Billionaire philanthropist Femi Otedola has shared a revealing account of his rollercoaster journey in the oil and business world, focusing on how relationships with banks shifted drastically after his fortunes crashed.
In excerpts from his upcoming memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business—due on August 18, 2025—Otedola detailed how, during his peak years, banks aggressively courted him. He recalls being treated like “the darling of the banks,” who sent attractive women to sway him into taking their loans, making deposits, and doing business.
Otedola paints a vivid contrast: “They would send bewitching ladies to make their offers more convincing,” he writes. But in a dramatic turn, once his businesses began to crumble, those same banks reportedly switched strategies. Instead of charm, he began waking up to “hefty, barrel-chested men standing menacingly in front of my gate.”
His memoir outlines the financial blow he suffered: massive devastation from a series of economic shocks—including a steep fall in oil prices, naira devaluation, accumulated interest, and a stock market crash—that erased hundreds of millions from his empire.
The narrative captures both the allure and the cruelty embedded in high stakes business relationships how institutions can be supportive when it’s lucrative, and abrupt when times turn tough.
