How a Nigerian Listed Company Enabled Staff to Invest Monthly in Company Shares

The Challenge

A mid-sized Nigerian financial services company listed on the NGX had experienced a sustained increase in staff turnover at the officer and analyst levels over a three-year period. Exit interviews consistently identified compensation competitiveness — particularly the lack of a meaningful equity component — as a primary reason for departures to larger banks and international employers.

The board had considered a traditional discretionary share option scheme but concluded that a broad-based monthly savings plan — offering all permanent employees the chance to invest systematically in company shares — would deliver both retention and cultural benefits more effectively than a scheme restricted to senior management.

The Approach

The company engaged Shares Saver to design and administer an Employee Share Purchase Plan structured around monthly payroll deduction. Key design decisions included:

• •All permanent employees with at least six months of service were eligible to participate — no seniority threshold
• •Employees elected to invest between 2% and 10% of their monthly basic salary via payroll deduction
• •The company provided a 25% employer match — for every ₦100 an employee invested, the company added ₦25 to the share purchase
• •Shares were purchased at the prevailing NGX market price on the last business day of each month and registered at CSCS directly in each employee's name
• •A three-year graded vesting schedule applied to employer match shares — employees retained their own contribution shares immediately
• •A good leaver / bad leaver framework was documented in the scheme rules — retirement, redundancy, and death triggered immediate vesting of all employer match shares

Implementation

Shares Saver managed the end-to-end implementation process over an eight-week period:

Outcomes — 12 Months After Launch

The scheme delivered a measurable improvement in year-one staff retention for participants relative to non-participants. The company secretary noted that the Shares Saver platform reduced the administrative burden of monthly reconciliation from an estimated two days of manual work per month to under two hours.

“The combination of a straightforward payroll deduction model and real-time employee dashboards meant our staff understood and valued the benefit from day one. That visibility was key to achieving a 71% participation rate.”
— Head of Human Resources (anonymised)