Femi Otedola: A Nigerian Entrepreneur with a Midas Touch, Global Mission

Do you know Femi Otedola? Off course you do. A gold fish has no hiding place.

Femi, a Nigerian was born November 4, 1962 in Ibadan Oyo State. His father, the late Sir Michael Otedola governed Lagos from 1992 to 1993.

Having undergone educational and other trainings, under the close supervision of his family, supervised by his father, the then young man from Ibadan set out to explore the business world.

Today, he is a successful entrepreneur, a multi-billionaire and off course a kind hearted philanthropist.

He started out by running his family printing and other businesses which was a success.

In the spirit of diversity of portfolio, which the rich and wealthy persons in our society, as well as concerned and informed others know to well, he established Forte Oil Plc and Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, where he calls the shot as chairman/CEO till date.

These companies are involved in fuel marketing nationwide and have over the years become a-list companies in the serious business of fuel marketing within and outside Nigeria.

He also set-up Centreforce Investment Limited, Swift Insurance Limited, FO Properties Limited and Seaforce Shipping Limited.

No wonder www.forbes.com, the website for the rich and wealthy people across the globe listed Femi as trailing Aliko Dangote, as billionaires in local and foreign currencies from Nigeria.

Ask Google:  The fuel marketing companies established by the Ibadan-born billionaire are top. These companies are a-list players in the fuel marketing and distribution business within and outside our country.

To show in words and deeds that Zenon  convinced 10 banks to pull about $1.5billion loans which was handed over to Femi’s company as working capital to ensure that there enough fuels in our country.

This was in 2007 and the company succeeded in collapsing the price of fuel from N100 to N50. People in Nigeria and the entire country benefited from this decision.

In addition to this, Zenon and Forte oil are still supplying fuel to Dangote Group of Companies, MTN, Cadbury, Nestle, Nigerian Breweries, Coca-Cola Company Plc, etc. The list is actually endless here.

There are some key words that is known to the rich, the wealthy and the informed that stand out here.

Some of these words are: focus, determination, persistency, consistency, a never-given-up-spirit, kindness, forgiveness, transparency, accountability, sincerity, etc.

Femi also has his pies in the stock market, playing the game successfully having undergone tutoring in the demand-supply methods of dealing in stocks, shares either as a value of speculative investor.

December 2007, the billionaire’s companies invested N40billion in the stock of African Petroleum Plc. This represented 29.3% of the AP shares, which eventually upped his holdings in the company to 55.3%.

Convinced that he was an astute investor and boardroom guru, Femi was appointed chairman/CEO of AP Plc.

Within six months on the saddle of AP, the share price of the company rose from N36million to N217million.

The company also saturated the fuel distribution and marketing nation crashing the price from N100 to N50 during the period under review.

The man from Ibadan also served as the non-executive director of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, from January 2006 to February 2011, when Olusegun Obasanjo held forth as the president of Nigeria.

It was during this time  he pulled a successful deal, buying through one of his many companies Stallion House in Victoria Island, Lagos for N2.3billion.

Off course you know this too. That Femi is one of the frontline persons that have donated millions in local and foreign currencies to tame the ravaging activities of coronavirus within and outside Nigeria.

The likes of Christian Chukwu, the football wizard, who became ill and was flown abroad and his medical bills paid by Femi Otedola, shows the non-tribal and philanthropic nature of the Ibadan-born billionaire.

His many companies have also rolled out millions in local and foreign currencies to the Michael Otedola University Scholarship Board, .National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, Lagos State Security Trust Fund University of Port Harcourt, as well as individuals, politicians and political parties.

Lawan Farouk wanted to play a fast one on Femi some years back and extort millions in dollars from the business mogul. Operatives of the State Security Service, SSS tracked Farouk. But, where is he now?  I am sure you know the entire stories.

Two Toronto sisters, who also attempted to cyber-bully Femi with their fairy tales of him cheating on his wife, so as to extort money from the Nigerian businessman also crashed.

Femi is married and the union is blessed with three daughters-Elizabeth Temi, Christine Oluwunmi and Florence Ifeoluwa and a son-Fewa Otedola. This is indeed a happy family as Femi ones said he loves spending quality time with his wife and children, no matter the business pressure.