Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has disclosed that during the height of his business career, banks used various strategies—some of them questionable—to attract his financial engagement.
The revelation is among several contained in his forthcoming autobiography titled Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, set to be released on August 18, 2025, and published by FO Books.
An excerpt from the book, obtained by TheCable, outlines the massive financial setbacks he endured during a turbulent period in Nigeria’s oil sector, when currency devaluation and plunging oil prices devastated his businesses.
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“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,” he wrote.
Otedola, son of a former Governor of Lagos State, Michael Otedola (late) detailed how financial institutions scrambled to win his patronage when he was at the top of his game, only to abandon him when the tide turned: “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, take deposits from me.
They would send bewitching ladies to make their offers more convincing, 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 entrepreneur quantified his losses, stating he lost over $480 million due to the global oil price collapse, $258 million from currency devaluation, $320 million in interest charges, and $160 million when the stock market crashed.
Announcing the release on his verified X account, Otedola wrote: “I am excited to announce the forthcoming release of my new book, ‘Making it Big’ set to launch on August 18th. Just a month to go. The lessons, setbacks, and triumphs that shaped my path are almost ready for you.In these pages, I’ve shared the real stories – the moments of doubt, the breakthroughs, and the principles that guided me through it all.I look forward to opening this conversation with entrepreneurs and visionaries across the world, and to seeing how these experiences might inspire your own journey forward.”
