DJ Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, popularly known as DJ Cuppy isn’t just spinning disks – she’s spinning a narrative of success in the music industry while bagging degree after degree at the world’s top universities.
Cuppy is a DJ, heiress, scholar and rising star who has been one of the faces of Africa’s rapidly expanding arts industries.
She has been featured in Forbes as one of Africa’s foremost rich kids, and is an acting tourism ambassador for Nigeria.
Cuppy was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where she grew up until the age of 13, when she moved to London, England. She attended the Grange School in Ikeja, Nigeria, one of the most expensive secondary schools in the city, and widely regarded as one of the best in the country.
Cuppy’s father, Femi Otedola, is a prominent businessman in the energy sector who also dabbles into industries like shipping, real estate and finance. His net worth stands at a staggering US$1.6 billion, per Forbes at the time of writing.
For her 30th birthday, he gifted Cuppy a GBP5 million (US$6.2 million) country home. She took to Instagram to share her father’s birthday messages: “Happy birthday to my Angel Ifemi. [ …] Can’t think of any other befitting present you deserve for this special birthday. You have continuously made Papa proud year by year and have been a blessing in my life.”
But Femi Otedola loves the rest of his children, too, which also includes Elizabeth Temi, Tolani and Fewa Otedola. In fact, he gifted his three girls Temi, Tolani and Cuppy each a Ferrari Portofino back in 2020.
Cuppy is highly educated – with a bachelor’s in business and economics from King’s College, London, and two master’s degrees: one in music business from New York University, and another in African studies at Oxford.
The musician announced this summer that she would be attending university once again for a fourth degree. In an Instagram post in early September, she revealed her institution of choice was none other than the London School of Economics, and that she would be working toward yet another post-graduate degree, but left fans guessing as to what exactly she would be studying.
Success runs in the family, it seems: Cuppy’s sister Temi is an actress and blogger, who won best actress at the 2021 Ghana Movie Awards for her leading role in the Nollywood film Citation. Her mother, Nana Otedola, is an entrepreneur who owns a cleaning company, Garment Care, and has an estimated net worth of US$15 million, per Business Elites Africa at the time of writing.
Cuppy made history this September at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) “Summit of the Future”, becoming the first British Nigerian to host an opening session at the UNGA. At the event, she even hinted at her ambitions of becoming Nigeria’s first female president, sparking enthusiasm among the crowd, including UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, who joked that Cuppy would have to wait her turn.
Her appearance at London Fashion Week and Cannes Film Festival is an apparent move to further illuminate her presence in the world stage.