Nonso Okpala, co-founder and group managing director of VFD Group, controls a stake in the Lagos-listed investment company worth 19.5 billion naira ($14.6 million). He holds it through Osnon Capital, his family office, which owned 1.47 billion VFD shares at the end of 2025. That was 19.3% of the company at the time, making Osnon the largest shareholder. At Friday’s closing price of 13.30 naira, the stake is worth about $14.65 million. The shares are up 21% this year, and VFD closed 2025 at 11 naira.
The stake rose partly because of a rights issue that lifted VFD’s share count to 12.67 billion. Osnon’s entitlement came to 977.6 million new shares at 10 naira each, and its holding now equals 11.6% of the enlarged company. The rights offer raised about 50.67 billion naira ($38 million), with proceeds going toward debt reduction, expansion into the U.K. and Southern Africa, and recapitalizing capital-market subsidiaries.
VFD’s first-half 2026 gross earnings rose 30.5% to 53.71 billion naira, and profit after tax doubled to 10.06 billion naira. The board declared an interim dividend of 24 kobo a share. VFD was incorporated in 2009 by a group of 35 shareholders who put up about 2.5 million naira. Okpala, a former KPMG auditor and Heirs Holdings chief financial officer, has said the company’s early years were rough.
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