Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has opened up about a striking chapter of his financial journey, revealing that during the peak of his success, banks used beautiful women to try and win his deposits and secure deals.
The revelation is part of his upcoming memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, which will be published by FO Books and released on August 18, 2025.
In the book, Otedola shares how his once-thriving oil and gas empire was battered by a series of economic downturns — including the global crash in oil prices, a devalued naira, mounting interest, and a stock market dip — leading to staggering losses. He detailed how he lost over $480 million to the oil price crash, $258 million due to naira devaluation, $320 million in interest, and another $160 million from the stock market collapse.
“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 described how quickly the tide turned. At one point, he said, banks competed fiercely for his attention, offering loans and deals with charming women sent to persuade him. But as his fortunes dipped, the friendly smiles were replaced by aggressive debt collectors.
“One moment, I was the darling of the banks. They would send bewitching ladies to make their offers more convincing,” he recalled. “Then I was waking up to find hefty, barrel-chested men standing in front of my gate, waiting for me to step out.”
Otedola’s rise began with Zenon Petroleum, which grew from selling diesel in drums to dominating the market. He later acquired African Petroleum and rebranded it to Forte Oil, which once ranked among the best-performing stocks in Nigeria.
However, things took a turn in 2008 when a diesel shipment ordered at $147 per barrel arrived after prices had plummeted to $40. At the same time, the naira fell from N120 to N167 per dollar, deepening his losses and debt burden.
