‘Making It Big’ blueprint for new business leaders

The absence of such firsthand accounts has left many aspirants looking outward, drawing lessons from the likes of Richard Branson or Warren Buffett. While useful, those narratives often fail to reflect the peculiar challenges and opportunities of building companies in Africa. With Making It Big, Otedola provides a homegrown example that resonates with African realities and ambitions.

From childhood dreams to corporate triumphs

The story begins with the young Otedola dreaming of his first venture even before the age of 10. It is a reminder that vision often begins in the most modest of circumstances. By the age of 41, he had made his first billion, a milestone achieved not through inheritance, but through audacity, timing and a willingness to seize opportunities that others overlooked.

His reflections on this rise are candid. He does not pretend that success came easily or without mistakes. Instead, he frames his setbacks as lessons. The collapse of finance houses in Nigeria in the early 1990s, for instance, pushed him to carve his own path in business rather than rely on family connections.

The result was Zenon Petroleum and Gas, founded in 2003. From the outside it may have looked like a sudden triumph, but Otedola takes pains to show the sweat and risk behind the scenes.

He describes how his company came to dominate the diesel market, not because it was handed an opportunity, but because he identified a gap in an economy that should have functioned better.

Nigeria suffered from energy shortages that crippled everyday life. Otedola saw inefficiency where others saw chaos and turned that recognition into a fortune. For African entrepreneurs today, this story is a reminder that opportunities often lie in the cracks of broken systems.

Read: Why mindsets matter at work

Lessons on resilience and reinvention

What elevates this book is Otedola’s willingness to examine failure. He admits to reversals and crises that could have ended his career. Yet each challenge became an opening to evolve.

When fortunes dipped, he reinvented himself. When companies faced turbulence, he embraced restructuring rather than denial. For aspirants in Nairobi, Lagos, Accra or Addis Ababa, this lesson is profound. Entrepreneurship in Africa is never a straight road.

Regulatory shocks, political upheavals and infrastructural collapse can derail the most carefully laid plans. Making It Big insists that resilience is not a slogan but a discipline, a daily choice to learn from setbacks rather than succumb to them.

Beyond profit: philanthropy and legacy

Perhaps the most moving sections of the memoir are those where Otedola reflects on giving back. He writes of donating hundreds of millions of naira to education, healthcare, disaster relief and the completion of national projects such as the Ecumenical Centre in Abuja.

He recounts the establishment of the Otedola College of Primary Education and his role as Chancellor of Augustine University. These efforts are not presented as afterthoughts but as integral to his understanding of success. For him, wealth without social impact is incomplete. This message is vital for a continent where too often success is measured only in financial terms.

Although firmly rooted in Nigeria, Otedola’s journey across oil, gas, shipping, real estate, finance and power reflects the interconnectedness of African economies. His reflections on the inefficiencies of the diesel market, for example, could apply to many other countries where resource abundance coexists with scarcity at the consumer level.

His focus on diversification resonates strongly with entrepreneurs in East Africa who know that success in one sector is rarely enough. Whether it is agribusiness in Kenya, fintech in Ghana or manufacturing in Ethiopia, the lesson is clear: build with vision, but never be afraid to pivot.

The book also demonstrates pride in African identity. Otedola is unapologetic about his roots and determined to demonstrate that African entrepreneurs can compete at the highest levels. In a global environment where African business leaders are often framed as anomalies, his voice is defiant.

He insists that Africans are not merely participants but shapers of global markets. For the aspiring entrepreneur in Nairobi’s industrial area or Kisumu’s lakefront, this affirmation is powerful.

I could not help but read this book against the backdrop of our own entrepreneurial landscape. Nairobi has in recent years styled itself as the Silicon Savannah, a hub of fintech innovation and start-up energy. Yet many of our young entrepreneurs struggle with the same obstacles Otedola describes: limited access to capital, infrastructural gaps, and the volatility of government policy.

What his book offers them is not a formula but a mindset. It tells them that crises can be catalysts, that failures can be re-engineered into fresh beginnings, and that the continent’s challenges are in fact opportunities for those willing to think differently.

In rural Kenya, where agribusiness dreams confront logistical nightmares, Otedola’s reflections on seizing inefficiency would resonate. In our coastal cities, where energy and logistics remain bottlenecks, his ability to build empires out of scarcity feels immediately relevant.

Most of all, his insistence on legacy challenges our entrepreneurs to see beyond profit. To build companies that endure, to create institutions that educate and empower, to make philanthropy a core part of business rather than a token afterthought. These are lessons that Kenya, and indeed Africa, urgently needs.

Read: How good is your critical thinking as a manager?

Endorsements that speak volumes

The stature of the book is reinforced by endorsements from some of Africa’s most respected figures. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation, calls it an important contribution precisely because so few African business leaders have written their own accounts.

Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank praises its insights for surmounting business hurdles. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, affirms that it is a must-read for anyone venturing into business. These voices add weight but they also reflect a consensus: that this is more than a personal memoir. It is a continental resource.

Making It Big is not just a business memoir; it is a manifesto for African entrepreneurship. It does not shy away from recounting personal struggles and business missteps, yet it frames them as part of the journey rather than stains on the record. It champions resilience, reinvention and philanthropy as the true measures of success.

For young Africans, it is a call to dream boldly, to act decisively and to build legacies that outlast them. For readers outside Africa, it is a rare chance to understand the complexity and brilliance of building empires on this continent.

Femi Otedola has given us a book that will be read not only by business leaders but by students, policymakers and ordinary citizens who believe in the possibility of an African century. In capturing his story in his own words, he has ensured that future generations will not only know of his success but also understand the lessons behind it.