Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, a Nigerian billionaire oil tycoon, Fashion designer and philanthropist is now the richest black woman in the word, according to report published by Ventures Africa, an African business magazine and news services.

Alakija, 61, is worth at least $3.3 billion- contrary to a recent Forbes Magazine ranking which pegs her net worth at only $600 million. She is $500 million richer than media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, whose wealth estimated at $2.7 billion in September.

Folorunsho Alakija is the founder and owner of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian oil company which owns a 60 percent working interest in OML 127 that produces about 200,000 barrels a day.

Alakija, was born into a wealthy, polygamous Nigerian family. She started out her professional career in the mid 70s as a secretary at the now defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria, one of the country's earliest investment banks.

In the early 80s, Alakija quit her job and went on to study Fashion design in England, returning to Nigeria shortly afterwards to start Supreme Stitches, a premium Nigerian fashion label which catered exclusively to upscale clientele. The business thrived, and Alakija quickly made a tidy fortune selling high-end Nigerian clothing to fashionable wives of military bigwigs and society women.

Oil Prospecting License

In May 1993, Alakija applied for an allocation of an Oil Prospecting License (OPL). The license to explore for oil on a 617,000 acre block - (now referred to as OPL 216) was granted to Alakija's company, Famfa Limited.