Nigerian Oil Tycoon Folorunsho Alakija Now The Richest Black Woman Alive Above Oprah

With a fortune of over $7.3 billion, the Nigerian oil tycoon Folorunsho Alakija is now the richest black woman in the world, above Oprah Winfrey.

Folorunsho Alakija who started her career as a secretary in a bank in the mid 1970s is now 62. She went ahead to study fashion in London and returned to Nigeria to start a label, Supreme Stitches. But her biggest break came in oil.

In 1993, her company, Famfa Oil, was awarded an oil prospecting license, which later became OML 127, one of the country’s most prolific oil blocks, by then-president Ibrahim Babangida.

The company owned a 60 per cent stake in the block until 2000 when the Nigerian government unconstitutionally acquired a 50 per cent interest without duly compensating Alakija or Famda Oil. She challenged the acquisition and the Nigerian Supreme Court reinstated the 50 per cent stake to her company.

According to Forbes, Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.9 billion and Folorunsho Alakija is far ahead with a whooping $7.3 billion to her name.