Folorunsho Alakija is a Nigerian businesswoman, one of the richest African women and also one of the richest black women in the world, with a net worth of $2.1m. She is a business tycoon involved in the fashion, oil and printing industries. She is the group managing director of The Rose of Sharon Group which consists of The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited and Digital Reality Prints Limited and the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited. In 2015, she was listed as the second most powerful woman in Africa after Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the 87th most powerful woman in the world.
Folorunsho was born in 1951 to the family of Chief L. A. Ogbara in Ikorodu, Lagos State. At age seven, she travelled to the United Kingdom to begin a four-year primary education at Dinorben School for Girls in Hafodunos Hall in Llangerny, Wales. After returning to Nigeria, she attended Muslim High School Sagamu, Ogun State. Afterwards, she returned abroad for her secretarial studies at Pitman’s Central College, London. She also studied fashion design at the American College, London, and the Central School of Fashion
Folorunsho started her career in 1974 as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises, Lagos, Nigeria. She moved on to the former First National Bank of Chicago, renamed FinBank before it was acquired by FCMB (First City Monument Bank) where she worked for some years before establishing a tailoring company called Supreme Stitches. It rose to prominence and fame within a few years, and as Rose of Sharon House of Fashion, became a household name. As national president and lifelong trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN), she left an indelible mark, promoting Nigerian culture through fashion and style.
In May 1993, Folorunsho Alakija applied for the allocation of an oil prospecting license (OPL), which was granted to her company, Famfa Limited. Within ten years, she become really wealthy and highly influential. On 9 March 2016, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija was named the first female Chancellor of Osun State University.
Mrs. Alakija is a fervent supporter of education in Nigeria. She has continued to give huge sums of money to various institutions. For example, in 2014, she donated a substantial amount of money to Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, in Niger State. The money was used to complete the construction of a 350 Seat Lecture Theater, which was named after her.
On 1 July 2013, the federal government appointed her as the Vice-Chairman of the new National Heritage Council and Endowment for the Arts. Her influence enabled the Council to quickly identify 100 new heritage sites, described as unique and uncommon assets that the government intended to preserve and promote.
Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija serves as the Chief Matron of the group known as Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs.
