Yesterday, the news broke that Fola Adeola, GTB bank co-founder and the former MD of the bank, sold 18.25 million shares in Aradel Holdings Plc, valued at approximately 11 billion naira, which he pocketed.
The sale was disclosed in a regulatory filing submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
According to the company’s statement, the transaction took place on December 31, 2024, with each share sold at N598.50. Adeola, a major shareholder in Aradel, held over 5% equity before the sale.
Fola Adeola is part of the generation my generation classified as old money.
This is why he started the year with 11 billion naira in liquidity in his bank account.
But beyond his vast wealth, Fola has been transparent about how he made his wealth.
From founding GTB with late Tayo in the 90s, a bank he later ran as the first CEO before handing over to Tayo, Fola’s shadow looms large in the Nigerian corporate sector.
When Funke Opeke wanted to start Main One Cable, it was Fola that she ran to, and Fola gave her the first check, the first $1 million check needed to run internet fibre cable from Portugal to Lagos.
MainOne was later sold for $320 million to Equinix, and so, Fola got his money back with the profit on top.
The same thing he did with Aradel; he is a big-time investor with Aradel with 5% ownership before Aradel was listed on the Nigerian stock exchange last year.
Aradel is an oil and gas company based in Lagos, and they have a modular refinery that processes 11,000 barrels of crude oil daily in Rivers State.
The company also has an OML license known as an oil well in the local parlance.
They have 4 OML licenses, which means they have 4 oil wells, and so, Aradel’s oil well feeds their refinery with crude oil, and the rest of the crude oil they drill, they evacuate and sell abroad.
The company is also big on gas.
The group’s gas production also hit 6,237 barrels of oil equivalent per day, marking a 93 percent year-on-year growth from the 3,220 recorded in Q1 2023.
Over the years, Aradel has done well and has been a profitable business.
For example, Aradel’s refinery contributed about N50.2 billion to the company’s revenue in Q1 2023, marking about 50 percent of the total revenue.
Fola is not the founder of Aradel; it was founded by Ladi Jadesimi and his friends.
Fola just saw an opportunity in the company and took a position by investing in the company many years ago, long before the company became this successful.
That was why he cashed out 11 billion naira as many of us were still in the mood of the new year.
Fola generation with their examples is showing my generation how real wealth is built and sustained.
It is not by shouting money na water on social media or going to a juju man’s house for Okeite.
Building wealth starts from understanding and learning personal finance and then leveraging that knowledge to grow and build sustainable wealth.
It is a slow and steady journey, not an overnight sensation, and comes with a lot of sacrifice, tears, and delayed gratification, but unfortunately
My generation doesn’t get it.
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