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TreasureMagazine7
A baroness whose growth so far can be referred to as a "grace to grace growth model". She was
born to a wealthy family in Ikorodu Lagos Nigeria on the 15th of July 1951. She is the second
surviving child of her father Chief L.A.Ogbara. At age seven she and her sister Doyin were sent to
Northern Wales for their primary education but returned 4 years later based on the desire of
their parents for the girls to maintain their African culture, traditions and values.Folorunsho
started her career in 1974 as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises, Lagos, Nigeria. In
1976 Folorunsho got married to her loving lawyer husband Modupe Alakija, a marriage that has
being blessed with four handsome men. She had learnt fabric merchanting from her mother at a
young age hence the push behind her travelling abroad United Kingdom to be précised, to study
fashion design in 1984. On her return she started supreme stitches with which she became the
best designer in Nigeria by 1986. In 1993 she applied for the license to the mother of her financial
stardom. It was an OPL to explore for oil on a 617000-acre block (currently OPL 216). Her
company Famfa limited was granted the license to this block a land located at the south east of
Lagos in the Agbami field of central Niger by the then president Ibrahim Babangida. This company
managed by her sons and husband has made her the richest woman in Nigeria, the richest black
woman in the world and the fourth richest black in the world.
She is the National president and lifelong trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria
(FADAN).Folorunsho Alakija has a foundation called the “Rose of Sharon” Foundation that helps
widows and orphans by empowering them through scholarships and business grants. She also
founded the Folorunsho Alakija Scholarship Scheme (FASS) which has consistently aided
remarkable number of Nigerians who cannot afford good and quality education. The most
fascinating part of it all is that on the 9th of March, 2016 she became the first female Chancellor
(Osun State University renamed Bola- Ige University) in Nigeria.
Moral Lessons
1. Your parent’s wealth can aid you in getting your own wealth if only you are determined to
acquire your own wealth. Don't settle with the mindset that your parents are wealthy so you will
become wealthy. That you were born with a silver spoon does not mean you will keep having the
spoon.
2. Despise not the days of little beginning. Always be willing to start from somewhere. Folorunsho
started as a Secretary today she is a billionaire. Start somewhere.
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