Meristem unveils inaugural Nigeria family wealth report

Meristem Family Office has launched its inaugural edition of the Nigeria Family Wealth Report 2026, introducing a structured approach to help wealthy families, entrepreneurs and founders navigate the complex terrain of generational wealth preservation and multi-generational succession planning.

The comprehensive body of work, unveiled at the firm’s corporate headquarters, seeks to shift the national conversation surrounding affluent legacies from a purely emotional, private family topic into a critical macroeconomic discussion.

Speaking during the presentation in Lagos recently, the Managing Director of the Meristem Family Office, Kemi Ojenike, noted that the report provides crucial insights into the structural and non-financial frameworks required to prevent corporate stagnation across generations.

Meristem Family Office is a subsidiary of Meristem Securities Limited.

Ojenike said, “At the Meristem Family Office, our focus is helping families preserve and transfer wealth across generations.

Many entrepreneurs, founders, patriarchs, and matriarchs have spent their lives building wealth, and within Meristem, we started off with a focus to help them increase that wealth, manage it, and multiply it.

“But then we got to a point where we started asking critical questions: After this wealth has been built, what happens next? What is the structure to ensure that it transits successfully to the next generation, without causing more harm than good for the beneficiaries for whom this work has been done?”

According to the report, the loss of family wealth across generational transitions poses a major threat to national productivity and enterprise sustainability.

Ojenike explained, “The loss of wealth across generations is more of an economic consideration than it is a family one. What happens when wealth is not preserved is that the effort of decades does not compound.

“When it is lost, it means that the next generation has to start again. The implication of it not compounding means that economic value is lost; enterprises that should have continued to generate value, that should have been the foundation for more growth, are stagnated or shut down, and livelihoods are impacted.”

A major finding in the research paper highlights that a substantial volume of private fortunes in Nigeria remains heavily tied up within active business operations, exposing them to high operational vulnerabilities. The survey revealed that 80 per cent of surveyed families ranked their operating businesses among their top two asset holdings, establishing them as primary wealth drivers.

Concurrently, the data showed that founder dependency remains an active threat to long-term scalability, as 43 per cent of respondents established that major business and wealth decisions rely almost entirely on the founder or a tiny circle of family members.

Ojenike noted, “Many of these businesses still closely rely on the founder’s judgments, relationships, authority, and credibility, creating a vulnerability for the sustainability of that business. If you’re talking about multi-generational wealth 20, 30, or 40 years from now, when the founder will no longer be in the picture, you can see how that is a risk that is worth addressing.

“It is necessary for succession to begin before transition becomes urgent. More often than not, you find conversations around succession only kicking off when the founders have reached their later years, when it seems that their ability to lead is being impaired.”

The asset management firm introduced the framework of “complete wealth,” advising affluent patriarchs and matriarchs to actively manage non-financial capitals, such as human, intellectual, and relational values, alongside their liquid funds.

Also speaking at the landmark presentation, the Group Managing Director of Meristem Securities Limited, Sulaiman Adedokun, stated that wealth management must transcend mere accumulation and embrace deliberate stewardship.

Adedokun said, “Financial well-being is about how you create, preserve, and transform wealth in a way that brings about peace of mind for our clients. Wealth is not just about accumulation; the truth is that wealth is about stewardship.

“It’s about preserving value across generations, creating opportunities for future family members, and building legacies that endure beyond a single lifetime. When we actually know the value of family wealth, its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, and to the growth of a particular country, everybody will pay significant attention to how to ensure its continuity.”