Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has revealed that he sold diesel, going from door to door before he established his brand, Zenon Oil.
That was the reality before he founded Zenon Oil — the company that would later dominate Nigeria’s diesel market. Otedola shared this story in his Amazon bestselling memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business.
“To prosper, accept that nothing is beneath you,” the billionaire businessman wrote.
“In the beginning, I went around pushing diesel, riding in the van beside Samson, the driver. I always wore jeans and a polo shirt as we went from door to door, to market or deliver the product.
“When we met at nightclubs on weekends, my friends would tease me with questions like, ‘Where’s your truck?’ They’d laugh when I walked in and ask, ‘Are you here to sell diesel?’ I took the wisecracks in stride. 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 added that survival was his priority: “and face up to my responsibilities.”
It was during this period of door-to-door diesel sales that Otedola discovered the massive potential in the market.
“Maximize opportunities and expand to meet demand,” he said while reflecting on one of his key business lessons.
“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 energy situation was dire, with constant blackouts and shortages, and the demand for diesel was enormous.
“The opportunity was certainly there; we had to rise to the occasion. I got to work on an ambitious marketing strategy. I employed 14 sales executives, all young, brilliant and driven women, and gave them new cars. In my experience, 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.
“It also helped that the new trucks I’d ordered from the Turkish manufacturer BMC had arrived, which we started using for home delivery.
“With the marketing team out on an aggressive sales drive, the orders came rushing in. I had given them a list of big companies – Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Flour Mills of Nigeria, the Dangote Group – and they closed one deal after another. I would pay Marca or Eurafric for supplies, they would send trucks loaded with diesel, and I’d add my margin, which came to about N8 per litre.”
He soon transitioned from small-scale buying to purchasing diesel in bulk, renting storage tanks, and eventually acquiring a tank farm. This expansion led to importing diesel in large vessels.
At its peak, Zenon Oil was generating around $6 million in monthly revenue before the 2009 global oil crash reshaped the market.
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