Popular Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, has shared how banks once sent “bewitching ladies” to secure his deposits and loans when his business empire was booming.
He recently revealed how the financial institutions sent very pretty ladies to him to make their offers more convincing.
Sharing in his forthcoming memoir, ‘Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business,’ published by FO Books and scheduled for release on August 18, 2025, Otedola broke down how the global crash in crude oil prices and the devaluation of the naira left his businesses deeply indebted and under massive pressure.
According to him, going from being a bank magnet to having hefty men waiting for him at his front gate was not a good experience.
He concluded by saying that it was his worst nightmare at the time because he lost over US$480 million to the plunge in oil prices.
“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.
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.
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,” he wrote.
Otedola entered the Nigerian mega business scene with Zenon Petroleum, which grew from selling diesel in drums to owning the largest share of the local market.
He bought African Petroleum in the downstream market and rebranded it to Forte Oil Plc, which was one of the highest performing in the stock market at a time.
However, a diesel shipment he ordered in 2008 when crude oil was $147/barrel did not arrive until the price had dropped to $40, plunging him into a huge debt.
