NIGERIA: Mr Olufemi Otedola, the Group Chairman of First Holdco PLC seems to have adopted Elon Musk's style of transparent Investor communication with his recent use of X (formerly Twitter), communicating his thoughts about the company and its strategy directly to the investing public, more or less taking up the role of "Chief Investor Relations Officer" of the company, and taking the lead to explain and "sell" the company's strategy and activities to investors. With this move, he might just be connecting more with Millennial and Gen Z investors, getting them more interested in the First Holdco story and to invest in it, which could lead to a big pay day for him (through share price appreciation) when he eventually decides to divest or sell down his stake (if his investment antecedent is anything to go by- Forte Oil, Geregu PLC). Already, looking at some of the replies to his tweets shows that these generations of investors are progressively showing intere...

Austin Avuru, Nigerian geologist, Entrepreneur, and the much respected cofounder and former Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), graced an interview by the Afropolitan Podcast recently, and it turned out to be a masterclass on Entrepreneurship, Business, Life, Legacy, and Philanthropy. It is one of those podcasts you have to listen to repeatedly to ensure not to miss the tiniest detail, as almost every sentence from him was an eureka experience.  Austin spent over 40 years in the Nigerian oil and gas sector and was Managing Director of Platform Petroleum Limited and in 2010 became the pioneer CEO of Seplat Ltd, a company he co-founded. Under his leadership, Seplat was dually listed on the London Stock Exchange and Nigeria Stock Exchange, a massive feat that has scarcely been matched ever since. He retired as CEO of Seplat in 2020 and remains on the Board. He is also the Chairman of AA Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to creatin...

Warren Buffett is an Investor and Philanthropist, who sits as the Chairperson of Berkshire Hathaway, and American conglomerate. He is regarded as the Oracle of Omaha, currently has a net worth of about $142 billion according to Forbes, and can be said to be the greatest investor in the past several centuries. He has a cultlike following of value investors, and never ceases to teach on investing and life lessons through various mediums, including his Berkshire Annual Shareholders meeting which he has chaired for many years. He has been described as a voracious reader and avid learner, and is therefore a great source of inspiration and learning for investors any day any time. His investing lessons are applicable not only in America, but all over the world, with veritable results from some investors who have copied his style over the years across the world.   In this article we explore some of his invaluable and evergreen Investment lessons and aphorisms which he has shared in th...

One of the sweetest/orgasmic feelings one can get as an investor is the alert of cashflow into one's bank account from one's passive investments- more like getting your money to work for you while you sleep. Once the initial investment is made, without any extra effort on your part, you just receive regular inflow of cash either as interest or dividend payments. That is what a good Passive investment looks and feels like. If you have not had this feeling before, make a promise to yourself to avail yourself such privilege immediately after reading this article. You deserve it. In some of our previous articles we had outlined some passive income investment options available for investors to take advantage of- Money market funds , Commercial Papers , etc. Click on the links to read. It is always a pleasure to see testimonials from beneficiaries of information from our articles, sharing their experiences receiving their first passive investment income, and the feeling thereof. In t...

  NIGERIA: Presco PLC, Nigeria's leading fully integrated edible Oils and Fats company, has announced the retirement of its Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Felix Nwabuko after many years of exceptional leadership and significant contributions to the SIAT group and subsidiaries. The board announced the appointment of Mr Adewale Arikawe as a Non-Executive Director  with effect from 2nd of January, 2026, succeeding Mr Felix. Mr Adewale Arikawe has also been appointed Group Chief Executive Officer of SIAT, to oversee all SIAT subsidiaries, including PRESCO PLC, SIAT Nigeria Limited, and Ghana Oil Palm Development Company Limited.  Mr Arikawe has over twenty six years of leadership experience spanning across general management, commercial strategy, sales, customer development, and brand management, having held senior leadership roles at Royal FrieslandCampina, Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria, and Nestle Nigeria PLC. He holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management f...

NIGERIA: FirstHoldCo , the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria PLC has never been the same since the shrewd investor, Mr Femi Otedola took over its reigns as Chairman of the company. He has since set out to transform the company and has made several strategic decisions and moves in line with that. Recent reports from late 2025 show that his stake in the Holdco is over 17%, with some reports placing it at over 40% considering acquisitions through his investment vehicles, making him the major shareholder. But this did not happen without a fight with the previous significant shareholders before displacing them and taking over the institution. Shareholders and investors in the company have also had good returns investing in the company since Otedola took over, with the share price rising from sub ₦20 to over ₦55 recently (52 week high). Some savvy investors who understand Femi Otedola's antecedents and the turnaround that was likely to follow with his entry, took position immediate...

Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC (GTCO), the parent company of Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, notified the NGX on the 30th of December, 2025 of its intention to raise additional capital through private placement of its ordinary shares, having obtained the approvals of both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Like Access Holdings PLC, this comes as a surprise to shareholders of GTCO who had thought that the company had completed their capital raise following Central Bank of Nigeria's directive in 2024 to shore up the capital base of Nigerian banks. Recall that in a previous article, we had written about Access Holdings PLC when they released a notice for an Extraordinary General Meeting in December 2025 to get shareholders approval to raise additional capital of N40 billion  in a similar situation.  GTCO was one of the first commercial banks to meet up with the new minimum Capital base requirement of ₦500 billion ahead of the 2026...

NIGERIA: Vitafoam Nigeria PLC released its full year Audited Financial Statements for the year ended September 30, 2025 some days ago after the close of trading last week, and it has got investors talking. What Does Vitafoam Do?   Vitafoam Nigeria PLC is Nigeria's foremost manufacturer of flexible, reconstituted, and rigid foam products, with the largest foam manufacturing and distribution network in the country, ensuring efficient and just-in-time delivery of high quality products across Nigeria and West Africa sub-region. It operates manufacturing facilities in Aba, Ikeja, Jos, and Kano, supported by an extensive network of distributors, comfort centers, and retail outlets nationwide. Key Highlights of Vitafoam's 2025 Audited Result From the audited results, Revenue grew by 35% from previous year to close at  ₦ 111bn, as Profit before tax increased by 1,775% to close at  ₦ 21bn and Profit after tax increased by 1,427% to close at  ₦ 14.5bn. Earnings per share close...

Small businesses are the drivers of any economy. In our opinion they are the mainstay of capitalism / societal economic development, creating wealth while closing the employment gap in the society. However, as much as a great number of small businesses exist in the developing world, a huge percentage of them barely succeed owing to several inhibitors. And even when some of them succeed, they barely grow beyond mum and pop level mainly because of omission of some “common sense” secrets that are not necessarily taught in schools but one has to pick up along the way. It is for this reason and more that we will be sharing some nuggets to help small businesses not just to survive but to thrive and attain their full potential. Let's talk about Cash in this article.  As a small business owner, you probably would have heard the phrase "Cash is king" enough to the extent that it now bores you. But you see that short three-worded sentence? It is a life saver. CASH IS KING. It is li...

Access Holdings PLC has released an explanatory note to their Shareholders on the resolutions to be considered at their Extraordinary Meeting scheduled to hold on December 18, 2025, where they would be considering raising additional capital through Private Placement of 1.975 billion ordinary shares at ₦20.25 per share. In a recent article we had outlined this plan as announced by the company, and concerns expressed by shareholders regarding the exercise, especially as   Access Holdings was one of the first commercial banks to meet up with the new minimum Capital base requirement of ₦500 billion set by the CBN ahead of the 2026 deadline through a rights issue done between July and August 2024, where they raised over ₦350 billion with the offer priced at ₦19.75 per share, which took up their shares outstanding to over 53 billion shares.  The Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting which was published on the NGX on the 27th of November, 2025 outlined that the company w...