There were no women listed in the 2026 Forbes list of the richest people in Africa, yet Folorunso Alakija maintains her position as Africa’s richest woman.
Interestingly, unlike many of the top rich people in the world, Alakija was born on 15 July 1951, into a comfortable, upper-middle-class Nigerian family. Her story is one of good positioning and access. Her father, L.A. Ogbara, was a chief and a successful businessman. This provided her access to a good education and opportunities.
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She started schooling in Nigeria before moving to study in London as a teenager. She attended Pitman Central College, where she studied Secretarial Studies. It was a very practical skill at the time that basically entailed administration, office management, typing, and business communication. After working at the First National Bank of Chicago for a while, she followed her passion for fashion and trained again in the UK at the American College London and the Central School of Fashion.
She launched a luxury fashion brand called Supreme Stitches, later renamed Rose of Sharon House of Fashion. Alakija created high-end clothing for elite clients, including political figures. In the 1990s, during the military era, she was close to circles around Nigeria’s former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida. That connection played a role when her company was granted an oil prospecting license (OPL 216), a move that would completely change her life.
At the time, oil was (and still is) where the real money is in Nigeria. That license later turned into a stake in the Agbami oil field, one of Nigeria’s most valuable offshore assets. And that’s how she went from wealthy to billionaire status.
Alakija married her husband, Modupe Alakija, in 1976. He is the chairman of Famfa Oil. According to ThisDay Live, due to persistent conflicts and irreconcilable differences, with reports suggesting they have faced marital challenges for some time, they are now separate after 30 years. Together, they have four sons: Dele, Ladi, Rotimi, and Folarin Alakija. Her family is quite private, but they’re deeply involved in business and philanthropy.
Alakija first gained global attention when Forbes named her Africa’s richest woman around 2014. Forbes listed her net worth between $2.5 billion and $3.2 billion. In 2015, Forbes ranked her as the 87th most powerful woman in the world, and she was one of just two African women on their list of the richest people in Africa. She was worth about $1 billion in 2020.
So far, she has continued to build wealth in the male-dominated oil industry. Forbes once put her on the list of the most powerful women in the world. She is the Vice Chair of Famfa Oil, one of Nigeria’s major oil exploration companies. Alakija is involved in fashion, real estate, and philanthropy. She runs the Rose of Sharon Foundation, supporting widows and orphans with scholarships, business grants, and social welfare programs.
Alakija, who is also known to be religious, started a small fellowship in her home around 2004. Over time, it grew into the Rose of Sharon Glorious Ministry International. On her 69th birthday, she was ordained as an Apostle.
In 2025, reports from SaharaReporters, quoting medical sources, say she has health problems that started after a scary flight incident that affected her eyesight.
After that experience, Alakija reportedly bought a new private jet so she wouldn’t have to travel on the same flight as her husband again. But sadly, her vision kept getting worse until she eventually lost her sight completely.
The Niche Nigeria said the near air mishap caused her blood pressure to spike, which affected her eyes. The source also claimed she had been dealing with eye issues for a while but focused more on starting a church instead of getting proper treatment.
She is currently based in Lagos, Nigeria, specifically in the high-end area of Ikoyi. But like most billionaires, she also travels frequently and has properties abroad.
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