There are several billionaires in our world today and sadly, out of the 2,153, according to Forbes, only 13 of them are Blacks representing 1% of the total sum.
Surprisingly, only three of them are Black women. Women are building more wealth but a racial gap still persists. Across the various sectors, Black women are excelling but it seems breaking into the billionaires league is a lot of challenges. In spite of the grim reality, black women continue to strive and succeed despite the odds the light shines on the only three black women billionaires in the world:
Oprah Winfrey: Born to a teen mother in rural Mississippi, 65-year-old Opray Winfrey overcame a tough childhood to become a self-made billionaire with a net worth of $2.7 billion USD. When Oprah was in her 20s she had a job as a news anchor, but, she was fired for being too emotional about the stories she was reporting. Eventually, she created one of the most popular talk-shows known today as The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986. Oprah Winfrey has transitioned her hit talk show, which ran for 25 years, into a media and business empire. Winfrey parlayed her role as a news anchor into a 25-year talk show gig. Reinvested, the profits from her show add up to an estimated $2 billion, according to Forbes. In 2011, Winfrey launched cable channel OWN. Her 25.5% of the network is worth about $75 million. The ‘Oprah effect’ has spread to Weight Watchers: she bought a 10% stake in 2015 (since lowered to 8%) and acts as a brand ambassador. In June 2018, she signed a deal with Apple’s streaming service to create original content that will include a book club, documentaries and TV series.
Isabel Dos Santos: Isabel dos Santos is a 46-year-old Angolan billionaire businesswoman and Africa’s richest woman with a net worth of $2.2 billion. Nicknamed “The Princess” in Angola, she is the oldest daughter of Angola’s longtime former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country from 1979 to 2017. Her father made her head of Sonangol, Angola’s state oil firm, in June 2016, but Angola’s new president removed her from that role in November 2017. Forbes research found that while Isabel’s father was president, she ended up with stakes in Angolan companies including banks and a telecom firm. According to Forbes, Isabel “is an independent businesswoman and a private investor representing solely her own interests.” She owns shares of Portuguese companies, including telecom and cable TV firm Nos SGPS and has major stakes in several Angola-based and Portugual-based companies.
Folorunsho Alakija: Folorunsho Alakija, 68, is a Nigerian self-made billionaire businesswoman with a net worth of $1 billion. Alakija started her career in 1974 as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises, Lagos, Nigeria for some years before establishing a tailoring company called Supreme Stitches. She is the founder of The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions and the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited, a Nigerian oil exploration company with a stake in Agbami Oilfield, a prolific offshore asset. She started with the fashion business with the prominent customer such as the wife of former Nigerian president Ibrahim Babangida. Alakija’s company was awarded an oil prospecting license in 1993 by the Nigerian government, which was later converted to an oil mining lease. Her Famfa Oil’s partners include Chevron and Petrobras and she is also into the real estate and printing industries.