Awards for Excellence 2008: Nigeria

From his grand office overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Jim Ovia, managing director and chief executive of Zenith Bank, can look down with pride at some of his and the bank’s achievements. While most banks in Nigeria claim to be the biggest or the best, Zenith, by just about every measure, whether it is asset quality or balance sheet strength, innovation, use of new technology or just brand recognition, emerges as the best in the country. Last year it picked up a BB– international credit rating from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – the highest possible, equal to the sovereign credit rating; was granted a full banking licence in the UK, the first Nigerian bank to achieve that in 25 years; and set up a proprietary data services provider to link all its branches in real time. The bank is setting up subsidiaries or representative offices in South Africa, Dubai and China, as well as branches across sub-Saharan Africa. What is behind the bank’s success? Some say it is the fact that Zenith has grown organically and not through merger and acquisition like other Nigerian banks. Much of the credit is attributable to the vision and drive of Ovia and his deputy managing director, Godwin Emefiele. Ovia obviously doesn’t spend much time enjoying the sea view.