A few days ago, billionaire businessman Femi Otedola, father to DJ Cuppy, Temi Otedola, and Fewa, shook the internet—quietly.

It was not a scandal or a flashy announcement. It was the reveal of his upcoming memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, set to launch August 18. The kind of title you would expect from a man who has scaled industries.

And boom, just like that, the internet remembered a term it had borrowed from the West: “Nepo baby.” The “Nepo Baby vs Lapo Baby” conversation exploded in our Nigerian corner of the internet.

Suddenly, Nigerian Twitter was split between those defending the right to pass on wealth and access (“After all, na who born am go support am”), and those lamenting a system that keeps recycling opportunities within a select circle.

Who Is a Nepo Baby? Who Is a Lapo Baby?

Let’s define it in simple Nigerian terms:

A Nepo Baby: A term short for "nepotism baby" — someone who benefits from family connections, especially in industries like entertainment, politics, or business. They usually have easier access to opportunities because of who their parents or relatives are.

A Lapo Baby (Nigerian slang twist): Not a widely used global term, but in Nigerian Twitter/X context, it’s a play on being from humble or disadvantaged beginnings — referencing LAPO, the microfinance bank known for giving small loans, often to low-income people. So, a Lapo Baby is someone who didn’t have connections or wealth and had to “grind” from scratch. Their success stories read like “I used ₦5,000 to start a business and now…” It is romantic in theory but exhausting in practice.

This whole Nepo vs Lapo debate is not just social media gist. It is a cocktail of:

  • Class resentment
  • Parenting gaps
  • Generational trauma
  • Gratitude layered with grief

When you celebrate someone for grinding from the ground up, you risk sounding like you are glorifying suffering. When you acknowledge the advantage a nepo baby has, you risk sounding bitter.

But here is what is real: two truths can exist.

A nepo baby can be hardworking. A lapo baby can be brilliant and still unseen. A rich parent can give their child everything and still raise them well. A poor parent can love deeply but lack the resources to change their child’s reality.

Some Nepo babies are talented. They work hard. They show up. They don’t squander opportunities, but it doesn’t erase the fact that the game is not fair. That for every one person who gets into the room because of merit, another gets in because their surname opened the door before they ever knocked.

If you are reading this, you are likely somewhere between both extremes. You are not dining with billionaires, but you have also come far from where you started.

You have applied for fellowships with shaky confidence. You have started businesses with data gifted from friends. You have written CVs with free Canva templates. You have prayed that one tweet will change your life. You have become the plug your parents never had.

And if you are a future parent, you are probably already dreaming of being the bridge — the one who turns the lapo legacy into the nepo narrative.

Not every rich kid is unserious. Not every struggling adult is lazy. Not every door was locked because of lack of skill. Some people are just not in the room where doors exist.

The Otedola daughters did not choose their family. They have done their part to stay relevant, creative, and hardworking. But that does not erase the fact that some people are navigating life with nothing but Google and grit. And we need to make space for that too.

Let’s Untangle the Myths

Hard Work Is All You Need: No, it is not. Not in this world. Not in this economy. Hard work without access = burnout.

If Nepo babies are talented, they deserve their success: Sure. But so do the thousands of talented people who never get seen. Being talented and being visible are not the same thing.

Talking about privilege is jealousy: No. Talking about systems is not hate. It is clarity and honesty. We can clap for the Otedolas and still grieve our own gaps.

To the Lapo Babies Reading This

You are not lazy. You are not cursed. You are not unlucky. You are just playing a game you were not given the rules for. But here you are, still showing up, learning, building and shining.

You are breaking cycles your great-grandparents could not even name. Your story will not end in struggle. Your future children will read a different script. You are doing what many people could never do, rising without roots.

So do not let the noise get to you. Stay focused. Learn what you can. Ask for help. Rest when you must. And keep becoming.

It is okay to acknowledge your starting points without shame and without superiority. Whether you are a nepo baby, a lapo baby. What matters is what you build with what you are given.

Let us not weaponize the conversation. Let us deepen it. Let us ask better questions:

  • How can we build structures that allow talent to thrive with or without connections?
  • How can we, as future parents, be more intentional than our upbringing allowed?
  • How do we honour our hustle without mocking those who didn’t need one?

The goal is not to shame those who started ahead. The goal is to make sure those who started behind don’t stay behind forever. Because if we are being honest, we don’t just want to make it big. We want to make it count.

Thanks for reading.

What’s your honest take on this whole “Nepo Baby vs Lapo Baby” conversation?

Have you ever felt resentment? Inspiration? Pressure?

Have you had doors open because of who you know?

Or have you had to claw your way into every opportunity?

Share in the comments or reply to this newsletter.

This is one conversation we are not ending soon but it is one we must have.

With love,
Victoria