Folashade Nimota Okoya (born 25 April 1977) is a Nigerian Industrialist and Business Woman

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

commentator and the MD/CEO of Eleganza Group, a leading conglomerate in the manufacturing industry in Nigeria founded by her husband, the

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

industrialist and Aare of Lagos, Chief

Razaq Okoya Chief Razak Akanni Okoya (born in Lagos on 12 January 1940) is a billionaire industrialist and the Aare of Lagos. He is the owner and founder of Eleganza group of companies, which has a market spanning Western Africa. Early life Razak Okoya is ...

Early life and education

Folashade was born on 25 April 1977 to the family of Alhaji Tajudeen Adeleye and Alhaja Nimota Adeleye in

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

. She is a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and hails from

Ijebu Ode Ijebu-Ode is a town in Ogun State, South Western geopolitical zone in Nigeria, close to the A121 highway. The city is located 110 km by road north-east of Lagos; it is within of the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern part of Ogun State and p ...

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. Ogun State borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo State and Osun State to the north, Ondo State to the east, and the Republic of Benin to the ...

. Folashade is an alumnus of

Lagos State Polytechnic Lagos State University of Science and Technology is a government-owned tertiary institution located in Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria. The institution was formerly known as Lagos State College of Science and Technology (LACOSTECH) and later ...

, where she obtained her National Diploma certificate in Banking and Finance before obtaining a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

from the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

Personal life

Folashade married

at the age of 21, at the time when her husband was 59 years old. The couple resides in

Lagos, Nigeria Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

with their four children, Olamide, Subomi, Oyinlola and Wahab.

Charities and philanthropic interests

Folashade is the sponsor of the Folashade Okoya Kids Cup, which held its maiden edition in December 2014 in partnership with the Lagos State Grassroots Soccer Association to celebrate kids at

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

. She also sponsors 10 students yearly into Higher Institutions via a scholarship scheme and organizes yearly pilgrimage for Muslims to visit the holy land.

Awards and recognition

On 23 August 2014, the European American University awarded Folashade an Honorary Doctorate degree in Business Management and Corporate Leadership. On 11 December 2014, Folashade was awarded the Business Executive of the Year 2014 by the International Centre for Corporate Leadership for African and Blacks in Diaspora. She also won the Inspiring Executive Woman of the Year Award in July, 2018.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okoya, Shade 1977 births Living people Businesspeople from Lagos 21st-century Nigerian businesswomen 21st-century Nigerian businesspeople Nigerian fashion businesspeople Nigerian billionaires Nigerian philanthropists Founders of charities