Meet The Richest Black Woman in the World Folurunsho Alakija [Nigerian Fashion Pioneer & Oil tycoon]
Wednesday, December 05, 2012Omoba
Edging out Oprah is Folorunsho Alakija, a
61-year-old woman from Nigeria who is reportedly worth at least $3.2 billion,
or roughly $500 million more than Oprah's $2.7 billion net worth, Ventures
Africa reported.
Alakija is the founder and owner of Famfa Oil,
which owns a 60 per cent interest in OML 127, an offshore oil field that
produces roughly 200,000 barrels of oil per day and is worth an estimated $6.44
billion.
Wealthiest: Folorunsho Alakija, a 61-year-old oil tycoon from Nigeria, is
reportedly worth at least $3.3 billion, or $500 million more than Oprah's $2.7
billion net worth, Also a fashion designer and philanthropist, Alakija
is married and has four grown sons, as well as one grandchild. She owns at
least $100 million in real estate and $46 million private jet, Ventures Africa reported.
Born into a wealthy Nigerian family, Alakija
started out as a secretary in the mid 1970s at the now defunct International
Merchant Bank of Nigeria. Several years later, she quit her job and moved to
London, where she studied fashion design. She later returned to Nigeria and
launched her fashion line, Supreme Stitches, which caters to upscale,
high-society women.
While she was building her name as a fashion
designer, Alakija in 1993 applied for an Oil Prospecting License -- an
expensive permit that allows for oil exploration in a specified area.
The Nigerian government granted her request and
allocated a 617,000-acre block of land to Alakija for oil exploration -- but
she knew nothing about finding and extracting oil.
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