Mike Adenuga, The Enigma @71

<em><strong>Dr Mike Adenuga</strong></em>

BY IKPONMWOSA NAPS

Dr Mike Adenuga, Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Africa’s business icon, the Great Guru, and Unrivalled Philanthropist is 71. Quiet and reserved but his accomplishments are legendary.

He started quite early and after his secondary education at Ibadan Grammar School, Oyo State, he left for the United States of America where he obtained his first and second degrees.

Upon his return from the US, Adenuga worked in his parents’ business where he showed his business ingenuity by transforming the companies before moving into full-time entrepreneurship.

He diversified into commodity brokerage and merchandising. He formed his Worldspan Holdings which traded in petroleum products, fuel oil, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and motor spirits. He later moved into real estate and also into industrialization.

Next was banking banking, where he founded Devcom Bank and Equatorial Trust Bank which were run with utmost efficiency. He then moved to the oil sector with the establishment of Consolidated Oil, which specialized in crude oil drilling, and refining while the downstream company handled marketing. He believed very much in his conviction hence his movement into oil drilling with the firm hope of triumphing. Eventually, it became a success story as Conoil became the first Nigerian company to strike oil and produce it in commercial quantity.

He later bought over the National Oil and Marketing Company, NOLCHEM, and successfully transformed it to a top oil marketing company in Nigeria.

Ever moving forward, Adenuga invested in the telecommunications sector, his Communications Investment Company, (CIL)’s attempt to get a GSM licence was not successful at the first attempt. He remains undaunted and applies again. In 2002, the government through the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, organised a new auction for the GSM licence, CIL participated and was one of the four that won the bid.

He later went on to bid for the Second National Operator (SNO) license and this time, he was lucky. He won the bid in August 2002 and Globacom was granted the licence to operate as a national carrier, operate digital mobile lines, serve as an international gateway for telecommunications in the country, and operate fixed wireless access phones.

He prepared well and got a well-rounded team to midwife the company. It was, therefore, a total shock in Nigeria when he announced that Globacom would launch with Per Second Billing (PSB), which other companies that have been operating before him said is impossible. But the Guru went on to prove sceptics wrong. Globacom not only launched PSB, it went on to crash SIM costs from N25,000 to N200 and call charges from N50 to as low as N10 per minute.

An accomplished businessman, his philanthropy is legendary. He has empowered many Nigerians and has supported the nation in many sectors as well. During the Covid pandemic, he supported the Federal Government with N1.5 billion. He doled out $1million to the Super Eagles after winning the Nations Cup. Also N500m was donated to Bayelsa State when the flood ravaged the state, and many others. Also in Sports, he is believed to have spent over 25 billion to sponsor the league and national teams..

It can be said without doubt that Dr Adenuga has done well and deserves to be celebrated.

We, therefore, celebrate this worthy son of Africa at 71, we thank him for positively affecting the lives of Nigerians and also investing massively in the country, thus contributing positively to the growth of the nation’s economy.

Naps is an online journalist.