Otedola: Banks Sent ‘Seductive Ladies’ to Persuade Me into Taking Loans

Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has revealed how, at the height of his economic success, banks used “bewitching ladies” to secure his deposits and loan transactions.
This was reportedly disclosed by Otedola in his upcoming biography, “Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business,” which has not yet been made public.
Otedola described in excerpts from his book obtained by TheCable how a number of financial disasters, such as the global collapse of crude oil prices, the devaluation of the naira, and the stock market meltdown, destroyed a large amount of his money and left his companies heavily indebted.

“In total, the decline in oil prices cost me over US$480 million, the depreciation of the naira cost me US$258 million, interest accrued cost me US$320 million, and the stock market crash cost me another US$160 million.”

The experience was dreadful, akin to a horrible nightmare, yet a nightmare would have been preferable because I would wake up as the day broke. It was impossible to wake up from this,” Otedola wrote.

Banks formerly went out of their way to conduct business with him, Otedola recalled, describing the dramatic shift in his fortunes.

“At one point, I was the banks’ favorite, and they did everything in their power to court me, do business with me, lend me money, and collect deposits from me,” he recalled.

In order to make their proposals seem more plausible, they would send seducing women, and now I was waking up to the sight of burly, barrel-chested guys waiting for me to finally leave my compound.

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From Diesel Drums to an Enormous Enterprise
According to reports, Zenon Petroleum, which began by selling fuel in drums and eventually gained the biggest market share in the area, propelled Otedola to stardom.

At its height, one of the top-performing equities on the Nigerian Exchange was Forte Oil Plc, which he rebranded after purchasing African Petroleum.

Problems started in 2008 when Otedola bought a large supply of diesel at a price of $147 per barrel for crude oil, only for the shipment to arrive after the price had plummeted to $40 per barrel.

He was deeply indebted as a result of his enterprises’ low fuel pricing and large dollar liabilities, which were exacerbated by declining foreign exchange inflows and the depreciation of the naira from ₦120/$ to ₦167/$ in 2009.