Nigerian businesswoman Folorunsho Alakija is now the second richest black woman in the world with an estimated fortune of $2.5 billion; set to unseat talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey , who is worth $3 billion according to Forbes Magazine.

Alakija’s biggest break came in oil

In 1993, her company, Famfa Oil, was awarded an oil prospecting licence, which later became OML 127 – one of Nigeria’s most prolific oil blocks.

The company owns a 60 per cent stake in the block, valued at around $7.3 billion.

The 62-year-old mother-of-four started  her career as a secretary in a bank in the mid-1970s, then studied fashion in London and returned to Nigeria to start a label, Supreme Stitches. But she made the majority of her fortune through oil.

Africa boasts 55 billionaires worth a staggering $143.88 billion in total, according to pan-African magazine Ventures Africa.