DELVE INTO AFRICAN WEALTH
DON'T MISS A BEAT
Subscribe now
Skip to content

Folashade Afolabi, wife of Sifax boss, holds $24.7 million stake in SAHCO Plc

Folashade Afolabi holds a 17.86% stake in SAHCO worth N34.6 billion at current market prices as the company posts record profit of N11.73 billion.

Folashade Afolabi, wife of Sifax boss, holds $24.7 million stake in SAHCO Plc
Folashade Afolabi

Table of Contents

Folashade Afolabi, wife of Sifax Group founder Taiwo Afolabi and Executive Chairman of Sifax Off Dock Nigeria Limited, holds 241,816,960 shares in Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc, a 17.86% stake whose market value stands at approximately N34.6 billion ($24.7 million), based on the stock's closing price of N143.10 on the Nigerian Exchange.

The value of her holding has grown sharply alongside the stock, which has risen 61.8% year to date in 2026, making it one of the stronger performers on the Nigerian Exchange this year. The appreciation comes as SAHCO, in which her husband controls a 60.72% majority stake through his personal holdings and the Sifax Group, posted a record profit after tax of N11.73 billion ($8.38 million) for the year ended December 31, 2025, a 142% increase from N4.83 billion ($3.45 million) in 2024, on revenue of N44.46 billion ($31.76 million).

Folashade Afolabi's position within the Sifax ecosystem is substantial and independent of her shareholding in SAHCO. She serves as Executive Chairman of both Sifax Off Dock Nigeria Limited, a bonded terminal operator and subsidiary of the Sifax Group, and Sky Capital and Allied International Limited. She also sits on the board of directors of SAHCO Plc directly. Through Macjasonack Construction Company Limited, a building and construction engineering firm based in Lagos, she runs her own operation as chief executive.

Her professional background predates her formal roles within the Sifax Group by two decades. She holds a first degree from the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, where she studied Regional and Town Planning, and a Master's degree in Transport Management, with a specialisation in Logistics, from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Ogbomoso, Oyo State. She spent the years between 1989 and 2008 building experience in the construction and engineering sector, working at HFP Engineering Company and Fast Foot Steps Construction Company. By the time she joined the Sifax Group formally in 2008 as Executive Director of Sifax Off Dock, she had approximately 19 years of professional experience in engineering and infrastructure behind her. She was elevated to Executive Chairman of Sifax Off Dock between 2008 and 2010.

The Sifax Group, which Taiwo Afolabi founded in 1988 as a freight forwarding agency with a single operation at Apapa Port in Lagos, has grown into one of Nigeria's most diversified logistics conglomerates, with interests spanning maritime terminal operations, aviation ground handling, haulage, oil and gas, financial services and hospitality. Its subsidiary holdings include the concession for Terminal C at Tin Can Island Ports in Apapa, Sifax Off Dock, Sifax Logistics, Sifax Marine, Sifax Shipping and SAHCO, which Sifax acquired through the Federal Government's privatisation programme in 2009.

Folashade Afolabi is also recognised as a philanthropist. She has been involved in the various charitable activities associated with the Taiwo Afolabi family, which include the Ajoke Ayisat Afolabi Foundation, an organisation established in memory of Taiwo Afolabi's mother that provides scholarships, pays hospital bills and sets up small businesses for less privileged Nigerians.

The couple have four children. Their son Olayinka Afolabi serves as Executive Director of Sifax Marine Limited. Their daughter Mariam Afolabi-Badmus serves as Group Executive Director of Compliance at Sifax Group. Their son Damilola Afolabi, known professionally as the musician L.A.X, and another son Christopher Young, a music producer, complete the family.

SAHCO's strong 2025 performance, which saw passenger handling revenue rise to N31.82 billion ($22.73 million) from N18.60 billion ($13.29 million) and total assets grow to N56.58 billion ($40.41 million) from N41.78 billion ($29.84 million), has materially strengthened the balance sheet value of stakes held across the Afolabi family's collective shareholding in the company. With total market capitalisation of approximately N194 billion ($138.57 million) and the stock trading near its 52-week high, the Afolabi family's combined direct and indirect control of SAHCO represents one of the most valuable private aviation-sector positions on the Nigerian Exchange.

Latest