If you’re a follower of prominent entrepreneurs in Africa, it’ll be hard to miss the name of Folorunsho Alakija. She’s the second richest woman in Africa and ranked #1941, in the world’s billionaire rankings in 2022. Considering the number of billionaires worldwide, that’s an impressive feat.
As we all know, with great wealth comes better luxury and expenses – and she’s no alien to that. Although a lot of billionaires including Mrs. Alakija try her distract the public from her material belongings, some of the properties of these people just can’t be hidden even from a blind man.
Folorunsho Alakija’s House in Lagos
Among some of her mind-blowing properties is her home in Lagos, rumored to be worth around 700 million nairas – which we’ll discuss in this article.
While the rumored price of the mansion has been around before 2018 (the expected year of completion), experts say inflation may have taken the price to rise to at least 950 million nairas – that’ll put it in the top 10 most expensive mansions in Africa.
Location
The house is located in Ikoyi, Lagos state – although not her current residence, we can very well confirm that she’s the owner of the mansion that’s under construction by top German construction company Julius Berger.
Owning houses in Ikoyi is without question reserved for the elite individuals in the country. More so, the price of an average house in Ikoyi sits north of 300 million nairas – as land spaces in this area is very limited and at an extreme premium.
Overview of Mrs. Folurunsho Alakija’s House in Lagos
Construction of this architectural edifice started in 2014 and was awarded to Julius Berger, a multi-national German construction company. While completion of the building was expected in 2018, it was delayed for reasons undisclosed to the press. Thus, some parts of the home are still under construction making it difficult to talk about the exact specs that should be expected after completion.
In terms of pricing, we can argue that Mrs. Alakija gave an open budget considering that construction has gone past half a decade, absorbing the added costs that come with inflation. Whatever the end cost may be, there’s no doubt that this home will be among the top 10 most expensive mansions in Nigeria.
Possible Specs of Mrs. Folurunsho Alakija’s House in Lagos
While it’s expected that billionaires own grand mansions with a plethora of rooms that they may not use, the story seems to bend a little in the case of the female billionaire. She seems to be pioneering something – making a new standard of how mansions of billionaires should look.
Based on the photos of how the complete plan should look like, we expect a lot of glass finishing, which some rumors suggest will be bulletproof, a massive lawn, driveway, a mini recreational/relaxation spot with a swimming pool, and other fancy and luxurious things you’d expect to see in a mansion.
Meanwhile, the eye-catching feature of this mansion is its low fences. Although fences of this type is common in developed nations, it’s not every day you’ll a luxurious mansion having a gate that’s lower than 7 feet. At any rate, the building currently doesn’t have a date of final completion. If the construction project does get to be completed, this article will be duly updated.
Mrs. Folurunsho Alakija’s Career
After completion of her secretarial studies at Pitman’s Central College, London, she came back to Lagos, Nigeria in 1974, and was appointed the role of an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprise. She later served as the Executive Secretary to the managing director of First National Bank of Chicago, which was later renamed Finbank Plc. in 2006 – now owned by First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
From there, she took on roles like Head of Corporate Affairs Department, and Office Assistant to the Treasury Department in the same bank, even though at some point it was renamed to International Merchant Bank of Nigeria. Her career in the banking sector lasted for 12 years before she decided to explore new heights pursuing her passion to become a fashion designer.
She then moved to study fashion at the American College in London and the Central School of Fashion. On returning to Nigeria, she opened Supreme Stitches – her first fashion label, which was later renamed The Rose of Sharon House of Fashion in 1996.
As expected, she excelled in this craft and it didn’t take long for The Rose of Sharon House of Fashion to become a household name in the fashion industry in Africa. Her highest accomplishment was being appointed the National President and Lifelong Trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) – her exploits in the fashion industry are immortalized to this day.
The final and current stage of her career exploits is getting into the oil industry. She applied for an oil prospecting license in May 1993, allowing her to explore a 617,000-acre block of land. She proceeded with her dealing by working with Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited (a subsidiary of Texaco), giving Star Deep 40% of the entire stake.
There were a lot of controversies concerning the profit split with the government – a situation which was later won by Mrs. Alakija in court. Her entire career to this day serves as a beacon of hope to many entrepreneurs.