When Legend Web Plc rang the bell on the buying and selling ground of the Nigerian Trade (NGX) on April 24, 2025, it made historical past because the nation’s first and solely web service supplier (ISP) to go public.
Not like many IPOs, Legend Web was listed by introduction, which means no new shares had been offered on the time of itemizing. As a substitute, the corporate made two billion abnormal shares accessible at ₦5.64 every, immediately including ₦11.28 billion ($8.68 million) to the NGX’s market capitalisation. Since its itemizing, Legend’s shares have surged over 58%, touchdown within the NGX’s high 10 gainers.
Legend Web was based in 2014 with a mission to democratize web entry in Nigeria. For years, the corporate quietly constructed out its fiber infrastructure in Abuja, laying over 250,000 meters of cable and connecting greater than 10,000 houses. By 2024, Legend had grown into Nigeria’s fastest-growing last-mile fiber supplier, with a footprint protecting 250,000 houses within the capital metropolis alone and a imaginative and prescient to succeed in a million houses nationwide inside 5 years.
Legend Web gives high-speed web, TV, and voice providers by means of a single fibre optic cable on to houses. At every location, an Optical Community Terminal (ONT) is put in, functioning as each modem and router to ship wired and wi-fi connectivity. Customers handle subscriptions and funds digitally through the MyLegend platform, which hyperlinks to LegendPay for seamless renewals and buyer help.
Going public
The trail to public itemizing was something however simple. Nigeria’s broadband market, whereas stuffed with potential, is notoriously tough for ISPs. Regardless of the nation’s cell connectivity increase, the fiber broadband penetration progress stays below 1%, starkly contrasting South Africa’s 30% annual progress. The explanations are many: excessive right-of-way prices, rampant vandalism of infrastructure, heavy taxation, and fierce competitors from deep-pocketed cell community operators. These challenges have compelled over half of Nigeria’s licensed ISPs to close down lately, leaving simply 106 lively gamers in a market of 20 million houses.
Legend Web, led by CEO Aisha Abdulaziz, understood from the outset that survival and scale would require greater than technical experience.
Earlier than going public, Legend Web was privately funded by means of a mixture of fairness investments from founding companions, strategic buyers, and reinvested operational revenues. Legend didn’t share the numbers. The main target was on constructing the community, buyer acquisition, and digital platforms. As operations matured and the demand for capital elevated to help long-term infrastructure progress and nationwide growth, the corporate went public to lift extra capital and strengthen its market place.
“We’re an infrastructure-intensive enterprise, and to develop, you want long-term capital,” Abdulaziz stated. “The one place to seek out that’s the capital market.” The corporate spent six months getting ready for its itemizing, assembly the NGX’s rigorous necessities, together with the 20% free float rule to make sure sufficient shares can be found for public buying and selling.
Elevating capital to fund growth
The itemizing on the NGX is simply the beginning of a a lot bigger play for Legend Web. The corporate is aiming to lift an extra ₦150 billion ($93 million) by means of a mixture of debt and fairness to fund an formidable growth plan. That capital will help the extension of its fiber community past Abuja to Lagos and ultimately to 31 states throughout Nigeria.
The corporate will even improve its expertise, rent expertise, and scale operations.
On the core of Legend’s technique is a deal with affordability. Understanding that prime prices stay a serious barrier to web adoption for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, the corporate has pledged to not enhance its subscription costs, which presently begin at ₦21,521 ($16.55) per thirty days. As a substitute, it’s specializing in driving operational efficiencies, constructing a neighborhood provide chain, and limiting publicity to international alternate volatility to keep up aggressive pricing.
In accordance with its 2024 monetary report, the corporate sharply lowered its price of gross sales by 21%, which lifted its gross revenue by 8.56% and boosted its gross margin to 59.5%. The corporate has centered on sourcing domestically to scale back reliance on international alternate, which is risky in Nigeria.
Turning WiFi customers into digital financial system individuals
Legend is hoping to win with an aggressive push into free public WiFi. With 180 lively hotspots throughout Abuja and greater than 200,000 month-to-month connections, Legend is utilizing free WiFi not simply as a goodwill gesture, however as a strategic gateway into its wider ecosystem of digital providers.
“Free WiFi is greater than charity, it’s strategic,” Abdulaziz stated. “It’s advertising, it’s outreach, and it’s a bridge to the digital financial system for underserved Nigerians.”
By its free public WiFi community, Legend introduces customers to its broader ecosystem of digital providers: LegendMail, Nigeria’s first indigenous electronic mail platform; LegendPay, a digital funds resolution; and the upcoming MailPay, which can allow cash transfers through electronic mail. The corporate’s purpose is to show these free WiFi customers, particularly from the ten million low-income households with restricted web entry, into long-term paying subscribers by providing invaluable, easy-to-use providers at their first level of digital contact.
Whereas free public WiFi initiatives in Nigeria have largely struggled as a result of operational prices, regulatory points, and lack of sustainability, Legend believes its built-in mannequin can succeed the place others have failed. Previous efforts by Google Station, Surfwella, and state-led tasks relied totally on promoting and authorities funding and failed as a result of a scarcity of a transparent income stream and person engagement. However by linking free entry with core providers, Legend is hoping to ensure constant income and elevated person engagement.
For the corporate, the itemizing is simply the beginning. It desires to construct what Abdulaziz calls the “basis layer” of Nigeria’s digital financial system.