Femi Otedola, billionaire businessman, has recounted the most turbulent period of his business career.
In excerpts from his forthcoming memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, to be published on August 18, 2025, Otedola revealed how Nigerian banks that once pursued him with charm quickly turned aggressive when his empire collapsed in 2009.
FO, who rose to prominence through Zenon Petroleum and later Forte Oil, shared the candid story of his financial downfall in his forthcoming memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, to be published on August 18, 2025, by FO Books.
In excerpts from the memoir, Otedola detailed how a combination of economic shocks, plunging oil prices, naira devaluation, and ballooning loan interests brought his once-thriving empire to its knees.
“All told, I lost more than US$480 million to the plunge in oil prices, US$258 million through the devaluation of the naira, US$320 million because of accruing interest, and another US$160 million when the stocks crashed,” he wrote.
“It was devastating, like a terrible nightmare, but a nightmare would have been better: day would break, and I would wake up. There was no waking up from this.”
According to him, banks that had once gone out of their way to do business with him completely changed their tone once he ran into trouble.
“One moment, I was the darling of the banks, who did everything in the world to court me, do business with me, give me loans, and take deposits from me. They would send bewitching ladies to make their offers more convincing,” he revealed.
“And now I was waking up to the sight of hefty, barrel-chested men standing menacingly in front of my gate, waiting for the moment I’d step out of my compound.”
The beginning of the crash, he explained, was triggered by a diesel shipment ordered in 2008, when crude oil sold for $147 per barrel. By the time the shipment arrived, the global oil market had tanked, and crude had dropped to $40 per barrel. To make matters worse, the naira was devalued from ₦120 to ₦167 per dollar, drastically raising the cost of servicing his foreign-denominated loans.
The upcoming memoir—Otedola’s first—has already garnered widespread acclaim from top global and African business leaders.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), praised it as “a remarkable story of resilience and reinvention.”
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, called it “a must-read for Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs.”
Other notable endorsements include Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote; business mogul Samuel Adedoyin, founder and chairman of Doyin Group; and Arunma Oteh, former Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank.