The Africa Insight with DAVID

My African Woman Crush of the Week

Folorunso Alakija
A Nigerian businesswoman and philanthropist. Born – 15 July 1951 (age 72) Ikorodu, Western Region, British Nigeria (now Ikorodu, Lagos State) Occupation – Businesswoman
Spouse – Modupe Alakija (m. 1976)
Children – 4
She is the group managing director of The Rose of Sharon Group and the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited.
Folorunsho Alakija was ranked by Forbes as the richest woman in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of $1 billion in 2020.

Early life
Alakija was born on 15 July 1951. Her father had 8 wives and had 52 children and Folorunso’s mother was the first. At the age seven, Alakija travelled to the United Kingdom for her education. Alakija attended Muslim High School in Sagamu, Nigeria. She then returned to England for her secretarial studies at Pitman’s Central College, London.

Career
Alakija started her 12 year banking career in 1974 as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria. She moved to the former First National Bank of Chicago, which later became FinBank now acquired by First City Monument Bank as the Executive Secretary to the Managing Director. She became the new Head of the Corporate Affairs Department of the International Merchant Bank of Nigeria (formerly First National Bank of Chicago), and later on became the Office Assistant to the Treasury Department.
Alakija then studied fashion design at The American College in London and the Central School of Fashion. She started a fashion label known as Supreme Stitches, which was later renamed The Rose Of Sharon House of Fashion in 1996. She was the president and lifelong trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN).
In May 1993, Alakija applied for the allocation of an oil prospecting license (OPL). The license to explore for oil on a 617,000-acre block which is about 100km offshore of Nigeria in the Agbami Field was granted to Alakija’s company, Famfa Limited. In September 1996, Alakija entered into a joint venture agreement with Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Texaco) transferring a 40 percent stake to Star Deep.
After they struck oil, the Nigerian government claimed a 40% stake, followed by an additional 10%. The government argued that if Alakija and family were allowed to keep their bloc, they stood to make $10 million a day. Alakija disputed this claim and won.

Recognition
Alakija has been listed among the Forbes World’s 100 most powerful women several times.
On 17 July 2021, Benson Idahosa University, Benin City gave her an honorary Doctorate Degree in Business Administration.

Philanthropy
Alakija established the Rose of Sharon Foundation that helps widows and orphans through scholarships and business grants. Alakija has donated a skills acquisition center to Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), a higher educational institution located in Lagos.

Personal life
Alakija married Modupe Alakija in November 1976. They reside in Lagos, Nigeria, with their four sons in June 2017, their son Folarin Alakija married Iranian model Nazanin Jafarian Ghaissarifar.

God bless African Woman
God bless Africa