From dropout to billionaire: Otedola tells his story in memoir

Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, has revealed that his struggles with school made him leave academics and focus on business instead.

He shared his story in his new 286-page memoir, “Making It Big,” where he reflects on his humble beginnings and difficult school years.

Otedola also remembered being classmates with Kola Abiola, son of the late billionaire and politician, Chief Moshood Abiola, during his early schooling.

“My parents enrolled me at the University of Lagos Staff School in 1968, at the age of six.

“But there was something about academia and me; we were not compatible. I finished primary school in 1974 because I repeated a class. Even when I was allowed to pass, I consistently anchored the bottom rungs of our end-of-term examination results. My interests were definitely not in academia,” he wrote.

After primary school, Otedola went to Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos in 1974, but he continued to struggle academically.

“I started Form 1 at age 12 and was there for three years. The school had been founded in 1878 and had great alumni, such as Azikiwe, Mobolaji Johnson, Ola Rotimi, Fola Adeola, and Olusegun Osoba. But even there, my results didn’t improve,” he noted.

To help him improve, his parents transferred him to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, where his siblings, as boarders, were excelling.

However, Otedola said his interest in academics continued to decline.

His turning point came when his father started Impact Press, a printing company in Surulere, Lagos.

“I grew fascinated with the machines and told myself that my future would be inextricably tied to them. I managed to remain in school until the Lower Sixth examination was over. And then, I was finished; I never returned for my Upper Sixth,” he admitted.

Otedola ignored his mother’s objections and joined the family business full-time. By 1987, at just 25 years old, he had become Managing Director of Impact Press.

Despite his early success, Otedola said he wanted independence. He persuaded his father to let him work as a sales consultant for the press, earning 10–15% commission on jobs he secured

“That was a significant break for me. I invested my money in buying cars for sales and marketing outreach and moved on to the next phase in my nascent professional life,” he wrote.

Otedola added that he enjoyed the smell of ink and the sound of machines much more than struggling with Pythagoras in school. What started as a young dropout’s gamble eventually became the foundation of a business empire spanning oil, energy, finance, and philanthropy.