Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija Becomes World’s Richest Black Woman

Now this is BIG! Oprah Winfrey is no longer the world’s
richest black woman. That distinction now belongs to Nigerian oil baroness and
fashionista, Folorunsho Alakija, Time reports.

Alakija is worth at least $3.3 billion, about $300 million
more than American television personality Oprah.

The 62-year-old started her career as a secretary at the
erstwhile Merchant Bank of Nigeria, but moved to England in the early 1980s to
study fashion design. She then returned to set up a high-end label called
Supreme Stitches. However, a significant proportion of Alakija’s fortune comes
from an oil-exploration license granted to her company Famfa Ltd. in 1993.