University education was not my destiny: Says Africa's Richest Woman, Folorunsho Alakija ~ Gistwood

University education was not my destiny: Says Africa's Richest Woman, Folorunsho Alakija

Nigerian businesswoman who is the richest African woman and also the richest woman of black woman in the world, Folorunsho Alakija, while at the Excellence in Leadership program, on Thursday, said going to the university was not her destiny as she was able to achieve her dreams without a degree, The Cable reports.

She motivated the audience by saying that she never allowed a lack of university education to suppress her dreams and ambition. “If I had the opportunity of going to the university, maybe I would have come out with a second class upper or lower but that didn’t happen; that wasn’t to be my destiny,” she said.

“I would have loved to go to the university as we all know that university education is good but some of us who have not gone, it is not the end of the world," she added. Alakija said she was able to attain her present position because she was determined and ready to pay the price that came with all the challenges she’s had to surmount.

Alakija said she her person has been subjected to series of misconceptions due to the ignorance of people who don’t know her story. The oil magnate noted that she is a product of hard work, sweat, tears, and tenacity, stressing that she’s not an overnight success.

She said: “A lot of things have been said about me, some say I sold my way to the top; I remember that the headline of one of the national dailies in the country once said ‘Hairdresser given an oil block’. So I even became a hairdresser, one of the many names I was given.”

She encouraged participants at the conference to believe in themselves as it would be easier for others to believe in such people; she added that she believed in herself while moving from fashion designing to an unfamiliar terrain.