Otedola: Nigerian billionaire whose charity begins at home, By Majeed Dahiru

Femi Otedola.

However, away from the boardrooms of Broad Street, Femi Otedola has emerged as Africa’s leading philanthropist, as seen in his numerous charitable activities in Nigeria and beyond. And what sets his philanthropic activities apart from those of others is that Otedola’s charity begins at home; from family, friends to his Epe native community, and from his Lagos home state to the world at large.

Next to South Africa with six, and Egypt with five, Nigeria is home to four of Africa’s top 20 billionaires, according to a Forbes Annual Rich List for year 2024. While Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, chairman of the Dangote Group has reclaimed his number one spot as Africa’s richest man, with an estimated net worth of $13.9 billion, from South Africa’s Johann Rupert and Family, with a net worth of about $10.1 billion, three other Nigerians are listed amongst Africa’s richest people. Mike Adenuga, whose net worth is estimated to be $6.9 billion, is listed as the fifth richest man in Africa, while his fellow country man, Abdulsamad Rabiu, is ranked the sixth with a net worth of about $5.9 billion. And at the 19^th position is Femi Otedola, who is making a remarkable comeback after many years of absence from the list of Africa’s richest.

Born in Nigeria in 1962 to Sir Michael Otedola, a Yoruba political aristocrat and former governor of Lagos State and Lady Doja, his wife, Olufemi Peter Otedola (CON) is a leading Nigerian business man with investments across the oil and gas, power and energy, and banking and finance, sectors. Taking advantage of the economic reforms of the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency between 1999 and 2007, which essentially transformed Nigeria from a command “mix economy” to a private sector driven economy through liberalisation, commercialisation and privatisation, Femi subsequently emerged as an “oligarch” when he ventured into the business of energy production.

Following the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in the early 2000s, Otedola’s  company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited emerged as a leading petroleum product marketing and distribution company that grew to become the largest distributor of diesel, Nigeria’s most utilised industrial energy product. With an investment of about N20 billion in developing the downstream infrastructural facilities of Zenon, including a 147,000 metric ton storage facility in Apapa, Lagos; four cargo vessels; and a fleet of 100 DAF petrol-tanker trucks for importation, storage and distribution of products, Femi Otedola, the chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, became synonymous with diesel trade in Nigeria. With the government of Nigeria completely taking its hands off the means of production of this important energy product, Zenon filled in the supply gap when it became the major supplier of the product to Nigeria’s manufacturing and industrial giants such as Dangote Group, Cadbury, MTN, Coca-Cola, Nigerian Breweries, Unilever, Guinness, Nestle, etc.

…the business world was not a bed of roses for Femi Otedola. A combination of a sudden slump in the price of crude oil in the international market, a devaluation of the naira, and crash of the Nigerian stock market sometime in 2010, left Otedola in $1.2 billion debt and his subsequent exit from the Forbes list of Africa’s richest people. Determined to swim and not sink with the tide, Otedola rebuilt his business empire from grass to grace.

With the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s economy and it becoming a destination of choice for Foreign Direct Investments in Africa by 2007, which bolstered its productive base, Otedola’s Zenon expanded its operations when it set up the largest petroleum storage facility in the continent and acquired a majority stake of 28.7 per cent in African Petroleum, one of Nigeria’s biggest oil marketing companies. Zenon also diversified its commercial interests away from oil and gas into banking and finance, when it became a major shareholder in two of Nigeria’s biggest banks: United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. and Zenith Bank Plc. By December 2007, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited had merged with African Petroleum, with Otedola as the chairman, having raised his stake in the company to 55.3 per cent. And by 2009, with over 500 gas stations, Femi Otedola, the chairman of African Petroleum, which was later rebranded as Forte Oil made his debut on the Forbes list of Africa’s richest people as the second Nigerian after Aliko Dangote, his lifelong friend, business partner and close associate.

But the business world was not a bed of roses for Femi Otedola. A combination of a sudden slump in the price of crude oil in the international market, a devaluation of the naira, and crash of the Nigerian stock market sometime in 2010, left Otedola in $1.2 billion debt and his subsequent exit from the Forbes list of Africa’s richest people. Determined to swim and not sink with the tide, Otedola rebuilt his business empire from grass to grace. By 2013, Otedola’s Forte Oil had acquired the 414 MW Geregu power plant from the Federal Government of Nigeria – in an investment which resulted into an over 1,000 per cent rise in the share price of the company. And by 2014, Femi Otedola had recovered enough to regain a spot on the Forbes list of Africa’s richest people that year. His subsequent acquisition of a majority stake in First Bank, a N6 trillion-in-asset financial institution and investments in Transcorp Group, Nigeria’s foremost conglomerate, among many other business dealings, have reaffirmed Femi Otedola as one of Africa’s richest people in 2024, with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.

However, away from the boardrooms of Broad Street, Femi Otedola has emerged as Africa’s leading philanthropist, as seen in his numerous charitable activities in Nigeria and beyond. And what sets his philanthropic activities apart from those of others is that Otedola’s charity begins at home; from family, friends to his Epe native community, and from his Lagos home state to the world at large. A dotting, caring and loving husband of Nana, his wife and father of four beautiful children, his effortless ability to meet, if not surpass the emotional, spiritual, moral and material needs of his family is as exemplary as it should a study on how to be a billionaire father.

…in addition to providing billions of naira in support of the education of indigent students under the auspices of the Michael Otedola Foundation, Femi Otedola made a donation of N1 million to each of the graduating 750 students of Augustine University in his native community of Epe in Lagos State in October 2023. In January this year, Otedola donated N1 billion to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund through his daughter Tolani.

Beyond the comfort and best of education he has provided his children, Otedola has supported their individual career and aspirations outside of the boardroom. While Florence “DJ Cuppy” Otedola, his Oxford educated daughter, has chosen a career in music and entertainment, his other daughter, Temi Otedola, a graduate of University of London, has emerged as Africa’s leading movie maker and actress. In 2019, Otedola donated a princely sum of N5 billion to the Cuppy Foundation that was founded by DJ Cuppy to cater for the needs of war ravaged children in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria. And in addition to providing billions of naira in support of the education of indigent students under the auspices of the Michael Otedola Foundation, Femi Otedola made a donation of N1 million to each of the graduating 750 students of Augustine University in his native community of Epe in Lagos State in October 2023. In January this year, Otedola donated N1 billion to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund through his daughter Tolani.

By far the most important charitable activity of Femi Otedola on the home front, is his obvious proper home training of children and his imparting of the moral values of service to humanity and the empathy that goes with it in them. Though “classy” by every means, Billionaire Otedola has brought up children that are “classless” in their interaction with fellow human beings. This has allowed them their individual journeys of self-discovery and the invaluable “profit” for him has been the successes of his children in their chosen fields of endeavour.  About the time Otedola made it into the Forbes list of Africa’s richest people, his award winning and multi-talented daughter, Temi, emerged as the new African Digital Brand Ambassador for L’Oreal of France beauty products. And Temi is the first Nigerian to achieve this feat. Shortly after making her debut on a Netflix production in April this year, DJ Cuppy was invited by King Charles to Buckingham Palace as a guest at the annual King’s Trust Awards, as one of the young global leaders. For Femi Otedola, the billionaire whose charity begins at home, his reward is here on earth, while more rewards awaits him in the hereafter.

Majeed Dahiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja and can be reached through dahirumajeed@gmail.com.