Nigeria, despite its current ranking as the poverty capital of the world, is home to 9100 high-net-worth individuals and 7 billionaires.
Nigerian billionaires improved their ranking in the latest Forbes World’s Billionaire List 2022, which compiles the fortunes of the wealthiest people in the world.
Despite rising prices worldwide, ignited by the aftershocks of the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
And amongst these elites are women who control multi-million dollar conglomerates in Nigeria and Abroad.
- Folorunsho Alakija, the 70-year-old business magnate, is the wealthiest woman in Nigeria in 2022, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes. She is also the founder of many African multi-national companies such as Famfa Oil, and Rose of Sharon Group, among others. Folorunsho, the wealthiest woman in Africa, made her money as one of the major stakeholders in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry. She began her career as an executive secretary for Sijuade Enterprises in Lagos in 1974. She also worked in several corporate and baking firms before venturing into entrepreneurship. After a few years in the banking sector, Folorunsho Alakija decided to launch her own fashion-design company, Supreme Stitches. The brand’s name later was changed to Rose of Sharon House of Fashion. FAMFA Oil Limited was established in 1991 and was granted the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) to operate on a 617,000-acre oil block in the Niger Delta.
- The CEO and founder of Bolmus Group International, Hajia Bola Shagaya takes second place among the Forbes top 10 richest women in Nigeria in 2022, with an estimated net worth of $950 Million. She is a Nigerian commercialist who earned fortunes by venturing into several businesses. As stated earlier, Bola Shagya is the CEO and founder of Bolmus Group International, a multifaceted Nigerian conglomerate with investments across various industries, including oil & gas, real estate, banking, and communications. She began her career at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). She left the banking sector and began importing photographic equipment, establishing her first company, Konica Photographic equipment. Bola has since emerged as one of the most prominent entrepreneurs on the continent, founding several companies, such as Fotofair (Nigeria) Limited, one of the most renowned photographic labs in Nigeria, with more than 30 branches across the nation. She established Practoil limit, one of Nigeria’s biggest exporters and distributors of base oils, Voyage Oil and Gas Limited, a Crude Oil trading and export company. The company also operates as a distributor and independent marketing company of petroleum, oil products, and gas.
- Nigerian Senator and former Aviation Stella Oduah is among the wealthiest women in Nigeria in 2022, with an estimated Networth of $600 Million. She is the founder of Sea Petroleum & Gas Company Limited (SPG), an independent marketer of petroleum products in Nigeria. The veteran politician began her career at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in e in 1983 After bagging her bachelor’s and Master’s Degree (in Accounting and Business Administration, respectively) in the United States. Stella is also a matron of several companies such as Sea Shipping Agency Limited, Rotary Engineering Services Limited, and Tour Afrique Company Limited.
- Mosunmola also knon as MO Abudu, the founder of Ebonylife Television and Films, joins the list of the Forbes top 10 richest women in Nigeria in 2022, with an estimated net worth of $650 Million. Forbes has described herself as “Africa’s Most Successful Woman” and rated as one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television” by The Hollywood Reporter. Her company, Ebonylife Television & Film, is an entertainment company concerned with creating movies and entertainment content. The company was founded in 2006, airing in more than 49 countries across Africa and the UK and the Caribbean. EbonyLife TV’s first broadcast on 1 July 2013 on Multichoice’s DSTV Channel 165. Less than a year into operations, EbonyLife TV, ranking among the top 25% of most-watched channels on the DStv platform, launched a premium, multi-screen video-on-demand (VOD) platform targeting Africans in the diaspora.
- According to Forbes, Fifi Ejindu is an architect, entrepreneur, philanthropist and one of the wealthiest women in Nigeria in 2022, with an estimated net worth of $850 Million. She is the founder and C.E.O. of Starcrest Group of Companies, One of the most prominent architectural firms in the Country. Starcrest Group of Companies is divided into three subdivisions, engaged in real estate, building and designing, and investment opportunities. The subsidiaries involved are actual property management, construction and design, oil and gas project management, youth empowerment, and investment opportunities. Starcrest is responsible for some of the foreign investment in the Country. With the help of the former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, The company could influence fifty prominent people in business from the U.A.E. to invest in various sectors within the Nigerian economy. The company is also responsible for managing many residential, and industrial villa’s around the Country.
