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Good morning from Billionaires.Africa.
Here is a brief on what we published yesterday.
Tuesday's coverage ran heavily through West and Central Africa, with one currency-driven repricing in Lagos, a Ghanaian listing clearing its final hurdle, and a long read on the Congolese fortune that keeps reaching for political power — plus a diaspora media play worth noting.
The lead: a currency tailwind lifts a Lagos banking fortune
Jim Ovia's stake in Zenith Bank is now worth about $643 million, after the holding more than doubled in naira terms over the course of 2026 and a strengthening naira added a further dollar bonus on translation. It is a clean illustration of a theme we keep returning to: for founder-anchored, listed African fortunes, currency direction can do as much work as share-price direction — and this year the naira has been working in their favor.
Also published
Ghana — Kasapreko closes its IPO. Liquor tycoon Kwabena Adjei's Kasapreko PLC has closed its GH¢700 million offer on the Ghana Stock Exchange, with investors awaiting allotment results ahead of a listing set for June 17 — one of the more closely watched consumer-goods listings on the Accra market this year.
DR Congo — the Katumbi profile. We published a long read on Moïse Katumbi, who built the DRC's biggest private fortune from fish and copper before spending the better part of a decade pursuing the country's highest office — a study in how a Central African business empire and national politics keep colliding.
Diaspora — a media power play. Across the Atlantic, Byron Allen took over Stephen Colbert's vacated CBS late-night slot and acquired BuzzFeed, capping decades of building Black-owned broadcast infrastructure — a deal we tracked for its scale and its signal.
The takeaway
Two of yesterday's stories rhyme. Ovia's paper gain and Kasapreko's listing are both, at root, about African public markets pricing African wealth more richly this year — whether through a firmer currency or a fresh float. When the exchanges in Lagos and Accra are doing the repricing, the fortunes tied to them move with them.
On the site
- Jim Ovia's Zenith Bank stake hits $643 million as shares surge — https://www.billionaires.africa/2026/06/02/nigerian-billionaire-jim-ovias-zenith-bank-stake-hits-643-million-as-shares-surge/
- Ghana liquor tycoon Kwabena Adjei's Kasapreko closes IPO, set to list June 17 — https://www.billionaires.africa/2026/06/02/ghanaian-liquor-tycoon-kwabena-adjeis-kasapreko-closes-ghana-ipo-listing-set-for-june-17-2026/
- Moïse Katumbi: Congolese billionaire, football club owner and Africa's most tenacious presidential contender — https://www.billionaires.africa/2026/06/02/moise-katumbi-the-drcs-richest-man-football-owner-and-africas-most-tenacious-presidential-contender/
- Byron Allen takes over Stephen Colbert's CBS slot and buys BuzzFeed in a massive media power play — https://www.billionaires.africa/2026/06/02/byron-allen-takes-over-stephen-colberts-cbs-slot-and-buys-buzzfeed-in-a-massive-media-power-play/
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