All the things explained here supports my opinion that these books should be written. Even if we can’t learn much from it, we can understand how truly the country works and the elite mindset.
Been sharing this and talking to my friends about it all morning. I'm glad Otedola wrote this book, so that people with open eyes will understand how Nigeria truly works, and we can all stop fooling ourselves. Also telling that this country isn't designed for a particlar kind of innovation.
Yes it an incredibly honest book. He doesn't really care what anyone thinks so he shared some incredible things about how Nigeria works that might land you in prison elsewhere. But it is what it is and everyone should read it for that insight into reality alone.
Lovely review as always. Can it be argued though that this roughneck form of entrepreneurship is the stuff of earlier day capitalism in other worlds ? Capital was the thing of value not so much the product or any deep love for innovation.
It can be argued but I'm not sure how much it stacks up. If anything, it is weird how capital takes the front row in a poor country. You'd expect innovation to take the lead as capital by definition is scarce. It's this potency of govt favour that is really distortionary. Maybe the earlier entrepreneurs like Rockefeller were fortunate to come at a time when the US government was too weak to confer any advantages like banning things on them.
There is a striking similarity in a funny way between how Ote$ was inspired to start Zenon after seeing that messy truck and how Rockefeller got into kerosene when there was so much unbranded stuff in the market and when there were explosions from kerosene, no one could trace the origin. So Rockefeller entered with his own brand and put his name on it i.e. if this product explodes, you can trace it back to me and hold my shirt.
But that's where the comparison stops. Femi went on to govt, Rockefeller went on to refining and innovating the process.
Indeed. Deidre McCloskey once regretted why historians and economists let the term "capitalism" stick - because it was coined by Marx/Marxists. Her preferred term was "innovism"
I just realised that Forte isn't the dictionary definition, but a clever play on For Ote($). Takes it into the top one per cent of company names for me. Clap it up for the clever kiddo who coined it. Worth 20m, TBH.
'All grand fortunes are born with a crime,' said Balzac at a time when Europe stood poised on the precipice of a past when all great fortunes were won by freebooters and a glittering future where innovation was the master key.
Industrial innovation is capital-intensive, and that capital has to be accumulated . . .somehow. I'm ambivalent about the means. The Alhajis and Ote$ are of the past. Let's see what sorta entrepreneurs their family offices back first.
P.S. They can start with my (totally) innovative FF-LLM to automate Mr Fawehinmi's glittering prose.
Yeah he mentioned that the starting point was to find something that with his FO initials. They played around with a few ideas before his daughter came up with Forte Oil
Your review is top notch, emphasizes the sad reality of Nigeria, state patronage as the only gateway to immense wealth, the ones who truly want to innovate will never get that kind of access and the ones who have that kind of access have zero interest in innovation.
There is no big business in the world without state patronage. Business is more complicated than we all think. To his credit he sustained overtime. We can point to lots of people that have made it "big" but have ended up as casualties.
Ma,i have interest in innovation oo. It will interest you to know that I invented fuel from trees and currently produce cooking Gas, Electricity and Fertilizer to grow Nigeria's Economy.
What I find most striking about this piece is how it dismantles the myth of “self-made” wealth without dismissing individual drive. The narrative shows that in Nigeria, billionaires often stand on scaffolding built by state privilege, policy distortions, and access to power—not necessarily innovation or product obsession. That tension is the real contradiction: personal hustle is glorified, while the systemic scaffolding that made it possible is hidden in plain sight.
Your conclusion hits the heart of it—“making it big” in Nigeria rarely translates into “making it better” for the country. Perhaps the bigger challenge for our generation is not to replicate Otedola’s path, but to reimagine what success looks like when measured by collective progress, not just private conquest.
Feyi - you are an absolutely brilliant writer. And it’s not just the writing it’s the insights as well. I shared this widely today because I know there’ll be many sycophantic reviews as well.
Good job Feyi. A thorough review with a clear sight devoid of the filters. You raised useful questions about the elite caring more about adding to their bank balance than adding value to the country/economy which says a lot about why we're where we are now. Well done
Thanks for the review. Eloquent and insightful as your writing always is. I haven't been able to order the book but I fully intended to read it out of curiosity if nothing else.
He is clearly beyond caring what anyone thinks of him and that makes for some interesting revelations. The real lessons from the book are well identified in your review and I hope Nigerians take note. I was engaged in a discussion about Dangote on WhatsApp the other day (when will I learn?) and I was staggered by the wilful ignorance of some of the participants. Several actually said that they supported Dangote's price gouging in the cement market because it was better than oyinbos like Lafarge being dominant. These were lawyers with 35 years worth of experience in law and business.
Nigerians still think you can make the kind of fortunes Otedola and Dangote have accumulated by conventional means only. Ó ma șe ó.
One thing amongst many that I found interesting was his lack of intellectual curiosity about his product.
Well written review. This is exactly what I was expecting from the memoir. At least a rare view into the making of many of Nigeria's old money. A nation that does not acknowledge its past cannot create a different future. I admire Ote$'s honesty and his ability to continue to live off the rent from the empire that Zenon built even post-crisis and up till now. Many of his contemporaries are still indebted to AMCON sometimes as a result of wanton lifestyles or gross miscalculations.
I hope Faruk Lawan got a mention in the book because that episode was one Machiavellian tactic...lol.
No Nigerian serious money was ever made without the scaffolding of Government patronage, and Ote$ is a poster child for it, his personal grit and strategic positioning notwithstanding.
More Nigerians need to write their memoirs because no matter how much they 'PR' it, some truth will always come out...
Dang! I don't like that my cement / sugar, salt abbl / refining / ...and soon to be port magnate is catching strays when he did not write any book. Please don't do that again.
FF, The review is top-notch. And yes a podcast episode. I think it’s a good thing that the main players in our national space are now writing these memoirs and biographies to allow us to showcase why we are where we are. It’s sad that this book identifies the country’s largest failure - inability to figure out power delivery, hence his entire business opportunity.
Bros, pls do IBBs biography next - I know it’s riddled with less truth, and is more work to research, cross reference etc…but it’ll explain a lot more about Nigeria.
Yes, absolutely agree on that. Once he has committed the story to print - it cannot be easily changed. So he either defends it or is forced to reflect. Either way we are all the better for it
Well informed as usual!
All the things explained here supports my opinion that these books should be written. Even if we can’t learn much from it, we can understand how truly the country works and the elite mindset.
Absolutely. I'm really glad he wrote it
Word!
Been sharing this and talking to my friends about it all morning. I'm glad Otedola wrote this book, so that people with open eyes will understand how Nigeria truly works, and we can all stop fooling ourselves. Also telling that this country isn't designed for a particlar kind of innovation.
Yes it an incredibly honest book. He doesn't really care what anyone thinks so he shared some incredible things about how Nigeria works that might land you in prison elsewhere. But it is what it is and everyone should read it for that insight into reality alone.
Nigeria is designed for innovation. I invented fuel from trees and is on the newspaper. I also produce cooking Gas, Electricity and Fertilizer.
Warm regards.
Apostle George Taigbenu
Lovely review as always. Can it be argued though that this roughneck form of entrepreneurship is the stuff of earlier day capitalism in other worlds ? Capital was the thing of value not so much the product or any deep love for innovation.
It can be argued but I'm not sure how much it stacks up. If anything, it is weird how capital takes the front row in a poor country. You'd expect innovation to take the lead as capital by definition is scarce. It's this potency of govt favour that is really distortionary. Maybe the earlier entrepreneurs like Rockefeller were fortunate to come at a time when the US government was too weak to confer any advantages like banning things on them.
There is a striking similarity in a funny way between how Ote$ was inspired to start Zenon after seeing that messy truck and how Rockefeller got into kerosene when there was so much unbranded stuff in the market and when there were explosions from kerosene, no one could trace the origin. So Rockefeller entered with his own brand and put his name on it i.e. if this product explodes, you can trace it back to me and hold my shirt.
But that's where the comparison stops. Femi went on to govt, Rockefeller went on to refining and innovating the process.
Indeed. Deidre McCloskey once regretted why historians and economists let the term "capitalism" stick - because it was coined by Marx/Marxists. Her preferred term was "innovism"
Hmmm. Big difference
My brother Otedola's day is different when his vessels get fuel from shell, Chevron.
Invention rules; i invented fuel from trees and currently i produce cooking Gas, Electricity and Fertilizer to grow Nigeria's GDP.
I have a newspaper publication of my invention story and i have the power to crash down price of fuel from 800 Naira to 400 Naira
Warm regards
Apostle George Taigbenu
08028778971.
Managing Director, Taigbenu Oil and Gas Limited
Masterful review.
I just realised that Forte isn't the dictionary definition, but a clever play on For Ote($). Takes it into the top one per cent of company names for me. Clap it up for the clever kiddo who coined it. Worth 20m, TBH.
'All grand fortunes are born with a crime,' said Balzac at a time when Europe stood poised on the precipice of a past when all great fortunes were won by freebooters and a glittering future where innovation was the master key.
Industrial innovation is capital-intensive, and that capital has to be accumulated . . .somehow. I'm ambivalent about the means. The Alhajis and Ote$ are of the past. Let's see what sorta entrepreneurs their family offices back first.
P.S. They can start with my (totally) innovative FF-LLM to automate Mr Fawehinmi's glittering prose.
Yeah he mentioned that the starting point was to find something that with his FO initials. They played around with a few ideas before his daughter came up with Forte Oil
Your review is top notch, emphasizes the sad reality of Nigeria, state patronage as the only gateway to immense wealth, the ones who truly want to innovate will never get that kind of access and the ones who have that kind of access have zero interest in innovation.
There is no big business in the world without state patronage. Business is more complicated than we all think. To his credit he sustained overtime. We can point to lots of people that have made it "big" but have ended up as casualties.
Ma,i have interest in innovation oo. It will interest you to know that I invented fuel from trees and currently produce cooking Gas, Electricity and Fertilizer to grow Nigeria's Economy.
Warm regards
Apostle George Taigbenu.
Managing Director, Taigbenu Oil and Gas Limited
08064547021
Chai!
A well-written review.
What I find most striking about this piece is how it dismantles the myth of “self-made” wealth without dismissing individual drive. The narrative shows that in Nigeria, billionaires often stand on scaffolding built by state privilege, policy distortions, and access to power—not necessarily innovation or product obsession. That tension is the real contradiction: personal hustle is glorified, while the systemic scaffolding that made it possible is hidden in plain sight.
Your conclusion hits the heart of it—“making it big” in Nigeria rarely translates into “making it better” for the country. Perhaps the bigger challenge for our generation is not to replicate Otedola’s path, but to reimagine what success looks like when measured by collective progress, not just private conquest.
It is also why the biggest prize in Nigeria is to grab hold of state power.
This needs its own podcast o🙌🏿… Please get into the studio with Tobi. Very well written
Feyi - you are an absolutely brilliant writer. And it’s not just the writing it’s the insights as well. I shared this widely today because I know there’ll be many sycophantic reviews as well.
Thank you, you are far too kind!
Good job Feyi. A thorough review with a clear sight devoid of the filters. You raised useful questions about the elite caring more about adding to their bank balance than adding value to the country/economy which says a lot about why we're where we are now. Well done
You’re really one of our best writers 🥹
Thank you, far too kind
Thanks for the review. Eloquent and insightful as your writing always is. I haven't been able to order the book but I fully intended to read it out of curiosity if nothing else.
He is clearly beyond caring what anyone thinks of him and that makes for some interesting revelations. The real lessons from the book are well identified in your review and I hope Nigerians take note. I was engaged in a discussion about Dangote on WhatsApp the other day (when will I learn?) and I was staggered by the wilful ignorance of some of the participants. Several actually said that they supported Dangote's price gouging in the cement market because it was better than oyinbos like Lafarge being dominant. These were lawyers with 35 years worth of experience in law and business.
Nigerians still think you can make the kind of fortunes Otedola and Dangote have accumulated by conventional means only. Ó ma șe ó.
One thing amongst many that I found interesting was his lack of intellectual curiosity about his product.
Onwards and upwards.
Again, thanks for putting in the work.
Well written review. This is exactly what I was expecting from the memoir. At least a rare view into the making of many of Nigeria's old money. A nation that does not acknowledge its past cannot create a different future. I admire Ote$'s honesty and his ability to continue to live off the rent from the empire that Zenon built even post-crisis and up till now. Many of his contemporaries are still indebted to AMCON sometimes as a result of wanton lifestyles or gross miscalculations.
As always, a well-written review...
I hope Faruk Lawan got a mention in the book because that episode was one Machiavellian tactic...lol.
No Nigerian serious money was ever made without the scaffolding of Government patronage, and Ote$ is a poster child for it, his personal grit and strategic positioning notwithstanding.
More Nigerians need to write their memoirs because no matter how much they 'PR' it, some truth will always come out...
Sadly not a single mention of Lawan and the Cap Banking episode :)
Dang! I don't like that my cement / sugar, salt abbl / refining / ...and soon to be port magnate is catching strays when he did not write any book. Please don't do that again.
Hahaha...not fair!
Good review and thanks for bringing us fellow poor men back to reality, before we break our necks copying fake expo from outside exam hall 🥲
“With N10 million - a sum whose provenance is left unexplored - he established Centre Force in 1994”
Hahaha
FF, The review is top-notch. And yes a podcast episode. I think it’s a good thing that the main players in our national space are now writing these memoirs and biographies to allow us to showcase why we are where we are. It’s sad that this book identifies the country’s largest failure - inability to figure out power delivery, hence his entire business opportunity.
Bros, pls do IBBs biography next - I know it’s riddled with less truth, and is more work to research, cross reference etc…but it’ll explain a lot more about Nigeria.
Yes, absolutely agree on that. Once he has committed the story to print - it cannot be easily changed. So he either defends it or is forced to reflect. Either way we are all the better for it