership position as a boardroom guru when his company, SIFAX and Royalgate Consortium emerged as the sole bidder for Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) 300-DO while it also outperformed Integrated Offshore Services Limited to clinch PPL 304 in a licensing bid round overseen by Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The deal has been described by industry observers as a game changer for the oil industry with the entrant of new players whom they believed would add value and help increase Nigeria’s oil production through the injection of funds from their various partners.
Folorunsho Alakija
Another business icon to watch in 2025 is Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, the co-founder of Famfa Oil Limited and Group Managing Director of The Rose of Sharon Group.
Famfa Limited, incorporated in 1991, sits on a 617,000-acre offshore block in Agbami Field.
The company which entered into a partnership with Chevron and Petrobras, has become one of Nigeria’s most productive oil blocks.
In December 2023, Famfa Oil received rights to six lucrative offshore oil blocks from the government of Sierra Leone. This year, it is expected to maintain its position as a leading player in Nigeria’s oil industry and benefit from the country’s growth in crude oil production, which is projected to reach 3 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of the year, though fluctuations in global oil prices could affect the company’s profitability and investment returns.
Alakija has also invested in high-end real estate projects, including the $145 million Famfa Tower in Lagos through the Dayspring Property Development Company. The Rose of Sharon Group is likely to expand its real estate portfolio by acquiring new properties as it aims to complete its priority infrastructure projects on 200 acres of land it purchased.
Peoplesmind
