Folorunsho Alakija Africa's Richest Woman Nigeria's Oil Baroness

Arguably Nigeria’s oil baroness, Folorunsho Alakija, 61, is Africa’s richest woman with a net worth of $600m as of November when Forbes released its ‘Africa’s 40 richest’.

The married mother of four who owns a £64M (N16,049,664,000) flat in One Hyde Park, London, started her career in the mid 1970s as a secretary at the now-defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria, one of the West African nation’s earliest investment banks. In the 1980s, after studying fashion design in England, she founded Supreme Stitches, a Nigerian fashion label that catered to upscale clientele and six years later, she emerged the best designer in the country in 1986.


Alakija struck gold in 1993 when then Nigerian President, Ibrahim Babangida awarded her company, Famfa Oil, an oil prospecting license which went on to become OML 127, one of Nigeria’s most prolific oil blocks that reportedly rakes in N157 million a day. But it wasn’t all a rosy affair as she’d a running battle with the Nigerian government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which unconstitutionally acquired a 50% interest in the block without duly compensating Alakija or her company. Famfa Oil went to court to challenge the acquisition, and in May this year, the Nigerian Supreme Court reinstated the 50% stake to Famfa Oil.

Alakija through her charity, the Rose of Sharon Foundation, supports widows throughout Nigeria.

HOW SHE HAS COPED WITH MARRIAGE AND AFFLUENCE

Mrs. Alakija stated that she and her husband have learned to share responsibilities throughout their marriage.

“Money has nothing to do with love. Love comes from within. Money is something you acquire along the line. Only love keeps people together. From the time that we started courting, it has been like that, and we thank God that to His glory, we’ve known one another for 40 years. I pray also that God continues to unite us. I believe that if love is the foundation of a union, God will prove Himself faithful.

Every married person has a duty to ensure that they make their marriage work because nobody dragged them into it. Even looking after the children in that marriage calls for both parents to impact into them the skills, love, knowledge and talent required to enable them live fulfilled lives. When we shirk our responsibilities, we’re being careless.”

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