Nigerian Woman Beats Oprah, Become Richest Black Woman

While global business news leader Forbes puts her fortune at $600m, other sources are claiming Nigerian oil mogul Folorunsho Alakija is worth much more. Whenever the wealthiest women of the world are thought of, Oprah Winfrey immediately comes to mind. But the American TV mogul has reportedly lost her long-held title to Folorunsho Alakija. According to a report on the website of Daily Mail UK, Alakija, 61, is reportedly worth at least $3.2 billion, roughly $500 million more than Oprah’s $2.7 billion net worth.

DailyMail.co.uk also quoted another online source, Ventures-Africa.com, for the information, which is contrary to a recent Forbes Magazine ranking which pegged Alakija’s net worth at only $600 million (about N93.6bn), naming her number 24 on their list of Africa’s 40 richest people.

Alakija was born into a well-to-do family, and she started out as a secretary in the mid 70s at the now-defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria, currently Finbank.

This was after a studying stint abroad and she jumped into the banking industry head-long. In a 2011 interview, she said one of her first tasks as Executive Secretary was to organise the bank’s launch at a corporate reception.

“This was quite a responsibility, and I got to work in earnest. I was given quite a lot of free reign, and now, in retrospect, I realise that must have been what helped to sharpen my organisational skills, which have come in so handy in all my endeavours,” she said.

Alakija would quit her job some years after that and move to London, where she studied fashion design, later returning to Nigeria to launch a clothing line. As she built a name as a designer, she applied for an Oil Prospecting License (OPL) in 1993. OPLs are expensive permits that allow for oil exploration in specified areas, and the General Ibrahim Babangida government granted her one.

A consultant determined that the fledgling oil businesswoman’s land contained over a billion barrels of oil. DailyMail.co.uk reported that when this was discovered, the Nigerian government led by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo tried to re-acquire half of the oil-rich block, succeeding, with Alakija losing control of all but 10 percent of her oil company.

Alakija immediately went to the courts, and a lengthy legal battle ensued. In May 2012, the Supreme Court voided the government’s acquisition of a 50 percent stake in OML 127 and subsequently transferred the 50 percent stake back to Famfa Oil. Back in control of 60 percent of the company, Alakija’s net worth shot up to $3.2 billion, an estimate that Ventures-Africa.com calls ‘extremely conservative’.

The Daily Mail report added that 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, clocking in at over a trillion naira.

Alakija owns at least $100 million (N156M) in real estate, as she recently purchased a $102m property at One Hyde Park in London and a $46 million private jet (a Bombardier Global Express 6000 jet) online reports say. She is married and has four grown sons, as well as a grandchild. Her sons now run Famfa Oil with her husband Modupe as its chairman.