Top 10 Richest Women In Nigeria

Gone are the days when women were relegated to the background, now women are thriving in the public space, owning companies, working in world-class organizations, and occupying daring positions.

Presently, there are numerous women in Nigeria who are financially independent and whose investments and businesses are contributing to the economy of Nigeria.

However, this article on the top ten richest women in Nigeria will reveal to you the independent women that are making waves in Nigeria.

Top Ten Richest Women In Nigeria

Nigerian women are resourceful, intelligent, and hardworking, most of them have created niches for themselves and are doing well in their different fields of endeavor.

21st-century women are not only good in the domestic space but are equally good in the public space where they hold their heads high and do exploit.

However, below are the top current richest women in Nigeria.

1. Folorunsho Alakija

Folorunsho Alakija was born on 15 July 1951 in Ikorodu, Lagos State. She is a Nigerian billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist.

Alakija started her profession in 1974 as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises, Lagos after concluding a Secretarial course at Pitman’s Central College London.

She later became an executive secretary to the managing director of the then First National Bank of Chicago, which later became FinBank now obtained by First City Monument Bank.

Alakija grew to become the new Head of the Corporate Affairs Department of the International Merchant Bank of Nigeria (formerly First National Bank of Chicago), and later on, became the Office Assistant to the Treasury Department.

However, her banking career lasted for 12 years, after which she decided to follow her passion which is fashion.

She went ahead to study fashion at The American College in London and the Central School of Fashion.

After her studies, she returned to Nigeria and commenced her first fashion brand known as Supreme Stitches, which was later renamed the Rose of Sharon House of Fashion in 1996.

The Rose of Sharon grew rapidly to become a well-known fashion brand in Nigeria, and Alakija, as the national president and trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN), promoted Nigerian culture through fashion and style.

In May 1993, Alakija took another giant stride by applying for the allocation of an oil prospecting license (OPL) which was granted to her company, Famfa Limited.

Alakija is one of the current richest women in Nigeria, she was ranked by Forbes as the richest woman in Nigeria with an evaluated net worth of $1 billion as of 2020.

2. Hajia Bola Shagaya

Hajia Bola  Shagaya was born on 10 October 1959 in Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria. She is one of the current richest women in Nigeria.

Bola Shagaya for eight years now has been on the board of Unity Bank plc and she is also a member of the recently inaugurated Nepad Business Group – Nigeria.

Hajia Bola Shagaya is also the managing director of Practoil Limited, one of the largest importers and distributors of base oil in Nigeria, serving local lubricant blending plants.

As a fashion and art lover who supports and encourages the fashion and art industry, Hajia Bola Shagaya is a patron of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN).

Bola Shagaya started her career with the audit department of the Central Bank of Nigeria before she left in 1983 to venture into business.

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She started her business with the importation and distribution of photographic materials and she introduced the Konica brand of photographic materials into the Nigerian market and West Africa.

Her company’s name is Bolmus Group International, a conglomerate with holdings in real estate, oil and gas, banking, and photography and she is the CEO.

However, her outstanding virtues and immense contribution to economic growth, earned her an award by the Nigerian government.

3. Daisy Danjuma

Daisy Danjuma was born on 6 August 1952 in Benin City. She is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, and one of the current richest women in Nigeria.

Danjuma started her career as a State Counsel with the Ministry of Justice of Lagos State and was a 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.

However, she later became the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser to the Nigerian Television Authority from 1982 to 1992.

In 2003 she was elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where she was opportune to serve in numerous committees, most notably as Chairman of the ECOWAS Parliament’s Women and Children’s Rights Committee and Senate Committee Chairman on Women Affairs and Youth Development.

However, she is currently the executive vice-chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum.

4. Fifi Ejindu

Fifi is an architect, entrepreneur, investor, and one of the current richest women in Nigeria.

She is the great-granddaughter of James Ekpo Bassey, an Efik monarch of the colonial era whose seat was in Cobham Town, Calabar, and that’s why she uses the title of H.H. The Obonganwan King James socially.

Fifi was born and raised in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, and her father was the first Minister of Health in the former eastern region of Nigeria and a member of the National Parliament in the lead up to independence.

Princess Fifi attended the Senior Staff Primary School at the University of Ibadan and later attended secondary school at Queens College, Yaba, Lagos.

She later proceeded to study architecture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.

However, she graduated in 1983 from Pratt thus becoming the first black African woman to be awarded a B.Arch. from the institute.

After graduating from Pratt, Fifi further took courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before she went on to work at a private firm in New York City.

Fifi then returned to Pratt Institute to get her master’s in Urban Planning after which she returned to Nigeria.

Fifi returned to Nigeria after obtaining a master’s degree from Pratt Institute and started the Starcrest Group of companies in 1995.

However, the company encompasses Starcrest Investment Ltd., Starcrest Associates Ltd., and Starcrest Industries Ltd, all involved in real estate, oil and gas, and building construction.

Because of her outstanding achievement, she was awarded the African Achievers African Arts and Fashion Lifetime Achievement award in 2013.

5. Stella Okoli

Stella Chinyelu Okoli was born in Kano State. She is a pharmacist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur..

Stella started her formal education in 1954 at All Saint Primary School, Onitsha, and then proceed to complete her secondary school education in 1964 at Ogidi Girls Secondary School, Ogidi

After her secondary education, she enrolled in the University of Bradford to study Pharmacy and graduated in 1969.

However, because of her love for knowledge,  she obtained other certifications including an M.Sc certificate in Biopharmaceutical from the University of London, Chelsea College in 1971

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Stella Okoli started her career by working in numerous pharmaceutical firms including Middlesex Hospital, London, Boots the Chemists Limited and Pharma-Deko

In January 1977, Stella founded the Emzor pharmaceutical manufacturing company as a small retail pharmacy with the name Emzor Chemists Limited.

Emzor Pharmaceutical expanded to become one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria with over 50 products, and she is currently the Chief Executive Officer. 

Stella is currently a member of the Economic Summit of Nigeria and the Health Matters Advisory Board of Nigeria and the Vice President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture.

Because of her noticeable achievement and contributions to the health sector in Nigeria, Stella Okoli was recognized with the Member of the Order of the Niger award.

She is also a recipient of the ECOWAS International Gold Award, ThisDay Annual Award, and She is an alumnus of Lagos Business School, Harvard Business School, Boston, and I.E.S.E Business School in Barcelona, Spain.

6. Bimbo Alase

Bimbo Alase is one of the current richest women in Nigeria, she is the founder of Leatherworld Furniture.

She attended Pitman College, London, and the Regent Academy of Designs and Fine Arts. She further enrolled in London Design School and obtain a Post Graduate degree in Interior Designing.

Bimbo started her business as a small furniture store in Lagos, and it later grew to become a Leatherworld Furniture company.

The company is well known for providing high-quality furniture and interior décor in Lagos and Abuja.

However, In 2005, Leatherworld partnered with NIERI, a furniture-making company in Italy to produced some of the best furniture in Africa.

Bimbo is currently on the board of several blue-chip companies and has mentored many people including aspiring entrepreneurs.

7. Mo Abudu

Mosunmola Abudu, also known as Mo Abudu is a Nigerian Media Magnate, philanthropist, advisor, and former human resources management. She was born on 11 September 1964 in London, United Kingdom.

She attended Ridgeway School, MidKent College, and West Kent College.

She obtained a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Westminster in London, and She is a fellow of the British Psychological Society with qualifications in occupational and personality testing.

Mo Abudu started her career in 1987 with the Atlas Recruitment Consultancy firm in the UK as a recruitment consultant.

Later she moved to Starform Group in 1990 and then returned to Nigeria in 1993 to head the Human Resources and Training for the oil giant, ExxonMobil.

Mo is the founder of Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited, and Ebony Life Television.

Because of her outstanding personality, Mo was honored with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Babcock University.

The University of Westminster also awarded Abudu with an honorary doctorate degree in 2018 for her contributions to the broadcasting industry in Nigeria.

However, Mo has produced numerous television drama series including Desperate Housewives Africa in partnership with DisneySons of the CaliphateCastle & CastleOn the Real, and The Governor.

8. Stella Oduah

Stella Oduah was born in January 1962 in Anambra state, she is one of the current richest women in Nigeria.

Stella obtained her bachelor’s and Masters’s Degree in Accounting and Business Administration respectively in the United States.

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After her education, she returned to Nigeria in 1983 and joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Moving forward, she left the NNPC In 1992 to establish the Sea Petroleum & Gas Company Limited, an independent marketer of petroleum products in Nigeria.

On July 2, 2011, Stella was confirmed and sworn in as a minister of Aviation, and she was relieved of her duties as minister of Aviation on 12 February 2014.

9. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist, fair trade leader, environmental sustainability promoter, human welfare defeater, sustainable finance maven, and global development professional.

She was born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, and attended the Queen’s School, Enugu; St. Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan; and the International School Ibadan.

However, she proceeded to study at Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude with an AB in Economics in 1976, and in 1981, earned her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Okonjo-Iweala is serving as Director-General of the World Trade Organization, and she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as the Director-General.

She is also the first Nigerian woman to serve two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria under the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan.

Okonjo-Iweala is the founder of Nigeria’s first indigenous opinion-research organization, NOI-Polls, and She also founded the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (C-SEA).

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10. Diezani Alison Madueke 

Diezani K. Alison-Madueke is a Nigerian politician and the first female President of OPEC.

She is one of the current richest women in Nigeria and was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Diezani had her education in Shell camp and Hussey Model School after the Nigerian civil war. She enrolled in a Township school, Port Harcourt, and went on to Holy Rosary Government Girls Secondary School where she sat for her WASCE in 1975.

After that, she proceeded to the Federal School of Arts and Sciences in  Adamawa State for her A’ Levels and then traveled to the United Kingdom in 1977 to study Architecture.

Returning to Nigeria in 1992, she joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation and work in the estate’s area of operations in the Lagos office of Shell.

However, she rose to the position of Head of Civil Infrastructures and then became Head of Corporate Issues and Crisis Management Unit in 1997.

After completing her MBA program at Cambridge, she was made Lead Joint Ventures Representation Adviser in 2004.

Alison-Madueke was appointed as an Executive Director of Shell in 2006, she was the first woman ever to be appointed by Shell as an Executive Director in Nigeria.

Diezani became Nigeria’s minister of transportation on 26 July 2007, and later was transferred to Mines and Steel Development in 2008, and then she was appointed as the first woman Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria in April 2010.

That’s all on the top ten current richest women in Nigeria, I hope it helps.

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