Femi Otedola Reveals Humble Beginnings: Sold Diesel Door-to-Door Before Building Zenon Oil Empire

Before becoming the billionaire behind Zenon Oil, Femi Otedola went door-to-door selling diesel in drums, riding alongside a driver in a pick-up van, he revealed in his Amazon bestselling memoir, *Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business*.

“To prosper, accept that nothing is beneath you,” Otedola wrote, reflecting on his early struggles.

In the book, he describes wearing jeans and a polo shirt as he navigated markets and residential areas, delivering diesel while friends at nightclubs joked about his unconventional hustle. “I didn’t feel that selling diesel was beneath me. I had my wife and children to look after; there were school fees to pay,” he said.

Otedola credited those humble beginnings with teaching him the value of recognizing market opportunities. “After I’d started this small-scale selling, I came to realize that the entire country was running on diesel – homes, offices, factories, trucks, and trawlers. The demand was enormous.”

Seizing the opportunity, he built a strategic marketing approach, hiring 14 young female sales executives and equipping them with new cars. “Female salespeople were more effective in convincing prospective clients, perhaps because of their commitment, ability to charm, and reluctance to take no for an answer,” he noted.

With a fleet of trucks from Turkish manufacturer BMC, Zenon began home deliveries to major companies including Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Flour Mills of Nigeria, and the Dangote Group. Otedola purchased diesel in bulk, rented storage tanks, and eventually acquired a tank farm, later importing diesel directly in vessels.

At its peak, Zenon Oil was generating $6 million in sales per month, until the 2009 global oil crash impacted the business.

Otedola’s story is a testament to the power of perseverance, strategic thinking, and recognizing opportunities, even from modest beginnings.