TRENDING: Why Femi Otedola Almost Ended His Own Life

The story of Nigerian billionaire Temi Otedola is currently trending with over 1.7 million views on social media because of how he triumphantly bounced back after almost ending his own life. Here's the trending story.

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Narrating the story, a financial expert by the name of Dr. Bright Sekoni said:

In 2008, a shipment containing one million tons of diesel set sail, heading for the shores of Nigeria. The owner of the vessel, Femi Otedola, Chairman of Forte Oil, a petroleum and power generation company.

He had about 93 percent of the diesel market on my fingertips. All of a sudden oil prices collapsed and over one million tons of diesel on the high seas, the price dropped from $146 to $34.

That was only the beginning of his problems, Naira was subsequently devalued and interest began to skyrocket.

When the dust settled, Otedola had lost over $480 million due to the plunge in oil prices, $258 million through the devaluation of the naira, a further $320 million due to accruing interest and then finally $160 million when the stocks crashed.

“I had two options, either to commit suicide or to weather the storm. I decided to weather the storm. I just knew it was a phase I had to go through. You see God prepares you for greater things and of course experience is the best teacher so I had to learn my lessons. I took the bitter pill,” he says.

Otedola was now $1.2 billion in debt. For those who don't know, Femi Otedola's father is Michael Otedola, former Executive Governor of Lagos. Back when he was Governor, people like Abiola were in politics and you might not have experienced but you've heard about the immense wealth these guys had. You had to be very successful to be a politician then, so Otedolas are very wealthy.

So he said “You cannot compete with destiny, so it was my destiny to make billions every month and lose billions as well. I said to myself ‘I was not going to have friends and enemies, I was only going to have competitors.”

After the crisis, The banks had to shave off about $400 million from the debt leaving Otedola $800 million in the red. AMCON offered him a restructuring deal, which Otedola declined. He opted instead to repay what he owed and start all over again.

How did he do it? He turned to his assets, got a reputable firm to value his assets, he gave up 184 flats, investment in the banking sector, shares in Transcorp Hilton, Shares in Mobil oil, he gave up everything except 2 properties, his office space and 34% stake of Forte Oil

Today Otedola is known as the Billionaire that bounced back, and we can tell his story and learn from the experience. Imagine if he didn't have assets, imagine how tragic that would have been.

What do you think of this story? I think it's a very beautiful and triumphant story; very encouraging as well. Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

That's All.

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