Biography of Femi Otedola

Femi Otedola is a Nigerian billionaire, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was born in ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria to Sir Michael Otedola, former governor of Lagos state, on the 4th of November 1962.

He attended Obafemi Awolowo university ile-ife, Osun state where he bagged a degree before fully embracing entrepreneurship by taking charge of his family’s printing press business.

In 1994, Otedola established and began operating his “Center Force Limited” which specialized in finance investments and trading.

In 2003, he founded Zenon Petroleum Gas Limited, a company that deals with marketing and distribution of petroleum products.

By 2004, it became a proud owner of large storage cargos and depots in Ibafo and Apapa. Today, it controls a large chunk of Nigeria’s diesel market and supplies fuel to major manufacturing industries like Dangote group of companies, coca-cola, MTN, Nigerian Breweries, Nestle, Unilever and Guiness.

In 2007, Femi Otedola bought large quantity of shares of the defunct African Petroleum company and became a major share holder.

The company was later rebranded, restructured and renamed as Forte Oil Plc which today has over five hundred petrol stations across Nigeria.

Other investments by Otedola include the SeaForce Shipping Company Limited, Swift Insurance and FO Properties limited which deals with real estate.

He also acquired Stallion House on Victoria Island, Lagos from the federal government of Nigeria for about 2.3 billion naira.

He has also been part of several Nigerian committees that require his exertise as a successful entreprenuer and financial giant as a result of his hard work.

In 2004, he was appointed to a committee responsible for building Nigeria’s commercial relationship with South Africa; In 2006, he was appointed as a non executive director of the transnational corporation of Nigeria Plc, a multi sectoral conglomerate established in 2004 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and 2007, he was appointed as the chairman of transcorp Hilton hotel in Abuja.

In 2011, he was appointed by former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as a member of Nigeria’s National Economic Management team. Otedola is also a member of the Nigerian investment promotion council (NIPC)

Just like most billionaires, Otedola is a philanthropist who has contributed immensely in funding the education of under privileged students in Lagos state through his scholarship scheme (Michael Otedola University Scholarship Scheme) which was founded in 1985 to aid students in accessing higher education.

In 2005, he donated about three hundred million naira to the completion of Nigeria’s Ecumenical centre in abuja , the primary place of christian worship in Nigeria.

In the same year, Otedola’s Zenon contributed two hundred million to Michael Otedola’s scholarship scheme which has benefitted more than one thousand Nigerian students.

In 2007, Otedola was among a group of donors that contributed two hundred million to the state security fund to aid the combation of crime and safe gaurd the people of Lagos state.

In 2008, he donated eighty million naira to the faculty of agriculture in the University Of Port Harcout, Rivers State and hundred million naira to the Otedola College of education Noforija, Epe, Lagos State.

He is married to Nana Otedola the CEO of Garment Care, a laundry enterprise and together they have three daughters and one son (Florence, Christy, Temi and Fewa Otedola) Their first daughter Florence Otedola also known as DJ Cuppy is an international music producer, DJ and tourist ambassador for Nigeria while the other daughter Temi Otedola is a fashion enthusiast and a style blogger. Femi Otedola also has a childout of wedlock.

He has been involved in several controversies like the bribery and corruption allegation against him in 2012, where he was accused if bribing the chairman of the then house committee on fuel subsidy regime with a sum of $620,000 to remove the name of his company from the list of Diem’s indicted for abusing the fuel subsidy regime in 2012.

Business And Investments of Femi Otedola

Otedola’s major investments are in gas and oil, shipping and real estate. Some of them are listed below:

Zenon Petroleum And Gas

Incorporated as a private owned limited liability company, it immediately started operations after its incorporation on the 10th of March 1999.

With its headquarters in Victoria island Lagos, it deals in the marketing and distribution of petroluem products like petrol, kerosene, fuel, gas, oil and lubricants.

It has large storage capacities and retail outlets in Nigeria and is one of the major distributor of petroluem products and services in the country. It also engages in the energy industry with ventures in offshore field developments and pipeline projects.

Forte Oil

Like Zenon petroleum, Forte oil also has its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria with over five hundred outlets all over the country, It also operates Ghana.

It was incorporated in 1964 as African Petroleum but began selling it’s shares after fourteen years of operations. In 2007, Femi Otedola purchased these shares from the federal government and became the core investor.

It was later rebranded and restructured to become Forte oil in 2010. The company is a downstream petroleum industry that has diversified into other sectors of the energy chain.

It distributes petroleum products and lubricants to the avaiation , auto mobile and marine markets. It has three subsidiaries: AP Oil and Field Services Limited, AP Oil and Gas Ghana Limited and Ameperion power distribution company limited.

Other Investments of Femi Otedola

Femi Otedola’s other investments include FO Properties limited, a real estate management company with its headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Swift Insurance Brokers Limited an insurance company also situated in Victoria Island, Lagos that provides full range of insurance solutions to those in need and SeaForce Shipping company Limited which made him the largest ship owner in Nigeria at a certain period.

SeaForce owns and operates some of the largest vessels in Nigeria and specialize in shipping of petroluem products and other cargo.

It also has its headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos. He is reported to have recently invested in the Nigerian power sector.

Net Worth of Femi Otedola

Femi Otedola is the third richest man in Nigeria, right after Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga and he is the second Nigerian after Aliko Dangote to be included on the Forbes list of dollar denominated billionaires. He recently made the Forbes list of Nigeria’s richest people and is currently estimated to be worth $2.3 billion.