Folorunsho Alakija is the richest woman in Africa and among the richest black women in the world. The wealthy Nigerian has stated that she managed to acquire wealth without possessing a university degree.
While speaking at the Excellence in Leadership program, an annual event organized by Daystar Christian Centre, Ikeja, Lagos,Alakija clarified that she didn’t see any reason why she could burn her calories studying for something that could not add value to her life.
“If I had the opportunity of going to the university, maybe I would have come out with a second class upper or lower but that didn’t happen; that wasn’t to be my destiny,” she said.
I would have loved to go to the university as we all know that university education is good but some of us who have not gone, it is not the end of the world.”
“A lot of things have been said about me, some say I sold my way to the top; I remember that the headline of one of the national dailies in the country once said ‘Hairdresser given an oil block’. So I even became a hairdresser, one of the many names I was given.”
Alakija believes in passion, determination and hard work.
Folorunsho Alakija was born on July 15 1951 in Ikorodu, Lagos State. 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.Alakija is ranked by Forbes as the richest woman in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion. As of 2016, she is listed as the second most powerful woman in Africa after Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the 87th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes
