Folorunsho Alakija’s Rising Profile

Folorunsho Alakija has successfully etched her name in the sand of times.  When she was adjudged the richest black woman in the world in 2012, not a few were pleasantly surprised.  The spontaneous reactions that trailed the revelation by Forbes were occasioned by the fact that the net worth of the Lagos State-born woman of substance  had skyrocketed to $3.2 billion, thereby making her $500m richer than Oprah Winfrey. With the staggering $3.2 billion, she was also ranked the fourth richest black person in the world, coming after fellow Nigerians Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Dr. Mike Adenuga and Ethiopian Muhammed Al Amoudi.

Interestingly, her fame grew to iconic proportion also because of her other sterling qualities.

A philanthropist of repute, Alakija, who is the Group Managing Director of Rose of Sharon Group and Executive Vice Chairman of Famfa Oil Limited, established the Rose of Sharon Foundation to cater to the needs of orphans, widows and the needy throughout the world.
Again, penultimate week an American online platform, Weathx  named  her the 9th richest woman in the World. In a list published on Wednesday, October 30, 2014, coming behind  American philanthropist, Christy Walton, with an estimated net worth of $37.9 billion, Liliane Bettencourt, heiress of the French cosmetic giant with  $31.3 billion.

The third person on the list is  Gina Reinhart whose wealth is estimated at $14.8billion. She is followed by the Latin American sisters and daughters of Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim – Vanessa Paola Slim, HajjMaria Soumaya Slim de Romero and Johanna Monique Slim Ayub, each of whom are estimated to be worth $6.3billion and ranked 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. The 7th person on the list is China’s Yang Huiyan with estimated fortune of $6.3billion  while Shari Arison, with estimated fortune of $4.2billion, from Middle East while Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija completes the list with a fortune of $3.2billion.

Culled from: http://www.thisdaylive.com