Business mogul and socialite, Hajia Muinat Bola Shagaya can best be described as Nigeria’s number one female wheeler dealer. She has mastered the art of commercial and political scheming as she has always found herself rubbing shoulders with the decision makers at the top. Shagaya’s story is proof that indeed, anything can be achieved, even from nothing.
She rose from a humble background to becoming a business tycoon who has turned into a force to be reckoned with among the Nigeria’s Glitterati and business circle. With investments across photography, real estate, oil and gas, and the banking industry, the 63-year-old businesswoman is considered to be one of Africa’s richest women.
Those who know intimately this Ilorin, Kwara State-born billionaire businesswoman, they are swift to describe her as a very serious-minded, focused and hardworking woman but with love for top range fashion and high profile parties.
The enchanting woman of means is unarguably a good social networker, full of generosity. As a crown jewel in the swelling ranks of African women who have demystified the stereotyped notion that the place of the woman is in the kitchen, the amazon is also a staunch Muslim and a lover of her people in the Ilorin Emirate. It came as no surprise to many when on Sunday December 25, the Emir of Ilorin and Chairman Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari announced the appointment of Shagaya as the first Sarauniya of Ilorin Emirate. The monarch made the announcement at the 57th Annual National Conference of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) held in Ilorin where Shagaya joined scores of Ilorin luminaries to raise funds —she donated N10 million— for the construction of multi-billion naira ICT Centre, a project of the IEDPU.