Femi Otedola, Nigerian billionaire and renowned philanthropist with business interests spanning energy, finance, and infrastructure, has broken into the top ranks of Amazon’s best-selling business memoirs.
His newly released book, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, published on August 18, 2025, has swiftly climbed to No. 3 on Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Business Biographies & Memoirs” list.
Available in paperback for £14.99, the memoir is competitively priced alongside other leading titles in the genre, appealing to a broad audience of aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts.
Otedola’s memoir now shares company with some of the most influential titles in the category, including Gary Stevenson’s The Trading Game: A Confession (No. 1) and Simon Squibb’s What’s Your Dream? (No. 2). It also joins the ranks of genre-defining works like Shoe Dog by Phil Knight and Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson.
Amazon’s bestseller lists, updated hourly, are based solely on real-time sales data—not reviews or ratings. This means a sharp increase in purchases can catapult a new release to the top of the charts, even ahead of long-established titles. Rankings are also category-specific, allowing books to achieve prominence in niche genres like Business Biographies & Memoirs.
For Otedola, this recognition reflects more than commercial success—it marks the global resonance of his story. Making It Big traces his journey from modest beginnings in Nigeria to becoming one of Africa’s most influential business leaders. Blending personal anecdotes with practical insights, the book explores themes of leadership, resilience, and strategic risk-taking—hallmarks of his entrepreneurial rise.
The son of Sir Michael Otedola, a former governor of Lagos State, Femi Otedola forged his path in business. In 2003, he identified a gap in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector and secured funding to launch Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. Within a year, he invested ₦15 billion in storage facilities and shipping infrastructure, rapidly transforming Zenon into a dominant force in fuel distribution. His business interests later expanded into power generation, financial services, and philanthropy, further cementing his reputation as a visionary entrepreneur.
“Making It Big is not simply about my journey,” Otedola writes in the book’s preface. “It is about the principles and choices that anyone, regardless of background, can apply in pursuit of their goals.”
With its strong debut and rising popularity, Making It Big is quickly becoming a defining business memoir of 2025.
