Mrs Folorunso Alakija, the billionaire oil tycoon is the world's richest black woman. She is a fashion designer and philanthropist with the desire to help the needy. She is the founder of Rose of Sharon Foundation, a Christian-based charity foundation which gives grants to widows and orphans. In this interview with Adaeze Amos, this wife, mother of four children and a grandmother advises widows to cry out and not die in silence.
What exactly makes you tick?
Many have asked how I got to where I am, many have wondered what makes me tick, just as you asked me and from where I draw my strength. Though many have claimed that I have become their role model, I assign all the glory to God because it's He that makes me tick.
You had a stint with Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria; tell us about your tenure?
I was once the National President and lifelong trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN). I left an indelible mark, promoting Nigerian culture through fashion and style.
Apart from fashion, I have forayed into other businesses. They include, of course, the Rose of Sharon Prints and Promotions, Rose of Sharon Group, Dayspring Property Development Company Limited and I'm the Executive Vice Chairman of my family's oil exploration and production business and then, of course, the Rose of Sharon Foundation which empowers widows and orphans to be successful through educational programmes and scholarships.
(http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/adeneye.jpg) (http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/adeneye.jpg) Folorunso Alakija
You have come across many people in the course of running your businesses. What is that abnormality in people that puts you off?
It is their inability to help those that are suffering such as the widows and orphans. To me, I believe that the time has come for people to wake up and see what is happening around. I believe it is time for the world to wake up to things that are affecting our fellow human beings and see how we can stretch out our hands and help them and not be self-centred and only show concern with things that concern our families. Rendering help to widows and putting smiles on their faces and empowering the orphans are the major things that Rose of Sharon Foundation is concerned with. This is because it is a foundation that is based on God, a foundation that is out to put smiles on widows' faces. It is not by just shaking their hands or smiling with them. No! That is not only what God said we should do. God is saying that He has heard their cry and he is sending you to them to go and do what you can do to remove tears from their eyes and help lead them out of their troubled waters.
In what ways has your foundation been offering help to the needy?
Well, Rose of Sharon Foundation has empowered 970 widows, 11 of who are actually in the university. The foundation has awarded scholarships to 1,350 of their children and the scholarships given have no conditions attached. There is also free health and medical check-up for our widows.
Do you do these alone?
Oh no! The foundation has women of timber and calibre who also make it a point of duty to put smiles on the faces of widows and orphans. They work with me. They are always supportive and have intense passion for this vision. That is why each time they are called upon, they leave their jobs and respective careers to answer the call.
You have been the author of some books, what are they?
They are University of Marriage; Alone with God; Growing with the hand that gives the rose and there is the recent one that would be launched next month, on June 1, which, of course, is titled The Cry of Widows and Orphans.
Could you tell us about The Cry of Widows and Orphans
The interesting thing about the book is that it does not talk about Nigerian widows alone or African widows only. It talked about widows all over the world and how to empower them. The book is like a wake-up call to all the widows all over the world. Remember wherever there are human beings, husbands die, parents die, and when they die, they leave behind widows and orphans. Who would cater for them? If we all are busy and ignore them, what is going to happen to them? Who is now going to take care of them?
If we fail to do something, it comes back to the society. I mean the same society we all levy. But the fact remains that widows go through a lot of trauma and that is what the book is all about. The plights of widows, the rigours they are subjected to in the name of traditions and cultures. Some of them are mandated to drink water that was used to bathe the corpse of their husbands. If a man dies suddenly without much sickness his widow is suspected to be the culprit. Then she is mandated to drink water used to bathe the corpse to prove her innocence. This is unfair, drinking such alone is a curse and it is written in the Bible.
What is your advice to widows?
I urge them to cry out, stop being silent. Tell others your plight. Don't be quiet! Also remember to keep yourselves spotless. Don't let the world brainwash you into doing what is ungodly. Same goes to orphans. I say this because if you are not careful, you would be polluted by the kingdom of darkness. Look at what is going on all over the world now about gay marriage. Satan is trying to use this gay marriage to make our children believe it is right, that there is nothing wrong about it, whereas it is an abomination!
National Mirror