Folorunsho Alakija
When asked if her passion for women and girls empowernemnt was fuelled by the fact that she don’t have a girl child, she said:
“No. The passion I have about women comes first from the fact that God has called me to help widows and orphan children. The other area is because of my entrepreneurial mentality. I realised that the world could be a better place to live in if everybody has money. I was born into a family of entrepreneurs. Right from a tender age, I have been seeing how people trade and are making money.
“How can the world leave out over 50 per cent of its population – women – in the scheme of things? When all hands are on deck, then we can achieve our goals. That is the idea of my philanthropic activities. I would love to see a better world where women are being given the opportunity to make the world a better place.”
When asked if she would decided today to become Nigeria’s first female President, she said:
“God has not called me to politics. I know that I am not the only one around. There are those who would be interested in that area. For now, it is not my calling. I would certainly not object to people with such aspirations. In whatever way I can support, I would but if it is something that would bring me into the limelight, I would take a step back.”
When asked if she has met the current richest african woman, Isabel do Santos, who just dethroned her, she said: “Yes, I met her at a conference in South Africa about five years ago. I went up to her to introduce myself. Unfortunately, she did not have her complimentary card on her at the time. I have not seen her since then.”
When asked what she would you consider her biggest regret, she said: “I would have said I would have loved to have a female child. But I can’t say that now because God has been merciful. We have two female grandchildren already. They made up for it.”
When asked of the biggest decision she ever made, she said: “Giving my life to Christ. At the time I did, I wondered what took me so long and why I did not know him before that. That was 27 years ago. I give him all the glory.”
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