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By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Chief Executive Officer of NGX Group, Temi Popoola, says macroeconomic reforms and improved price discovery are reshaping Nigeria’s capital market and supporting a more stable investment outlook for 2026.
Popoola, who spoke at a Pan-African Investment Forum themed “Global Economic Outlook 2026 & Overview of the Nigerian Stock Exchange: Opportunities and Market Structure,” said recent macroeconomic adjustments and market reforms have strengthened transparency and laid the groundwork for more sustainable growth. The forum, organised by Radiant Collective Capital, brought together professionals, founders and business leaders from across Africa and the diaspora to examine Nigeria’s market outlook within the broader global economic context.
“Capital is becoming increasingly selective globally. What we are seeing in Nigeria is a market that has embraced reforms, strengthened transparency, and invested in resilient infrastructure. The focus is on building an investable platform that supports long-term economic growth,” Popoola said.
He described 2025 as a period of adjustment marked by difficult but necessary reforms. According to him, these changes underpinned the NGX All-Share Index’s 51.19 per cent gain in 2025, driven largely by improvements in corporate earnings, dividend consistency and reform-led confidence.
Popoola emphasised that the current market structure is enabling clearer valuation signals and more disciplined capital flows, supported by tighter disclosure standards and stronger coordination among regulators. He also pointed to growing retail participation as a factor strengthening market depth, with a particular rise in women investors. Citing a recent telecommunications public offer, he said women accounted for 76 per cent of more than 110,000 new investor accounts.
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“Women don’t just participate in markets; they help stabilise them,” Popoola said. Looking ahead, he identified several factors expected to influence the 2026 investment climate, including shifting global supply chains, improving macroeconomic stability with projected GDP growth of 4.4 per cent, and renewed foreign portfolio interest supported by improved transparency and yield conditions.
He added that closer coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities, alongside greater asset utilisation through new listings and infrastructure-linked instruments, would be important to sustaining market development.
On market operations, Popoola said technology and sustainability initiatives would increasingly shape growth. He referenced digital platforms such as NGX Invest as expanding access and transparency in the primary market, while ESG-linked projects, including the NGX Net-Zero initiative, were positioned to support long-term resilience and risk management.
He said NGX Group plans to deepen engagement with investors in 2026 through targeted education initiatives focused on digital access, sector opportunities and structured pathways for diaspora participation.
