Female African Billionaires

I just had to look this up because I had a slight disagreement with a friend who was adamant that Bola Shagaya was the richest woman in the world not Africa ... the world, she said. I had it in my head that Folunsho Alakija was the richest in Africa and I knew she had more money than bola shagaya. The arguement drew on and I decided to do little research and poking around.

We were both wrong.

The richest woman in the Africa is Idabel Dos Santos, the first african female billionaire. She is the oldest daughter of Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos. She is in the board of directors of several companies in Angola and Portugal including media company and major banks in Portugal with interests in oil and diamonds. She studied engineering at the King’s College, London and started her first business when she was 24 years old. She is well over the $1 billion mark making her the first African woman to become a billionaire. There is no clear evidence to indicate how her money was made according to Forbes. Make up your minds putting in mind that she was daughter of a president, an african president in Angola. Google is your friend.

 

 

 Folorunso Alakija is Nigerian billionaire. She is the second richest woman in the world and Africa after Dos Santos. The fashion designer and Executive Director of FAMFA Oil, the gas and oil exploration and production company is currently worth over $600 million. She founded her fashion house company, Supreme Stitches in 1985 and within a year, she became the largest designer in Nigeria. She was Aisha Babangidas personal stylist. All those fantastic looking kaftans were the handiwork of Supreme Stiches later Rose Of Sharon. In 1993 Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida awarded her company, Famfa Oil, an oil prospecting license that later became one of Nigeria’s most prolific oil blocks with her company owning a 60% stake in the block. In 2000, Baba Iyabo, President Olusegun Obasanjo, the then president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ilegally acquired a 50% stake in the block without due compensation to Alakija or her company but the stake was later revoked by the supreme court.

 

Ngina Kenyatta is the widow of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta. Though she has mostly undeclared wealth but would not pass without mentioned among the wealthiest Ladies in Africa. The 80 year old charitable and welcoming Mama Ngina who now lives more of a reclusive life gained a lot of respect from Kenyan citizens for her stand in defending and promoting the family’s business interests which cuts across the banking, farming, education, insurance, hospitality, manufacturing and real estate sectors.
Mama Ngina Kenyatta currently has a series of investments, stakes and portfolios under her authority. She is a major share holder in one of the largest privately owned banks in Kenya: the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), and a chain of hotels (Heritage). The list is almost endless and also includes Brookside Dairies which is an East African leader in the dairy industry with market share reaching from East Africa to the Middle East. Media Max; a media company and Timsales Timber are also part of her portfolio. The latest investments is in the real estate sector and involves the development of a 500 acre Northlands City which is hoped to be the largest gated community in the region.

 

Bola Shagaya is one of the richest women in Nigeria. She is a business woman and the founder and CEO of Bolmus Group International which is a diversified Nigerian conglomerate company with interests in oil, real estate, banking where is a board member of Unity Bank PLC she is also involved in communications and photography. Her investments span across to the oil sector, banking and finance including real estate with hundreds of town houses in Nigeria’s choicest neighborhoods and she also owns properties in Europe and the United States.
She is also a board member of the National Economic Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD), a Nigerian focused business group. Hajia Shagaya, seemed to have aligned herself with important military and political figures in Nigeria and is reputedly very close to former Nigerian military president, Ibrahim Babangida and the Nigeria’s first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

I recently went pass a casino in Knightbridge, which was been speculated as being bidded on by Mrs Shagaya and her businness associates. This sparked this whole discussion on who the female big guns in Africa were.

Anyway there you have it.