@business.engineered_: He controlled almost the entire diesel market in his country. One price crash erased four numbers' worth of his fortune in a single stretch. Follow @business.engineered for the falls that almost nobody recovers from In 2008, Femi Otedola, chairman of Forte Oil, had built one of the largest fuel companies in Nigeria, controlling roughly 93 percent of the diesel market with over 500 filling stations. He had a shipment of nearly one million tons of diesel sailing toward Nigeria when oil prices collapsed from $146 to $34 a barrel. That alone cost him an estimated $480 million. The Nigerian naira was devalued shortly after, costing him another $258 million, and rising interest on his loans added $320 million more. When his stocks crashed too, he lost a further $160 million. By the time the dust settled, Otedola was $1.2 billion in debt, facing what he later described as a choice between giving up entirely or finding a way through. He chose to weather it. By 2014 he had rebuilt enough to return to the Forbes rich list, and his net worth today is estimated at $1.8 billion. He lost more money in one stretch than most companies are worth. He's still standing. What's the biggest financial hit you've ever had to recover from?

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Monday 22 June 2026 22:34:06 GMT