[ 2012-12-05 ]

Nigerian oil tycoon is richest Black Woman in the world
Oprah Winfrey has lost her long-held title as the
richest black woman in the world to a Nigerian oil
tycoon, according to a report by an African
business magazine.


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.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. So in September of
1996, she appointed Star Deep Water Petroleum
Limited -- a subsidiary of Texaco -- to act as a
technical adviser for her business.



In 2000, Star Deep Petroleum determined that
Alakija's land contained an excess of one billion
barrels of oil. When this was discovered, the
Nigerian government tried to re-acquire half of
the oil-rich block it had sold to Alakija.

The Nigerian government was successful and Alakija
lost control of all but 10 percent of her oil
company until 2012, when Nigeria's highest court
reversed the government's actions.


With Alakija now back in control of 60 percent of
the oil company, her net worth has shot up to $3.2
billion, an estimate that Ventures Africa calls
extremely conservative.


Alakija's sons now run Famfa Oil and her husband,
Modupe Alakija, is the chairman of the company.


She recently purchased a $102 million property at
One Hyde Park in London, as well as a Bombardier
Global Express 6000 jet, which she bought earlier
this year for $46 million.


Her charity, Rose of Sharon Foundation, gives out
small grants to widows and orphans.

Source - Daily Mail UK

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