Femi Otedola has revealed how commercial banks once deployed attractive women to secure his business deals when his empire was booming.
The billionaire businessman shared the experience in his soon-to-be-released memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, set for release on 18 August.
According to excerpts from the book, Otedola described how banks fell over themselves to attract his attention before his finances took a major hit from crashing oil prices, currency devaluation, and mounting interest on loans.
“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,” he wrote.
“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.”
Otedola recalled losing over $1.2 billion during the financial storm that followed the global oil price collapse and naira depreciation.
“All told, I lost more than $480 million to the plunge in oil prices, $258 million through the devaluation of the naira, $320 million because of accruing interest, and another $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.”
The oil magnate rose to national prominence through Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, which dominated the diesel market in Nigeria. He later acquired African Petroleum and rebranded it to Forte Oil, once among the most traded stocks on the Nigerian Exchange.
