Otedola: Banks sent ‘bewitching ladies’ to woo me for business

Nigerian billionaire and oil magnate, Femi Otedola, has disclosed how banks once deployed attractive women to entice him into depositing funds and securing loans during the peak of his business empire.

The revelation comes in his soon-to-be-released memoir Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, which will be available on August 18, 2025, under FO Books.

In excerpts obtained by TheCable, Otedola recounts his dramatic financial rollercoaster, from commanding the Nigerian energy scene to facing colossal debt.

"One moment, I was the darling of the banks, who did everything in the world to court 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," Otedola wrote.

He revealed the sheer scale of his financial losses during the global oil downturn and Nigeria’s economic challenges.

“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 lamented.

Otedola built his wealth through Zenon Petroleum, which grew from selling diesel in drums to dominating the local diesel market.

He later acquired African Petroleum and transformed it into Forte Oil Plc, once one of the best-performing stocks on the Nigerian exchange.

But his fortunes changed when a 2008 diesel shipment ordered at $147 per barrel arrived after crude had slumped to $40.

Combined with the naira’s devaluation from N120 to N167 to the dollar in 2009, Otedola faced a double financial blow — low diesel prices and soaring dollar liabilities.

His memoir promises a deep dive into the trials and triumphs that shaped one of Nigeria’s most prominent business careers.