Seventeen years after first appearing on Forbes’ billionaire radar, Femi Otedola has finally cracked a number he’s never touched before and the story of how he got there says as much about Nigeria’s banking sector as it does about the man himself.
Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola’s net worth has officially hit $2 billion for the first time, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker, as of September 19, 2026. The figure places him at No. 2,104 on Forbes’ global billionaire ranking a genuine career-high for a businessman who’s been on and off the magazine’s radar for nearly two decades.
The jump is striking when you lay out the trajectory: $1.3 billion in March 2026, $1.8 billion by August, $1.9 billion just days ago on September 16, and now $2 billion as of the 19th. That’s a roughly $700 million increase in just six months the kind of wealth acceleration that doesn’t happen through steady business growth alone. It happens because of a single, dramatic stock surge.
Almost all of this new wealth traces back to one asset: Otedola’s stake in First HoldCo Plc, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria, where he serves as Chairman.
First HoldCo’s share price has been on an extraordinary run in 2026, climbing 194.4% year-to-date. On September 18 alone, the stock jumped 10% to close at an all-time high of ₦162.80 per share up from ₦136 just over a week earlier. That single trading session reportedly added around ₦182.6 billion to Otedola’s personal stake in one day.
Otedola currently holds roughly 27.6% of First HoldCo about 12.34 billion shares built up through a mix of direct purchases and buying through Calvados Global Services Limited, an investment vehicle linked to him. At the stock’s record price, that stake alone is now worth more than ₦2 trillion, or roughly $1.52 billion meaning First HoldCo shares by themselves account for the vast majority of his entire net worth.
Notably, some financial analysts have suggested Forbes’ $2 billion figure may actually understate his real position, since the tracker’s underlying snapshot reportedly predates some of Otedola’s more recent share purchases meaning the true number, by the time all his holdings are fully accounted for, could be even higher.
Otedola’s path to this milestone is worth appreciating in full. He built his initial fortune in petroleum products trading and distribution through African Petroleum, later rebranded as Forte Oil, before pivoting hard into power generation with Geregu Power a company he took majority control of and later sold down significant stakes in to institutional investors, including the Afrexim Fund for Export Development in Africa and China’s State Grid Corporation.
His move into banking came more recently, becoming Chairman of First HoldCo in January 2024 and steadily increasing his exposure to the group ever since. That decision has proven remarkably well-timed First HoldCo’s 2026 rally has done more for his net worth this year than any of his other ventures combined. He’s also publicly stated his intention to eventually push his stake in the company past 51%, suggesting this latest milestone may not be the ceiling.
It’s worth noting, as financial commentators tracking the story have pointed out, that Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires figures are estimates based on daily movements in publicly traded share prices and currency values not audited personal financial statements. That means Otedola’s exact net worth can and does move significantly from week to week, exactly as it has throughout 2026. A further pullback in First HoldCo’s share price, for instance, could just as easily pull the figure back below $2 billion as future gains could push it higher.
Even with the caveats, crossing $2 billion for the first time is a genuine milestone Otedola’s previous personal peak, set back in 2016, was $1.8 billion, meaning this latest figure represents his highest-ever recorded net worth by a meaningful margin. It also cements his position among Nigeria’s wealthiest individuals, in a year that’s seen Nigerian billionaire wealth swing dramatically alongside currency movements and stock market rallies Aliko Dangote, for comparison, has also seen his own fortune climb sharply this year amid his refinery’s expansion.
