The question of who is the owner of Opay is a recurring one in Nigeria’s business circles, given the payment company’s immense success and its significant market share. Opay entered the Nigerian payments scene with a bang and, in less than a decade, has captured a significant market share.
At press time, Opay is valued at $2.7 to $3 billion, cementing its position as one of the biggest payment platforms in Africa. Opay scaled its business through a super app strategy, launching an app that caters to diverse user needs. The brand initially was not only about payments but also included ORide (bikes), OFood, and OBus services.
These vertical platforms were later scrapped to focus on Opay, the payment app, after it had amassed millions of users.
At first, Opay was doing just okay, like other payment apps in the market. Its big break arrived in 2023 during the naira redesign era, when the Central Bank of Nigeria decided to print new cash. The era was marked by a steep scarcity of the naira, leading to a surge in online transactions.
Mainstream Nigerian banking apps could not handle the surge in traffic, leading to downtime across banks. Nigerians turned to Opay, which remained active and viable during those tough days. Opay gained millions of followers during this era and has continued to gain followers since then.
Opay’s cloud technology ensures the app remains fast and efficient, with zero downtime and ease of use for millions of Nigerians. The app remains the biggest driver of success for the chinese owned payment company.
In the first month of 2026, Opay officially transitioned from a regional player to a National Microfinance Bank, with a valuation exceeding $2.7 billion. Today, it operates as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s financial inclusion, serving over 30 million users and 500,000 agents
Who is the Owner of Opay
Opay is owned by Chinese Billionaire Zhou Yahui, a trained engineer who made his fortune in gaming. Zhou Yahui acquired the Opera browser in 2016. In 2018, he incubated OPay within the Opera ecosystem specifically to target the African market.
In 2020, he resigned from other major roles to focus 60% of his time on OPay, driving its strategy from a super-app to a specialised financial powerhouse. Zhou Yahui’s ownership of OPay has been diluted over the years as the company has grown. Opay has attracted major investments from global venture capital firms to expand its operations across Africa.
As OPay grew, it moved from a subsidiary of Opera to an independent “Unicorn” backed by high-profile global investors. Key shareholders as of 2026 include:
- SoftBank Vision Fund 2: The lead investor in OPay’s Series C round, which significantly raised the company’s valuation to over $2.7 billion.
- Opera Limited: Though OPay is now independent, the Opera browser remains a strategic shareholder, holding approximately 9.4% of the equity.
- Sequoia Capital China & IDG Capital: Early-stage backers who provided the initial capital for OPay’s aggressive expansion in Nigeria.
Zhou Yahui joins the growing ranks of Chinese billionaires who made their money from the internet, building products and platforms that serve the masses.
Opay’s Management in Nigeria
Opay has a country-level management to cater to the peculiar needs of customers in Nigeria. The Opay Nigerian entity is managed by seasoned professionals to ensure regulatory compliance with the CBN.
Dauda Gotring currently serves as the Managing Director/CEO of OPay Nigeria, leading the local team that oversees daily operations for over 50 million users. Gotring is widely regarded as a regulatory veteran in the Nigerian financial services industry.
He served as a high-ranking director at the CBN, specifically leading the Trade and Exchange Department. This background gave him an intimate understanding of foreign exchange policies, trade regulations, and national financial oversight.
Gotring has three decades in the sector, and he brought the orthodox banking discipline needed to manage a platform that now processes billions of dollars in monthly transactions. Outside of finance, Gotring is a politically active citizen running for governor of Plateau State under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections.
Opay’s Unique Offer to Users
Aside from traditional banking, Opay also serves as a savings and loans platform for its million users, offering loans at fair interest rates. Opay also serves as a payment portal for daily utilities such as electricity, Airtime, Data, betting, and government charges.
Opays’ upgrade to national bank status positions it for more offers and even trans-country operations. The bank will have to meet the recapitalisation quota and other regulatory standards to operate fully as a National Nigerian bank.
