After award-winning memoir, Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola begins work on second book

For Femi Otedola, the story no longer ends with building wealth. Less than a year after publishing an award-winning memoir that chronicled his rise, fall and return to the top of Nigerian business, the billionaire investor has begun writing what appears to be the next chapter of that journey.

• Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has revealed he is writing a second business book.
• The sequel, titled Making It Bigger, follows the international success of his bestselling memoir.
• The announcement comes after his landmark Geregu Power exit and deeper investment in First HoldCo.
• Otedola has yet to disclose the book’s release date or what it will cover.

Otedola revealed on Monday that he is working on a new book titled Making It Bigger, offering readers the first glimpse of a sequel to his bestselling memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business.

Posting on X from Geneva, Switzerland, the chairman of First HoldCo said he had spent the morning writing before taking a bicycle ride through the city.

“This sunny afternoon today in Geneva, taking a ride after a busy morning writing a few pages of my next book, Making It Bigger.”

He did not disclose when the book would be released or what subjects it would explore.

The announcement comes at a time when Otedola’s first book continues to gather international recognition.

Released in August 2025, Making It Big blended autobiography with business lessons, documenting how the Nigerian entrepreneur built his fortune, lost much of it during one of the country’s toughest economic periods, and reinvented himself through new investments.

The memoir became an Amazon bestseller within 24 hours of publication, climbing to the top of the entrepreneurship category after initially ranking among the platform’s best-selling business biographies.

Its success has since extended beyond commercial sales.

Earlier this year, the book won the Business Book Gold Medal at the 2026 Axiom Business Book Awards in the United States, an annual competition recognising outstanding business publishing.

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More recently, it was named first runner-up at the Business Council for Africa’s African Business Book of the Year Awards in London, adding a second international honour to the memoir.

The first book also drew endorsements from some of Africa’s best-known figures, including Aliko Dangote, World Trade Organisation Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, who praised it for documenting the realities of building businesses on the continent.

A different chapter

While Otedola has not revealed what Making It Bigger will cover, the timing suggests there is no shortage of material.

His first memoir was largely completed years before publication, meaning many of the biggest developments in his business career never made it into the book.

Since then, Otedola has reshaped his investment portfolio through a series of high-profile transactions.

In late 2025, he exited Geregu Power by selling his controlling stake in the company in a deal valued at about $750 million (N1.088 trillion), marking one of the largest corporate exits by a Nigerian businessman in recent years.

The transaction closed a chapter that began when he acquired the power plant during Nigeria’s electricity privatisation programme and transformed it into the country’s first publicly listed power generation company.

His attention has since shifted increasingly towards banking.

Already chairman of First HoldCo, Otedola has steadily increased his ownership in the financial services group through a series of share purchases, reinforcing his position as one of the institution’s most influential shareholders.

Recent regulatory filings showed further acquisitions as he continued to expand his stake in the company.

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Reinvention has become a recurring theme

One of the strongest themes in Making It Big was resilience.

The billionaire recounted building Zenon Petroleum into one of Nigeria’s dominant diesel suppliers before expanding into downstream oil through African Petroleum, which he later transformed into Forte Oil.

He also wrote candidly about losing much of his fortune after the collapse in global oil prices, mounting debts and a weakening naira, describing a period when creditors closed in and his business empire appeared close to collapse.

Rather than retreat, Otedola pivoted into electricity generation through Geregu Power before later reinventing himself again as one of the biggest private investors in Nigeria’s banking industry.

That willingness to evolve has become a defining feature of his career.

What comes next?

For now, Otedola is keeping details of Making It Bigger under wraps.

Whether the sequel explores the Geregu sale, his growing influence at First HoldCo, the changing landscape of African business or the lessons that come after achieving billionaire status remains unknown.

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What is clear, however, is that the next book will begin where the last one ended.

If Making It Big was about building a fortune against the odds, Making It Bigger appears set to examine what comes after success, how wealth is preserved, deployed and transformed into lasting influence across business, finance and philanthropy.