For all the baby oku’s out there, do not despise little beginnings.

from a secretary to the worlds richest woman.. Ok… to be more specific THE RICHEST BLACK WOMAN IN THE WORLD. Mrs Folurunsho Alakija, a Nigerian, born in 1951 to the family of Chief L. A. Ogbara in Ikorodu,Lagos State, started her primary education at age seven and went on to a muslim high school in Sagamu Ogun State. So, its not all about schooling abroad, you can still make it if you school here… lol. After her high school education, she started her secretarial studies and did not neglect her passion for fashion, as she also studied fashion design at the Central School of Fashion, and the American College, London and then founded her own fashion line, called Supreme Stitches. She didn’t stop there, she dreamt big. In 1993 she applied for, and was granted by  the Nigerian Government an Oil Prospecting License which is an expensive permit that allows for oil exploration in a specified area, she was given a 617,000-acre block of land even though she was ignorant about oil exploration, and so in September of 1996, she appointed Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited; a subsidiary of Texaco,  to act as a technical adviser for her business.

It wasn’t  all rosy for Mrs Alakija, she also went through ups and downs like any normal individual trying to become great, amongst which is the struggle for the oil block between  Star Deep Petroleum  and the Nigerian Government. In 2000 when it was determined that Alakija’s land contained an excess of one billion barrels of oil. The Nigerian government won and Alakija lost control of all but 10 percent of her oil company until 2012, when Nigeria’s highest court reversed the government’s actions. Mrs Alakija is said to be worth about $600m (as of 2012) she makes about $1m daily from her oil business. She also has a real estate portfolio worth over $100 million.

in other news  she married a lawyer, Modupe Alakija. in November 1976, and they reside in Lagos, Nigeria with their four sons.

In summary, baby okus’ Mrs Alajika did not achieve this success overnight, she went through the required steps for success, she read, she had a passion, she went for it, she applied (what she knew,what she read, and what she was passionate about) and she also consulted, you can’t know everything, ask for help! both from God and Man.