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12 things you didn't know about the richest black woman in the world

Alakija, 62, is a mother of four and Founder/CEO of Famfa Oil, an indigenous oil and gas exploration company that has earned her a fortune.

Folorunso Alakija has overtaken Oprah WInfrey as the richest black woman in the world

Folorunso Alakija is the richest self-made black woman on the planet and very few people know that much about her.

Alakija, 62, is a mother of four and Founder/CEO of Famfa Oil, an indigenous oil and gas exploration company that has earned her a fortune. She is also just one of two female billionaires on the Africa continent.

Here are 12 things you didn’t know about Africa’s richest woman.

1. Her company, Famfa Oil, was awarded its oil prospecting license in 1993. The company owns about 60 percent stake in a block valued at $7.3 billion.

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2. Folorunso Alakija is the richest self-made woman in the world. With an estimated value of about $7.3 billion, she is richer than American TV mogul and former richest black woman, Oprah Winfrey.

3. Alakija owns a charity called the Rose of Sharon Foundation with which she carries out extensive philanthropic work.

4. Alakija heads an arts committee for the Nigerian governments. She was appointed to the position by the Nigerian Minister of Culture and Tourism.

5. Alakija is a family woman. She married her husband, Modupe Alakija in November 1976 and she has four kids. British-Nigeria DJ Exclusive is her nephew.

6. Alakija was ranked as the 87 most powerful woman in the world in 2015 by Forbes.

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7. Alakija was born into a wealthy polygamous family in 1951. Her father was a chief and his father (her grandfather) had 8 wives and 52 children.

8. She had her primary education in the UK before returning to Nigeria for her high school studies. She later completed her secretarial studies at Pitman’s Central College, London.

9. Alakija is the managing director for a string of companies in Nigeria. Some of these companies include Rose of Sharon prints, Promotions Limited, and Digital Reality Prints Limited, all of which make up the Rose of Sharon Group. She is also the executive vice chairman of Famfa Oil Limited.

10. Alakija never attended university. She had done secretarial studies in the UK and pursued fashion design for a time. When she returned to Nigeria, she worked as a secretary in a merchant bank before going on to found Supreme Stitches, a tailoring outfit.

11. She never had any plans to get involved in the oil. According to afk Insider, she was introduced to the oil business by a friend she had met during her sojourn in the fashion industry.

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12. According to Afk Insider, Alakija has real estate investments to the tune of $100 million, in addition to a Bombardier Global Express 6000 private jet valued at over $46 million.

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