Jim Ovia at 75: Celebrating a Life of Vision, Enterprise and Enduring Impact.
Now, its total assets exceed N31 trillion, a staggering 1,550,000-fold asset Zenith Bank began in May 1990 in a converted house in Victoria Island with N20 million in paid-up capital.
Because of the vision, enterprise, and enduring impact of Zenith Bank’s founder, Jim Ovia, who turned 75 on November 4.
Ovia was born in Agbor, Delta State, in 1951, started as a clerk at Union Bank, then Barclays, in Lagos, and founded Zenith at the age of 38.
He was its pioneer managing director and chief executive for two decades. When Nigerian banks still ran on manual ledgers, he installed VSAT satellite links between branches, giving Zenith one of the country’s first fully networked branch systems. In 1995, it launched Nigeria’s first commercial banking website, and early ATMs followed. Zenith listed on the Nigerian Exchange in 2004 and later placed $850 million in Global Depository Receipts, certificates that let foreign investors hold shares, on the London Stock Exchange.
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