Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija Becomes World’s Richest Black Woman Not Oprah Winfrey

Now this is BIG! Oprah Winfrey is no longer the world’s richest black woman. That distinction now belongs to Nigerian oil baroness and fashionista, Folorunsho Alakija, Time reports.

Alakija is worth at least $3.3 billion, about $300 million more than American television personality Oprah.

The 62-year-old started her career as a secretary at the erstwhile Merchant Bank of Nigeria, but moved to England in the early 1980s to study fashion design. She then returned to set up a high-end label called Supreme Stitches. However, a significant proportion of Alakija’s fortune comes from an oil-exploration license granted to her company Famfa Ltd. in 1993.