“Not having a university degree did not deter me from achieving my dream” - Folorunsho Alakija

According to report Alakija who is one of the richest women in Africa said this at the Excellence in Leadership program, an annual event organised by Daystar Christian Centre in Lagos on Thursday, November 3.

Folorunsho Alakija has said that it was not in her destiny to have a university degree which was why she was able to achieve what she has.

She said the fact that she did not have a university degree did not deter her from achieving her dream.

“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.

“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.” Alakija noted that determination was the key in her desire to succeed.

“Having put my foot in the door, I decided I was not going to turn back.”

“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.”