Otedola at 62: Honouring the Chess Master of Investing

By Darlington Nwobodo

“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to the optimists and buys from pessimists.”
— Benjamin Graham

In the equation of life, other variables can change, but time remains eternally constant. This is one of the reasons it is important to be conscious of our time; how we spend it, and what will be remembered of us when we finally take the inevitable flight of death into eternity. This is the philosophy that inspired the noble postulation of Williams James, American philosopher and a historian, that the great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

Birthdays cum anniversaries are opportunities, not only to mark time as the unit of life, but provides window of introspection to x-ray whether we are truly living or merely existing. In order to make the world a better place, while we urge people to live a life of impact, we are morally obligated to celebrate those already living in that realm of positive legacies—entrenching indelible footprints on the sands of time. And elevate them to olympian height where they will be torchbearers for those coming behind.

Femi Otedola (CFR), is an exemplar of this ideology; an entrepreneurial maven and quintessential businessman—a renowned philanthropist, using his legacies to engrave his name with gold on the path of life. As grandmaster of the universe, God programmed entrance into this physical realm in times and seasons. On November 4, 1962, like a ship on a voyage of destiny, Femi anchored on the shores of Sir Michael Otedola’s family—his time on earth began ticking.

62 years down this glorious journey, his life has not only been a success but a huge inspiration to younger and upcoming generations. One of the difficulties children born into influential homes usually have is stepping into the great shoes left by their parents and maintaining the family name. Femi Otedola had neither of these challenges. In fact, he felt uncomfortable existing under his father’s shadows. He started with fierce zeal like the son of nobody, without any privileged family background.

As the son of the ex-Lagos state governor, whose father governed the economic hub of West Africa between 1992 and 1993, Femi Otedola did not only sustain the father’s name but stepped out of its cloak to carve a niche for himself in the business world. In his 62 years stint in life, so far, every nook and cranny of Nigeria’s economy cum polity, has had entrepreneurial grit and wit of this shrewd investor and ebullient billionaire written on it, albeit with bold letters.

From oil, gas, maritime, power, real estate, banking, etcetera, Femi Otedola has blazed the trail—and still breaking into new frontiers. The lifestyle of this entrepreneurial colossus exemplifies a popular philosophy in the game of chess: “Move in silence, only speak when its time to say checkmate”.

I chose to celebrate one of Nigeria’s employers of labour on the occasion of his 62th birthday, not out of highfalutin sycophancy or parochial interest, but as a result of my ideology which resonates with a school of thought—we should magnify the values and personalities we want to see replicated in the society.

Certainly, Africa as a developing continent needs to be driven by entrepreneurs with progressive ideals, because extraordinary entrepreneurs rule the world today. They provide jobs; essential services, products, create opportunities for prosperity, and literally, make the world go round.

In rich countries, most of the times, entrepreneurs with proven track records get the admiration of their fellow citizens more than politicians, because of the impact their innovations expressed via their business empires have had on the populace.

In the United States, for example, the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg, etcetera, are revered as economic behemoths that command a lot of respect from both governments and citizens, not necessarily because of their wealth but as a result of their entrepreneurial exploits which have created opportunities for others. Developing countries like Nigeria should imbibe this culture of eulogizing our entrepreneurs more than politicians, especially those who are setting the pace in the economy.

It will encourage more youths to adopt great entrepreneurs as role models that would inspire them to venture into rocky mountains of entrepreneurship; being mentored by those who had already broken grounds in different endeavours of the economy. These will help to create jobs, reduce unemployment, roll back poverty, fight insecurity, make our youths innovative and create economic prosperity for all. Everyone must not be a politician—one must not be a governor, senator, or even president to touch lives; be rich, powerful and create opportunities for others.

As a paragon of this philosophy, despite being the son of a successful politician—ex-governor, and indigenous to a politically conscious state like Lagos, Femi Otedola has refused all attempts to be dragged into murky waters of politics. His own politics is that of the private sector—business, investing and entrepreneurship. He has excelled very well in this area to the extent that career politicians envy him.

It takes strength of character, deep-rooted ideology and elevated vision, for someone that has been repeatedly recognized as one of the richest men in Africa by prestigious Forbes Magazine, to remain apolitical in Lagos politics, despite having the resources and connections to disrupt the current political order in the state. Leadership is shown when someone leads, but true leadership is in choosing where to lead.

As a strategic investor and business titan, like an elephant with gigantic footprints in Nigeria’s muddy business environment, Femi Otedola is pathfinding a new philosophy in the private sector. He has succeeded not only in the business world but in family life. As an affectionate husband and compassionate father, Femi Otedola has been a great role model to his wife and four children. He taught them how to step out of their parents’ legacies and make a name for themselves.

These can be seen in the tremendous waves being made by his children in the entertainment stratosphere, cosmetic industry, fashion world, etc. But, to Femi Otedola, life has not been a bed of roses for him. He has been hit by the storms in the past and was able to weather those turbulent times via dint of dexterity and infinite grace of God upon his life. He was caught in the economic crisis of 2008/2009 that quaked the world economy.

In an explosive article published in Forbes Magazine in 2016, Femi Otedola told an inspiring story of how his business suddenly nosedived. In 2008, he had one million tons of diesel shipment on the sea en route Nigeria’s shores, when the unexpected happened—oil prices crashed. “I had about 93 percent of the diesel market on my fingertips. All of a sudden oil prices collapsed and I had over one million tons of diesel on the high seas and the price dropped from $146 to $34”, Otedola said.

As the then chairman of Forte Oil, with over 500 gas stations across the country, Femi Otedola was in for the biggest shock of his life. He found himself in between the devil and the deep sea. Plunge in oil prices, the crash of stocks, devaluation of the naira and accrued interests, collectively pushed a dollar-dominated billionaire to a seabed of debt, to the tune of $1.2 billion.

Instead of giving up, he remembered that it is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed, apologies to Doe Zantamata. Femi Otedola stemmed the tide. He staged a comeback from the downfall, to reclaim his place as one of the richest men in Africa. This run has deepened his belief in giving back to society, as being expressed in his various philanthropic milestones.

Otedola, a simple-styled billionaire, is a renowned philanthropist. He has given billions of naira in aid to various groups, organizations and individuals. Recently, he donated a whopping sum of N3.7 billion to a Nigerian university. He shares the philosophy of Albert Pike that what we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

In almost twenty years now, Femi Otedola has made a lot of sacrifices to see that the nation become self-sufficient in refining its crude oil resources. It can be seen in his unparalleled and unwavering support to Dangote Refinery to ensure an end to importation of refined petroleum products, of which has wrecked our economy via hemorrhaging foreign reserves, skyrocketing inflation and weakening of the naira.

Happy Birthday, sir!

*Darlington wrote in from Abuja via chidieberenwobodo@yahoo.com.