Mrs Alakija is a Nigerian billionaire oil tycoon, Fashion designer and philanthropist. She is currently the richest black woman in the world, according to report published by Ventures Africa, an African business magazine and news services.
Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, 61, is worth at least $3.3 billion, as opposed to a recent Forbes Magazine ranking which values her net worth at only $600 million. She is $500 million richer than media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, whose wealth was estimated at $2.7 billion in September.
Mrs. Alakija is the founder and owner of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian oil company which owns a 60 percent working interest in OML 127 that produces about 200,000 barrels a day.
Alakija, was born into a wealthy, polygamous family. She started out her professional career in the mid 70s as a secretary at the now defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria.
In the early 80s, Alakija quit her job and went on to study Fashion design in England after which she returned to Nigeria and started Supreme Stitches, a premium Nigerian fashion label which provided services exclusively to upscale clientele. The business flourished, and Alakija quickly made a decent fortune selling high-end Nigerian clothing to fashionable wives of military big-shots and society women.
In May 1993, Alakija applied for an allocation of an Oil Prospecting License (OPL). The license to explore for oil on a 617,000 acre block – (now referred to as OPL 216) was granted to Alakija’s company, Famfa Limited. She also established ‘Rose of Sharon Foundation’ which supports orphans, widows and needy people all over the world. She has really carved a ninch for herself in the world of business.
