•DJ Cuppy and Temi Otedola are the daughters of energy tycoon Femi Otedola
•Business man Femi is worth an estimated £650million
•Privately-educated sisters enjoy jet-set lifestyle and have designer outfits
•They don’t want to live off father’s success and want to establish careers
•Cuppy, 23, wants to be a DJ while Temi is an aspiring fashion blogger
They’re heiresses to a billion dollar fortune and currently lead a jet-set lifestyle enjoying all the trappings of wealth.
But the daughters of one of Africa’s richest men say they are not content being rich and famous in his shadow, and instead want to work hard to make names for themselves in their own right.
Cuppy Otedola, 23, and her sister Temi, 19, are well-known in their home country of Nigeria because their father is energy tycoon Femi Otedola, worth an estimated £650million.
He was listed as the 16th richest man in Africa by Forbes in 2015 and has million pound properties in New York, Dubai, London, Abuja and Lagos.
His wealth has enabled his daughters to attend expensive private schools in England, have designer wardrobes and be waited on by ten members of staff.
As well as jet-setting between the opulent family properties around the world, they also enjoy spending time on their father’s £7million yacht, have designer wardrobes and throw birthday parties that cost more than a fleet of supercars.
But the sisters say their privileged upbringing does not make their lives easy and they feel under pressure to match up to their father’s success.
‘I am scared of always been his daughter and not getting past that, for me that means not being successful enough,’ Cuppy reveals on Channel 4 documentary Lagos To London, Britain’s New Super-Rich.
‘I am still masked by my dad’s success. If I didn’t try and make it outside Nigeria I would be unhappy.’
Cuppy is keen to be famous in her own right as a DJ and has been securing gigs around the world at venues including Privé, Jalouse, District and Funky Buddha.
While Cuppy admits her father’s fortune has opened doors and helped her network, she then has to prove her talent behind the decks to secure more work.
She said: ‘I think I am a great DJ. Network comes into it but if I don’t do well I won’t get asked back no matter whose daughter I am.’
Cuppy, who recently graduated from King’s College, University of London, with a degree in business and French, said she wants to become renowned around the world as a DJ and make it into Forbes 30 under 30 Rich List.
She said she does have to deal with criticism from those who think she has only had the opportunities in her career she has had so far due to her father’s connections and purse strings, but she said this doesn’t concern her anymore.
‘People saying “this DJ is his so and so’s daughter” it doesn’t bother me anymore as I love what I do.
‘I only worry I am not going to make the impact I want to make,” she said as her gigs have included DJing at the inauguration of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
Her younger sister feels the same and she is busy trying to establish a name for herself in the fashion world.
Temi has set up her own style blog JTO Fashion and has 22,000 followers on Instagram.
She shares news on the latest style must-haves with her fans – many of whom are Nigerian – as she travels between the fashion capitals of Europe and shops in Dubai and London.
She said she feels her blog is ‘acting as the medium between Nigeria and the rest of the world’.
Temi has been running her blog for the last year and said it has helped her establish a number of contacts with key fashion houses including Valentino.
She said she works hard on her blog because ‘my sisters and I were taught from a young age you can’t live your life in someone else’s shadow. Anything your family has done for you, you have to go and do for yourself as well.
‘I think that is why my sisters and I go out and try to do our own thing because we want to be respected in our own rights.’
Temi admits she wouldn’t have been able to establish her blog without her father’s financial support – but she sees the help he has given her so far as a loan she intends to repay.
She has a team of professionals to help her on her photoshoots taking pictures and filming her vlogs and has even hired top fashion photographer Kate Davis MaCleod to take some of her pictures.
Kate admitted Temi’s wealthy family has given her a leg up in the world of high-end fashion blogging but she said the teenager is so tenacious she is sure she would have succeeded regardless.
She said: ‘Temi saw one of my fashion stories in Tatler and got in touch with me and asked if I could shoot some content for her website.
‘She has the facilities to do what she wants. If she wasn’t from this background I still think she would be successful in whatever she does.’
Cuppy, who DJs wearing £1,000 headphones covered in Swarovski crystals (of which she owns 15 pairs), adds that being the daughter of a billionaire also brings with it additional problems.
When she is working in Nigeria she needs to travel with a security team in a bullet proof car due to the risk of robbery and kidnapping.
She said for this reason she feels much happier in London, where she has recently moved into her own apartment.
She said: ‘London is bliss as I can walk down Brompton Road without a worry in the world. In Lagos I can’t say “I am going out for two hours”, I have to go with people, take security, my dad needs to know where I am.
‘None of my other DJ friends need security, it is kind of his fault so he has to pay for it.’
Both of the sisters love staying in London which is why they were filmed for the Channel 4 documentary airing Tuesday evening which lifts the lid on the spending habits of Nigerian billionaires.
They have become the third largest foreign consumers in Britain behind the wealthy from the Middle East and China.
Speaking of why they love London so much, Cuppy said: ‘We go to Harrods a lot because it is convenient, they sell cars in there it is crazy.
‘We love The Arts Club, a super, amazing private members club, good food, good atmosphere.’
Temi, who is studying for a degree in art history at University College London, added: ‘We have done Dubai and Paris but always come back to London. You have the luxury shops, luxury cars, luxury houses, you can spend the money you have worked hard making.’
The girls certainly know how to spend money on throwing a good party.
Cuppy recently had Marie Antoinette graduation bash at the lavish Mandarin Oriental hotel in London where her guests were served Michelin starred food on gold plates and enjoyed Champagne fountains and indoor fireworks.
Cuppy said she chose the theme because: ‘I feel like I am this young woman with just so much responsibility and Marie Antoinette was Queen Of France at a young age, plus we both love dogs.’
She said the party would have costs around the same amount as ‘a few Lamborghinis’ but she will have to top it on her wedding day.
Meanwhile, Temi had a similarly extravagant 18th party which was Moulin Rouge themed and attended by 200 guests.
The sister say they don’t play hard in this way too often, preferring to be role models to young women in their home country and inspire them to work hard to achieve their goals.
Cuppy said: ‘We are setting the pace for young women who are trying to get out of a generational trend of just going to school, be good, get a job, get married and sit there looking pretty.’
As previously reported in FEMAIL, Temi insists that despite her family’s wealth, her father and mother Nana have never spoiled her or Cuppy or their other siblings.
‘We were brought up knowing all the success and money my father has made is his and we have to work for ourselves,’ Temi told FEMAIL. ‘We’ve definitely had that instilled in us.
‘He might be bluffing but we certainly take him at face value. Anyway, we would not feel very good about ourselves just living off him.’
She said she is currently enjoying trying to establish herself as a fashion blogger.
‘My favourite fashion moment was probably last summer when I attended the Valentino Haute Couture show in Rome for three days,’ she recalled. ‘My sister Florence and I were invited.
‘It was an unforgettable trip including a private tour of the Vatican and meeting Mr Valentino himself at dinner the night before the Haute Couture show.
‘It was a completely surreal moment because I’ve absolutely adored his line even before the creative directors Maria Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were at the helm.
‘We were just talking about the whole experience and the upcoming show and he struck me as being extremely elegant and kind in his manner. He was really, really lovely.’
Another social highlight of recent months was attending the opening night of the opera in Milan as a guest of Bottega Veneta.
‘It was the first time I’d been to the opera and it was incredible, really impressive,’ Temi said.
The teenager was invited with her mother Nana, who cuts an equally stylish figure.
‘I would almost say she’s the reason I got into fashion,’ Temi said. ‘She’s so eccentric and eclectic in her dress sense and she’s even more daring than me.’
Temi’s greatest extravagance is shoes, although not the Louboutins her sister Florence adores. She’s a fan of boots, with one recent indulgence being a pair of £998 Chloé Susanna ankle boots.
Temi was born in London, but her family moved back to Nigeria shortly afterwards. Then, when she was seven, her mother sent Temi and her sister Florence to the King’s School Canterbury where fees are £11,480 for boarders.
She went on to attended the £26,800 a year American School in St John’s Wood London as she wanted to have an American college experience.
Nana now lives full time in Knightsbridge and while Temi has moved to private halls in Bloomsbury to be closer to campus, she returns to her mother’s home every weekend. Their father Femi divides his time between Lagos and London, coming to the UK about once a month.
‘He’s very modest,’ Temi explained. ‘He’s self made and he’s always been very careful with money.
‘He loves his yachts but that’s his only indulgence. He still uses an old pay-as-you-go Nokia phone and he only recently learned how to use an iPad.’
She’s had to face something of a backlash from commentators in the Nigerian media who’ve said she’s managed to get where she is because of her father’s name.
‘There has been negativity,’ Temi admitted. ‘There always will be. My sister was DJing before I got started with my blog so I was prepared for it.
‘But it just gives me the passion that I have lots more to prove. People will say my blog is only a success because of who my father is, but there is weight behind it. If there’s no substance the name would only get you so far.’
Meanwhile, Temi said that nowadays she’s so focused on her fashion blog and her studies that she doesn’t have much time for partying.
‘From a very young age I knew I wanted to work in the fashion or art industry,’ she explained.
‘I grew up reading personal style blogs but could never fully relate to any of the bloggers, and thought there would be other Nigerians, and even Africans in general who felt the same.
‘So I decided to start my own blog to bridge the gap between Western and Nigerian fashion and hopefully become a worldwide voice for Nigeria.’
Temi blogs about her favourite beauty products and outfits, with clothes from her favourite brands including Emilia Wickstead, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, Rag & Bone and All Saints.
She also likes to shop at boutiques such as One Vintage and Feathers near her family home in Knightsbridge where she returns every weekend, as well as Browns Focus, and Alara Lagos, which stocks brands such as Valentino, Dries Van Noten, Marni.
Temi has also managed to hone her fashion credentials with an internship at Oscar de la Renta on Mount Street two summers ago.
‘It was an amazing experience being able to be so hands-on,’ she said. ‘I dealt with private shopping and bridal appointments, organised the boutique floor, and helped styling incoming collections.
‘It was fascinating to see the ins and outs of their Mount Street flagship. I definitely plan to start doing more brand collaborations that could lead to capsule collections and ambassadorships.’
For now, however she’s working on an new initiative called Afternoon Tea in Ankara to encourage emerging ethnic talent to get ahead in the fashion industry.
SOURCE-DAILYMAIL.UK
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