Dethroning Oprah Winfrey as the richest black woman in the world, Nigerian fashion designer turned oil financier, Folorunsho Alakija, is worth an estimated $7 billion. She began building a fortune in the 1980s with the development of a successful fashion design and tailoring company known as Rose of Sharon House of Fashion.

As the company gained momentum, Alakija began making connections with prominent individuals in the Nigerian community including the wife of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida.

What may have started as a casual transaction became an opportunity to gain wealth in one of Africa’s richest natural resources, crude oil.

Alakija applied for an oil prospecting license in 1993 and upon acquisition of the license, her company- Famfa Limited-was granted the right to explore for oil on a 617,000-acre block of land just outside of Nigeria.

As of 2015, she is listed in Forbes Magazine as #87 on the Most Powerful Women List and she is the second of just 2 female billionaires in the entire continent.

In an effort to empower the community from which she came, Alakija launched The Rose of Sharon Foundation. The non-profit organization helps orphans and widows through the provision of scholarships and grants, a philanthropic venture that will not only add to her own legacy but will spark that of Alakija’s fellow Africans.

References
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/16/world/africa/folorunso-alakija-philanthropist-nigeria/
http://www.forbes.com/profile/folorunsho-alakija/