Reni Folawiyo

Reni Folawiyo is a Nigerian lawyer, fashion entrepreneur and businesswoman. She's the founder of Alara, West Africa's first fashion luxury and lifestyle concept store which was designed by British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye. She owns NOK Garden and NOK by Alara to promote African cuisine.

Early life and education Folawiyo was born in London to late Chief Lateef Adegbite, former Attorney General of Western Nigeria and former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and raised in Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria. She is Yoruba.

She studied commercial law in the University of Warwick, United Kingdom and came back to Nigeria to start practising in her father's law firm

Career

Before founding Alara, Folawiyo practised law at her father's firm and simultaneously ran an interior design business producing custom furniture. During this period, she hosted salons for artists and designers at her home, building a network of creatives across the African continent over several decades.

In 2015, Folawiyo founded Alara on Victoria Island, Lagos, a luxury fashion and lifestyle concept store housed in a building designed by British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye. The store stocks global designers and African designers including Maki Oh, Lisa Folawiyo, and Kenneth Ize alongside international names such as Stella McCartney, Dries Van Noten, and Valentino. The name Alara means "wondrous performer" in Yoruba.

In 2023, Folawiyo expanded Alara internationally with a pop-up store and experience at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, running from June to October 2023, and subsequently collaborated with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She is currently developing Alara World, an episodic global programming initiative to bring the Alara experience to international and diasporic communities.

Recognition

In 2019, Folawiyo was named one of Vanity Fair's best dressed people worldwide. In 2020, she was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Forbes Africa. She has been included in the Business of Fashion BoF 500, a list of the people shaping the global fashion industry.

Personal life She married Nigerian businessman Tunde Folawiyo in 1989 and they have two children, Faridah and Fuaad.