Ghanaian fuel tycoon William Tewiah's ZEN stake gains $54 million in months

The value of William Tewiah's stake in ZEN Petroleum Holdings has risen by about $54 million since May, as shares of the Ghanaian fuel distributor he founded continue to trade well above their listing price on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

Tewiah owns 512 million shares, or 80% of the company. At the current share price of GH₵9.01, his stake is worth GH₵4.61 billion, or about $392.3 million at an exchange rate of GH₵11.76 to the dollar, according to Billionaires.Africa calculations. In mid-May, when the shares traded at GH₵7.55, the stake was worth GH₵3.87 billion, or about $338 million at the exchange rate of GH₵11.44 at the time.

In cedi terms, the stake has gained GH₵747.5 million, or 19.3%. In dollar terms, the gain is about 16%. The difference reflects the weaker cedi, which has fallen from GH₵11.44 to GH₵11.76 against the dollar over the same period, reducing the value of the gain for anyone measuring it in dollars.

Up 80% since listing, but off its highs

ZEN Petroleum sold its shares to the public at GH₵5.00 in its initial public offering, and the stock is now up 80.2% from that price. The company is worth about GH₵5.77 billion on the exchange, or roughly $490 million.

The rise has not been a straight line. The shares peaked at GH₵12.61, and at that price Tewiah's stake was worth about GH₵6.46 billion. The stock has since fallen about 29% from that high.

A thinly traded stock

The value of Tewiah's stake is a paper figure based on the last traded price, and ZEN's shares trade in small volumes compared with the size of his holding.

The shares have traded a total of about GH₵31.2 million, or roughly $2.7 million, since the company listed in April, according to market data published by AfricanFinancials. That is less than 1% of the value of Tewiah's stake. On the day the shares were quoted at GH₵9.01, about 5,500 changed hands, worth roughly GH₵50,000.

Trading has been uneven. Between late April and mid-June, an average of about 38,800 ZEN shares traded per session, although a single session on June 10 saw more than 2.1 million shares change hands. At an average of 38,800 shares a session, it would take more than 13,000 trading sessions to trade a number of shares equal to Tewiah's holding, according to Billionaires.Africa calculations.

The shares available to trade are also limited. Only 20% of the company, or 128 million shares, was sold in the IPO, and pension funds managed by Bora Capital Advisors took 75.33% of that offer. Long-term holders such as pension funds tend to trade rarely, leaving a smaller pool of shares in active circulation.

That means the market price may not reflect what Tewiah could get if he tried to sell a large block of shares. A sale of even a small part of his stake on the open market could push the price down.

Plans to sell down

Tewiah founded ZEN Petroleum in 2010, starting with a single fuel supply contract for a mining company. The business has grown into one of Ghana's leading fuel distributors. It supplies about 49% of the fuel consumed by major mining companies and runs more than 60 retail stations. Its revenue rose to GH₵6.34 billion in 2025, from GH₵4.91 billion a year earlier.

Tewiah has said he plans to reduce his stake over time, through an employee share ownership scheme and gradual sales of shares to the public. His stated goal is to bring his holding down to 50%. A sale of that size would add significantly to the shares available to trade, which could make the stock easier to buy and sell.

The company's board has said ZEN will remain 100% Ghanaian-owned and has made arrangements with the stock exchange and the Central Securities Depository to keep foreign investors from buying its shares, which also limits the pool of potential buyers.

Tewiah remains the richest individual stockholder on the Ghana Stock Exchange. The only larger single block of shares belongs to Pinnacle Holding Company, which owns 85.88% of drinks maker Kasapreko and is owned in equal parts by five members of the Adjei family.