Uzoma Dozie is the most popular of his siblings, but the others in his family have also shown a desire for banking

Like Uzoma, Chijioke and Ngozi are running their banking industry projects operating in the fintech ecosystem

Uzoma went on to launch a digital Microfinance Bank named Sparkle after he left Diamond Bank as its chief executive

They grew up in an environment where banking was all they knew. From seeing their father, Pascal Dozie, pilot the affairs of one of the most visible banks in Nigeria, Uzoma, Chijioke and Ngozi Dozie, the sons of the erstwhile Diamond Bank and MTN Nigeria chairman, now run separate shows in the banking industry.

Pascal Dozie founded Diamond Bank in 1990 to provide financial services to underserved communities and support small and medium-sized enterprises in Nigeria, particularly in the southeast.

Under his visionary leadership, Diamond Bank grew from a modest operation into one of Nigeria’s most respected financial institutions.

As the bank’s CEO until 2006 and later as Chairman, Dozie emphasised innovation, professionalism, and customer service.

His leadership helped Diamond Bank expand both locally and internationally.

In 2019, the bank merged with Access Bank, marking the end of an era but cementing Dozie’s legacy as a pioneer in Nigeria’s modern banking landscape.

Tongues wagged when Access Bank, under the leadership of Uzoma Dozie, took over Diamond Bank, making many believe the Dozies must have sold common patrimony to a stronger competitor.

It is not clear where Chijioke and Ngozi were at the time the landmark decision to hand over their father’s sweat, as many would call it, was made.

However, it was clear that Chijioke and Ngozi were invested in banking, like Uzoma, who was taunted for selling their father’s inheritance.

Maybe they were led by the desire to cut their teeth in Nigeria’s highly competitive banking industry.

The question of whether selling Diamond Bank to Access Bank was the best idea is no longer essential. What’s important is that the three siblings are still very much invested in banking, each making giant strides in their personal space.

Carbon Finance, founded by Chijioke Dozie, is in its 12th year with a promise to transform the banking industry.

Digital banks want to make banking more accessible and flexible for customers.

According to the Guardian, Carbon Finance was initially set up as a lending company with over a million users across Nigeria and operates in two African countries.

It began operations in 2012 as One Credit, a consumer lender. In 2016, the firm became a digital lender through its app, Paylater.

Chijioke Dozie, the co-founder and CEO of Carbon Finance, said the company seeks to focus on its customers’ needs and adapt to market demands.

Ngozi Dozie, also a co-founder, said that the company’s newly launched product gives its customers the flexibility to shop when they want at zero per cent interest rates. In 2019, the bank processed over $240 million in payments.

Uzoma Dozie – Sparkle MFB
Uzoma Dozie has remained in banking after exiting Diamond Bank as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer. Diamond Bank was sold or merged with Access Bank, depending on which side of the divide you belong to.

Uzoma founded Sparkle Microfinance Bank, operating as a fintech company. In October 2021, his latest invention raised $3.1 million to expand operations.

Uzoma told TechCrunch that they do not see their customers from accounts, payments, deposits or credit angles but from how they can help them do what they want to do at any time.

He said the bank wanted to provide Nigerians with financial, lifestyle and business support services.

The bank launched Sparkle Business in April last year to acquire several underserved users from small and medium businesses.

Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has revealed that a £250,000 loan from his father Sir Michael Otedola, a former Lagos State governor-was the lifeline that helped scale up Zenon Petroleum, the oil trading company that cemented his place in Nigeria’s business landscape.

Otedola made the disclosure in his memoir Making It Big, where he draws parallels between the support he received from his father and the guidance he now provides to his children.

According to him, mentorship and financial backing were critical to his rise and remain central to how he nurtures the ambitions of his own protégés.

He recalled financing his daughter DJ Cuppy’s first major show, which featured Davido, with N10 million when they were just 16. The concert, however, flopped, attracting only a handful of older attendees including former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke and his wife Onari, as well as lawyer Jide Coker.

“Papa, people aren’t coming,” his daughter lamented. His response was to open the gates for free an experience he describes as a lesson in tenacity and perseverance. Today, both artistes have grown into household names.

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Davido, who has gone on to become one of Africa’s biggest music exports, boasts multiple hit singles, global tours, and awards, including a Grammy nomination in 2024. He is also one of the most streamed Afrobeats artistes globally, with a loyal fan base spanning Africa, Europe, and the United States. DJ Cuppy, meanwhile, has carved out her own niche as a DJ and producer, releasing hit singles, headlining major international events, and serving as a UN ambassador. She has also become a prominent advocate for philanthropy and youth empowerment.

The billionaire also recalled spending the summer of 2019 in Monaco with his children, where he shared “nuggets of wisdom” passed down from his father alongside lessons picked up throughout his career.

Beyond family, Otedola credits role models such as the late Wahab Folawiyo, whose pioneering business exploits he studied closely, as key influences in shaping his entrepreneurial outlook.

What you should know 
In 2003, having identified an opportunity in the fuel retail market, Otedola secured the finance to set up Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, a petroleum products marketing and distribution company. As owner and chairman, he moved quickly to dominate the industry.

By 2004, he had invested N15 billion in downstream infrastructure, acquiring storage depots in Apapa and Ibafon, as well as four cargo vessels with a combined total storage capacity of 147,000 metric tons.

That same year, Zenon added a fleet of 100 DAF fuel-tanker trucks worth N1.4 billion.

By 2005, Zenon controlled a major share of Nigeria’s diesel market, supplying fuel to some of the country’s largest manufacturers, including Dangote Group, Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Nigerian Breweries, MTN, Unilever, Nestlé, and Guinness.

Otedola’s aggressive expansion culminated in 2007 when ten banks approved a syndicated loan of $1.5 billion to Zenon to build the largest premium motor spirit storage facility in Africa. Later that year, Zenon acquired a 28.7% stake in African Petroleum, one of Nigeria’s leading fuel marketers.

Zenon also expanded into the kerosene market, solidifying its influence in Nigeria’s energy sector. However, in 2012, the company was named in a controversial fuel subsidy scandal, where it was alleged to have owed $1.4 million to the government. The case drew public attention after a sting operation revealed a lawmaker, Farouk Lawan, demanding bribes from Otedola to clear Zenon’s name. Lawan was later charged with corruption, while Otedola maintained his innocence.

Buy Otedola’s ‘Making it Big’ Memoir At These Bookstores Across The World

Billionaire Femi Otedola recounts how his struggle with academics pushed him out of the classroom and into the world of business, where he would eventually build his fortune.

He chairs one of Nigeria’s largest financial groups and has built a multi-billion-dollar business empire. But Femi Otedola has now revealed that his rise was achieved without a university degree — or even a complete high school education.

In the newly released 286-page memoir, Making It Big, which hit the shelves on Monday, the energy mogul details how his struggle with academics pushed him out of the classroom and into the world of business, where he would later make his fortune.

Mr Otedola, 62, writes that he began his education at the University of Lagos Staff School in 1968 but consistently performed poorly. “My parents enrolled me at the University of Lagos Staff School in 1968, at the age of six,” he says. “Kola Abiola — the first son of Chief Moshood Abiola, the future business magnate and presidential candidate who was at the time an accountant — sat beside me in class.

“But there was something about academia and me; we were not compatible. I finished primary school in 1974 because I repeated a class. Even when I was allowed to pass, I consistently anchored the bottom rungs of our end-of-term examination results. My interests were definitely not in academia.”

After finishing primary school, the young Mr Otedola proceeded to Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos. His academic struggles continued there.

“The school had been founded almost a hundred years earlier, in 1878. Alumni include grand names in Nigerian history: Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, Mobolaji Johnson, Ola Rotimi, Fola Adeola, Olusegun Osoba and Hezekiah Oladipo Davies. When I joined the student body in 1974 the principal was D. A. Famoroti, who’d taken up the post in 1963 and would leave in 1980,” he recalls. “I started Form 1 at age 12 and was there for three years.”

By 1977, after it became clear that his performance was not improving, his parents transferred him to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, a boarding school founded by Southern Baptist missionaries in 1945.

“My parents’ thinking was that all my siblings were boarders, and they seemed to be doing well,” Mr Otedola writes. “They thought this change would help turn around my attitude towards academia, but nothing changed.”

He continues: “I started in Form 3 at Olivet, and as I rounded off the first year of my A Levels, my father was establishing his printing company, Impact Press, in Surulere, a residential and commercial district in Lagos State. I grew fascinated with the machines and told myself that my future would be inextricably tied to them. I managed to remain in school until the Lower Sixth examination was over. And then, I was finished; I never returned for my Upper Sixth.

“All I wanted to do was get involved in business. My father kept watch over me and drew me close. My sister taught me shorthand. I knew how to type and began typing letters for my dad. I prepared all his business correspondence. I was fascinated by the way printing machines treat paper. The white paper is placed on one end, the ink and plates are fixed, and the printed material comes out of the other end. It was captivating.”

Despite his mother’s protests and tears, Mr Otedola abandoned school to work full-time in his father’s printing business. He rose quickly, becoming managing director of Impact Press in 1987 at the age of 25.

“However, I soon became restless. I had immersed myself in all aspects of the business and learned the ropes at my dad’s right hand. I certainly enjoyed the job more than grappling with the Pythagoras theorem and struggling through homework at Olivet. As time went by, though, I also thought it was time for a measure of independence from my dad.

“I still wanted to work for him — I really enjoyed hearing the rumbling of machines and savouring the smell of freshly printed material — but I also wanted to do things differently. I told him I wanted to become a sales consultant for the press, and he agreed. He said he would pay me a commission of 10–15% on any work I brought in.

“That was a significant break for me. I invested my money in buying cars for sales and marketing outreach and moved on to the next phase in my nascent professional life.”

With his new role, Mr Otedola began bringing in jobs from major companies and advertising agencies, particularly in calendars and diaries.

“We could hardly keep up with the demand. Our unique selling point was quality, thanks to the state-of-the-art machines we owned. We were also always on time with job delivery. We were engaged in healthy competition with Academy Press, a company located in the Ilupeju area of Lagos.

“I served as my dad’s sales exec up until 1991, when he started his Lagos State gubernatorial campaign. It was a run for office — ultimately successful — that I had initiated.”

That break in the family business gave Mr Otedola the confidence and foundation to strike out on his own. In 1994, he founded Centre Force Ltd. with ₦10 million in starting capital. From those beginnings, he built a vast business empire in oil and gas, shipping, real estate, finance and philanthropy. He went on to chair Forte Oil, invested in power through Geregu Power Plc, and today chairs the board of FirstHoldco Plc, one of Nigeria’s largest financial groups.

The businessman’s disclosure of his educational history may come as a surprise to many who long believed he was a university graduate. At one point, his Wikipedia page even suggested he studied at the University of Lagos.

But in “Making It Big”, Mr Otedola insists his true classroom was not a lecture hall but the business floor. His lessons, he says, came from watching his father, trusting his instincts, and learning from both failures and triumphs.

“I never returned for my Upper Sixth. All I wanted was to get involved in business,” he writes. That decision, once a source of his mother’s tears, would lay the foundation for a career that has made him one of Africa’s most influential businesspersons.

In the end, Mr Otedola’s memoir delivers a striking message: formal education may have eluded him, but discipline, persistence, and the hunger to build made him — in his own words — “make it big.”

Buy Otedola’s ‘Making it Big’ Memoir At These Bookstores Across The World