Top 10 Most Richest Women in Nigeria

In this article I will be sharing with you the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria. These women have contributed immensely to the economy growth and development of Nigeria. They started from nowhere and today they have companies scattered all over the world with millions of staffs and generating over billions of naira annually. So therefore, after a careful study and research we present to you the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

10. Diezani Alison

Diezani Alison is a Nigerian entrepreneur, politician, investor and a business magnate. She was the first female President of OPEC. She was elected at the 166th OPEC Ordinary meeting in Vienna on 27th November 2014. She became Nigeria’s minister of transportation on 26th July 2007. She was born on 6th December 1960 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the south southern part of Nigeria. She is currently 58 years old.

She was moved to Mines and Steel Development in 2008, and in April 2010 she was appointed as Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria. Diezani Alison studied Architecture in England and then at Howard University in the United States of America. She graduated from Howard with a bachelor’s degree on 8th December 1992. She returned to Nigeria and joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation in 1992.

In 2002, she attended Cambridge Judge Business School for her MBA degree. After returning to Nigeria, Diezani Alison-Madueke was appointed as an Executive Director in Shell in 2006. She was the first woman ever to be appointed by Shell as an Executive Director in Nigeria. Diezani Alison has an estimated net worth of over $400 million and currently number 10 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

9. Ngozi Okonjo

Ngozi Okonjo is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor, an economist, an international development expert and a business magnate. She was the former Director General of World Bank. She was born on 13th June 1954 in Ogwashio-Ukwu, Delta State in the south southern part of Nigeria. She is currently 65 years old. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Queen’s School, Enugu, St. Anne’s School, Ibadan, and the International School Ibadan. She arrived in the United States of America in 1973 as a teenager to study at Harvard University, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1976.

In 1981, she earned her Ph. D at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States of America and later received an International Fellowship from the American Association of University Women that supported her doctoral studies. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising through the ranks to the number 2 position of Managing Director of World Bank from 2007 to 2011.

She also served two terms as Nigerian Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2015 under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan respectively. Ngozi Okonjo has an estimated net worth of over $500 million and currently number 9 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

8. Stella Oduah

Stella Oduah is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor and a business magnate. She is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sea Petroleum. She is a Nigerian Senator and former Minister of Avation. She was born on 5th January 1962 in Anambra State in the south eastern part of Nigeria. She is currently 57 years old.

She was confirmed to the ministerial post and sworn in on 2nd July 2011 and was deployed to the Ministry of Aviation on 4th July 2011. She was however relieved of her duties as Minister of Aviation on 12th February 2014.

Stella Oduah was born to Igwe D.O. Oduah of Akili-Ozizor Local Government Area of Anambra State in the south eastern part of Nigeria. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Accounting and Business Administration respectively in the United States of America. She returned to Nigeria in 1983 and joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In 1992, she left the NNPC to establish the Sea Petroleum and Gas Company Limited, an independent marketer of petroleum product in Nigeria. She is currently married to Nigerian former Minister for Works, Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi and the marriage is blessed with lovely children. Stella Oduah has an estimated net worth of over $550 million and currently number 8 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

7. Mo Abudu

Mo Abudu is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor and a business magnate. She is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EbonyLife TV. She is a Nigerian media mogul, media personality, philanthropist, and former human resources management consultant. She has been described by Forbes as Africa’s Most Successful Woman.  She was born on 11th September 1964 in London, United Kingdom. She is currently 54 years old. Mo Abudu was born in Hammersmith in west London, United Kingdom. Her early years were spent in the United Kingdom. She attended the Ridgeway School, Mid Kent College and West Kent College in London, United Kingdom.

After completing her high school education, Mo Abudu attended University of Westminster in United Kingdom and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law. In 2006, Mo Abudu founded EbonyLife TV, a television network airing in more than 49 countries across Africa, as well as in the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. Her company EbonyLife TV headquarters is located at Tinapa Resort in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria which happens to be the hometown of Mo Abudu.

In March 2018, Sony Pictures Television announced that they had concluded a three-year deal with EbonyLife TV that would include co-production of The Dahomey Warriors, a series about the Amazons who took on French colonialists in a 19th century west African kingdom. Mo Abudu has received the Life Time Achievement Award and Best Movie Producer of the Year (English) at the City People Movie Special Recognition Award. Mo Abudu has an estimated net worth of over $580 million and currently number 7 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

6. Bimbo Alase

Bimbo Alase is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor and a business magnate. She is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Leatherworld. A very modest and unassuming lady by nature, Bimbo Alase who is currently 52 years old sits on the board of several blue chip companies. This very enterprising businesswoman is a mentor to many established and aspiring entrepreneurs. She attended Pitman College, London, United Kingdom and the Regent Academy of Designs and Fine Arts in London. She also bagged a Post Graduate Degree in Interior Designing from the London Design School.

Having conquered the Nigerian terrain, Bimbo Alase is working towards spreading her tentacles to other African countries, so as to enable them have a feel of the world of luxurious and magnificent furniture making in Nigeria. She is the mastermind behind Leatherworld, the highly acclaimed luxury furniture company. Prior to establishing the furniture company in June 1994, Bimbo Alase ran a mini gift store and beauty salon known as Glamour in Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. Thanks to her business savvy, hard work and foresight.

Leatherworld has now become a pioneer and household name in high quality furniture and interior décor. Her company Leatherworld was established to meet the need for genuine furniture in the Nigeria market at a time when there was a drought of such in the market. The brand is reputed both locally and internationally as the manufacturer and stockiest of the highest grade of quality furniture, furnishings and allied products. Bimbo Alase has an estimated net worth of over $600 million and currently number 6 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

5. Stella Okoli

Stella Okoli is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor and a business magnate. She is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Emzor Pharmaceutical, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. She was born in 1944 in Kano State in the northern part of Nigeria. She is currently 75 years old. Stella Okoli was born in Kano State in the northern part of Nigeria into the family of Felix Ebelechukwu and Margaret Modebelu. She is originally from Nnewi, a small town in Anambra State in the south eastern part of Nigeria.

She started her formal education in 1954 after enrolling as a pupil at All Saint Primary School, Onitsha before proceeding to complete her secondary school education in 1964 at Ogidi Girls Secondary School in Ogidi, Anambra State, Nigeria. In 1969, Stella Okoli graduated from the University of Bradford in United Kingdom and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Biopharmaceutical from the University of London in United Kingdom. In January 1977, Stella Okoli started Emzor Pharmaceutical with the initial name “Emzor Chemists Limited” as a small pharmacy retail shop in Somolu, Lagos State, Nigeria.

Emzor Pharmaceutical has since become one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria with over 50 products since its incorporation in 1984. Stella Okoli was the Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. Stella Okoli has an estimated net worth of over $700 million and currently number 5 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

4. Fifi Ejindu

Fifi Ejindu is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor, Architect and a business magnate. She is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Starcrest Group. She was born in Ibadan, Oyo State in the south western part of Nigeria. She is originally from Uyo, the capital city of Akwa Ibom State in the south southern part of Nigeria. She is the great granddaughter of King James Ekpo Bassey of Cobham Town in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Fifi Ejindu attended the Senior Staff Primary School at the university campus and later completed her secondary school education at Queens College in Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.

After which she studied Architecture at Pratt Institute, a private design college in Brookyn, New York in the United States of America. In 1983, she graduated from Pratt Institute, becoming the first black African woman to be awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the institute. After graduating from the Pratt Institution, Fifi Ejindu took courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before she went on to work at a private firm in New York City in the United States of America. After that Fifi Ejindu returned back to Pratt Institute to get her Masters Degree in Urban Planning after which she returned to Nigeria.

On her return to Nigeria, Fifi Ejindu started the Starcrest Group of companies. The company started in 1995, and comprises Starcrest Investment Ltd, Starcrest Associates Ltd and Starcrest Industries Ltd, all involved in real estate, oil and gas, and building construction. In 2013, she was awarded the African Achievers Arts and Fashion Lifetime Achievement award. Fifi Ejindu has an estimated net worth of over $850 million and currently number 4 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

3. Daisy Danjuma

Daisy Danjuma is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor and a business magnate. She is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Atlantic Petroleum. She is the wife to Nigerian billionaire Theophilus Danjuma. She was born on 6th August 1952 in Benin City, Edo State in the south southern part of Nigeria. She is currently 66 years old. In 1976, she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1977.

She served her NYSC as a State Counsel in Lagos State Ministry of Justice and was a pioneer legal counsel to the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria. She later worked as an Executive Assistant at Nigerian Acceptances Limited, a Merchant Bank from 1977 to 1978. She was Company Secretary/Legal Adviser to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) from 1982 to 1992. In 2003, Daisy Danjuma was elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing Edo South and completed her tenure in 2007.

While in the Senate, she was a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Chairman of Women and Child Right Committee of the Economic Community of West African States, Chairman of Senate Committee on Women Affairs and Youth Development. She also served as Member, Senate Committees on Health, Education, Finance and Land Transport of the National Assembly.

One of her greatest achievement was the eradication of female genital mutilation in Edo State and some other parts of Nigeria and West Africa. She is currently the Executive Vice Chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum Limited. She is married to General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma and she has five children. Daisy Danjuma has an estimated net worth of over $1.7 billion and currently number 3 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

2. Bola Shagaya

Bola Shagaya is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor, Fashion enthusiast and a business magnate. She is one of the richest women in Africa. She is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bolmus Group. She was born on 10th October 1959 in Ilorin, Kwara State in the south western part of Nigeria. She is currently 59 years old. She is currently married to Alhaji Shagaya, a Kwara State-based transport mogul, and has six children. Bola Shagaya is reputable in growing the Real Estate Empire in both Europe and the United States.

Also involved in minor business and industry holdings across Asia and Australia. Bola Shagaya completed her secondary school education at Queens School, Ilorin, Kwara State and her tertiary education at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State both in Nigeria and Armstrong College in California in the United States of America, where she studied economics and accountancy.

She started her career with the audit department of the Central Bank of Nigeria before venturing into commercial activities in 1983. Her business experience started with the importation and distribution of photographic materials and she introduced the Konica brand of photographic materials into the Nigerian market and West Africa.

Bola Shagaya is also the managing director of Practoil Limited, one of the largest importers and distributors of crude oil in Nigeria, serving local lubricant blending plants. Her business also includes huge investment in real estate, spanning across major cities in the country with over three hundred employees. Bola Shagaya has an estimated net worth of over $1.9 billion and currently number 2 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

1. Folorunsho Alakija

Folorunsho Alakija is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor and a business magnate. She is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FAMFA Oil. She is currently the richest woman in Africa. She is currently the group managing director and CEO of the Rose of Sharon Group which consists of The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited and Digital Reality Prints Limited. She is also the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited. She is currently the richest woman in Africa with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion. In 2014, she temporarily unseated Oprah Winfrey and became the richest woman in the world from African descent.

Folorunso Alakija was born on 15th July 1951 to the family of Chief L. A. Ogbara in Ikorodu, Lagos State in the south western part of Nigeria. She is currently 68 years old. At the age of 7 years old she travelled to United Kingdom and attended Dinorben School for Girls in Hafodunos Hall, Wales in the United Kingdom, where she completed her primary school education. After completing her primary school education in United Kingdom, she returned to Nigeria and attended Muslim High School in Sagamu, Ogun State in the south western part of Nigeria and completed her secondary school education.

After completing her secondary school in Nigeria, she travelled back to United Kingdom and attended Pitman’s Central College in London, United Kingdom and graduated with a diploma in Secretarial Studies. After obtaining a diploma in Secretarial Studies from Pitman’s Central College, Folorunso Alakija proceeded to American College in London and the Central School of Fashion both in United Kingdom, where she studied Fashion Design. Folorunsho Alakija has an estimated net worth of over $2.5 billion and currently number 1 on our list of the top 10 most richest women in Nigeria.

Austine Ikeru
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