{"id":77470,"date":"2014-12-26T17:35:17","date_gmt":"2014-12-26T17:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=77470"},"modified":"2014-12-26T17:36:43","modified_gmt":"2014-12-26T17:36:43","slug":"nigerian-billionaire-unseats-oprah-worlds-richest-black-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=77470","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian billionaire unseats Oprah as world&#8217;s richest black woman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Move over Oprah, Nigerian oil tycoon Folorunsho Alakija is now the richest black woman in the world with an estimated fortune of $7.3 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Africa boasts 55 billionaires &#8211; far more than previously thought &#8211; and they&#8217;re worth a staggering $143.88 billion in total, according to pan-African magazine Ventures Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Starting her career as a secretary in a bank in the mid 1970s, Alakija, 62, then studied fashion in London and returned to Nigeria to start a label, Supreme Stitches. But her biggest break came in oil.<\/p>\n<p>In 1993, her company, Famfa Oil, was awarded an oil prospecting license, which later became OML 127, one of the country&#8217;s most prolific oil blocks, by then-president Ibrahim Babangida.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2012, Alakija, a married mother-of-four, challenged the acquisition and the Nigerian Supreme Court reinstated the 50 per cent stake to her company.<\/p>\n<p>She also has a charity called the Rose of Sharon foundation that helps widows and orphans by empowering them through scholarships and business grants.<\/p>\n<p>Forbes magazine had estimated Alakija&#8217;s fortune at $600 million, as of November 2012, but the magazine&#8217;s editor-in-chief Uzodinma Iweala said his researchers were &#8216;closer to the ground.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div class=\"artSplitter\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"blkBorder\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2013\/10\/08\/article-2449896-189C8E6300000578-305_634x447.jpg\" alt=\"s\" width=\"634\" height=\"447\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Still rich: According to Forbes, Oprah Winfrey, pictured, is worth $2.9 billion<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"blkBorder\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2013\/10\/08\/article-2449896-189C8E1300000578-342_634x421.jpg\" alt=\"d\" width=\"634\" height=\"421\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Richest African: The overall richest African is Nigerian manufacturer Aliko Dangote, pictured, who is worth $20.2 billion. Twenty Nigerians are listed in total<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>They noted that Brazilian oil company, Petrobas, was looking to sell its 8 per cent stake in OML 127 for $1.5- $2.5 billion, and extrapolated that if they managed to sell it for $1 billion, Alakija&#8217;s 60 per cent stake would be worth at least $7.3 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Iweala claims this and other estimates included in the report are actually &#8216;on the conservative side&#8217; and said the magazine expect to unearth more African billionaires shortly.<\/p>\n<p>The overall richest African is Nigerian manufacturer Aliko Dangote who is worth $20.2 billion. Twenty Nigerians are listed in total.<\/p>\n<p>According to Forbes, Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.9 billion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source:\u00a0dailymail.co.uk<\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"external-source-links\" class=\"item\" data-track-module=\"am-external-links^external-links\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Move over Oprah, Nigerian oil tycoon Folorunsho Alakija is now the richest black woman in the world with an estimated fortune of $7.3 billion. Africa boasts 55 billionaires &#8211; far more than previously thought &#8211; and they&#8217;re worth a staggering $143.88 billion in total, according to pan-African magazine Ventures Africa. Starting her career as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":77471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-77470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-palaver-newspaper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}