- Femi Otedola, attributes his success in Nigeria’s diesel market to necessity rather than ambition.
- His motivation stemmed from the urgent need to tackle Nigeria’s ongoing infrastructure and energy issues.
- In his memoir, “Making It Big,” Otedola discusses the impact of persistent power outages, fuel scarcity, and a broken supply chain.
Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has revealed that his dominance in Nigeria’s diesel market was driven not by a grand ambition but by “necessity” and the urgent need to address the country’s chronic infrastructure and energy challenges.
In his upcoming memoir, Making It Big, Otedola shares how persistent power outages, fuel scarcity, and a broken supply chain in an oil-rich nation created a demand he chose to meet.
“If Nigeria had been working well, I would have no business controlling the diesel market. There was no good reason for diesel to be scarce in an oil-producing country. But scarce it was. I simply saw a gap and capitalised on the inefficiency in the system,” he states.
He recalls that the 1993 military coup led by General Sani Abacha, along with the collapse of finance houses, motivated him to establish a business that was entirely his own.
“In a sense, it took the coup for me to start thinking of a line of business that would be entirely my own, not connected to my father or the family in any way,” he says.
Addressing rumours that Zenon Petroleum was built through backdoor deals, he insists it was a “blood, sweat and tears” achievement, developed through strategic investments and persistence.
“The collapse of the finance houses provided the opportunity for me to put my brains and talent to use. I was not going to get involved in collecting deposits and promising big returns. Not many know this behind-the-scenes origin story of Zenon, and how we came to dominate the market. Some seem to think we came out of nowhere and were handed a monopoly on a silver platter. In fact, there is a story behind every success… It took blood, sweat and tears for me to build Zenon from the ground up.”
He further advises aspiring African entrepreneurs to choose their networks wisely, cautioning: “You will encounter people who are waiting like angels to open the door and others intent on slamming it shut in your face.”
Beyond his personal journey, the memoir also highlights Nigeria’s systemic dysfunction from fuel scarcity to chronic power outages presenting his rise as both a testament to resilience and an indictment of governance failures that allow private enterprises to thrive on public sector weaknesses.
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