6 Nigerian billionaires have companies joining the FTSE frontier index this month

Ten Nigerian companies enter FTSE Russell's frontier index series on Sept. 21, and individual Nigerians hold controlling or substantial stakes in six of them.

The index provider published its September review this week, classifying the ten as newly eligible large-cap constituents after Nigeria moves from unclassified to frontier market status. Inclusion brings automatic buying, because funds tracking the series must hold its constituents regardless of any view on the businesses themselves.

Aliko Dangote holds 87.45% of Dangote Cement, the company that built his fortune and remains its foundation. Forbes ranked him first in Africa on Sept. 1 at $31.4 billion. His refinery has separately applied to list on the Nigerian Exchange in October, seeking about $5 billion.

Femi Otedola owns roughly 27.6% of First HoldCo, the parent of FirstBank, and chairs it. The shares reached a record 159.90 naira on Sept. 1, valuing his holding at about 1.97 trillion naira, roughly $1.42 billion. He has said he intends to pass 51%.

Rasheed Sarumi controls Presco through Oak and Saffron, in which he holds 35% directly with Saroafrica International holding the other 65%. Because he controls Saroafrica, his look-through interest comes to about 53.1% of Presco, some 618 million shares. The stake passed $1 billion in July after he bought SIAT out of a Belgian court restructuring, though his debt position is not public.

Victor Odili is among MTN Nigeria's largest individual shareholders, holding 5.08% through Hermitage Overseas Corporation and Hermitage Eko Investments. The stake was worth about $657 million on July 31, when the company's 26 naira interim dividend paid him 27.69 billion naira. He chairs Aeromaritime Group, a conglomerate spanning shipping, stevedoring, oil and gas and logistics, and has held the MTN position for close to two decades.

Jim Ovia founded Zenith Bank in 1990 and holds 5,801,238,332 shares through vehicles including Institutional Investors, Lurot Burca, Jovis Nigeria, Veritas Registrars and Quantum Zenith Securities. Zenith proposed doubling its 2025 dividend to 10 naira a share, which would pay him about 58.01 billion naira, roughly $41.4 million. He remains chairman.

Ladi Jadesimi holds 229,034,760 Aradel Holdings shares, a 5.27% stake, through Badagry Creek FZE. He founded the company in 1992 as Niger Delta Exploration and Production and built it into an integrated energy group over three decades, stepping down as chairman in the first half of 2025 under statutory tenure rules while keeping his shares. Aradel reported a record 757 billion naira profit for 2025, and his dividends came to about 7.56 billion naira, roughly $5.5 million.

The remaining four have no Nigerian controlling individual. Nestlé Nigeria answers to Nestlé S.A. of Switzerland and Nigerian Breweries to Heineken, while GTCO and Stanbic IBTC are widely held, with Stanbic majority-owned by Standard Bank.

Getting Nigeria reclassified took longer than expected. FTSE Russell announced the upgrade in April, then placed it under additional assessment after the country moved from a T+2 to a T+1 settlement cycle on June 1, shortening the time between a trade and its completion. The concern was that a tighter window might force international investors to fund trades in advance. After consulting Nigerian authorities and international investors, the index provider concluded no material settlement, operational or funding problems had emerged.