The Logic Behind the Phenomenon

Mike Jituboh

As Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., the Nigerian Oil and Telecommunications giant, turns 70 today, two of the many frequently asked questions that readily come to mind are: What makes him tick and how does one get to accomplish even as little as 1% of his financial achievements to date these days? The answers are not so simple but straightforward. Virtually all those who have been fortunate to work closely with Dr. Adenuga over the decades would readily agree, with regards to the first question, that the principal assets that stand him apart from other mortals are:

1) Seeing the big picture ahead before most people do

2) Focusing tenaciously on the big picture without  blinking

3) Extraordinary attention to detail

4) Superlative retentive memory and intellectual prowess

5) Audacity and Readiness to take risks

6) Ability to think outside the box.

7) Available speed in taking necessary decisions

8) Patience when required

9) Amazing stamina and tenacity

10) A wealth of experience and exposure to international best practices 

11. Access to credible and reliable sources of information 

12. Unmatched and unmatchable generosity…

The answer to the second question is that in addition to being diligent, one must be adequately equipped and prepared to work more than 24 hours in a day and also at break neck speed, in order to stand a chance of replicating his phenomenal achievements.

Over two decades ago, Dr Adenuga was already thriving in commodities, Real Estates, Banking, single-handedly owning two, Devcom Merchant Bank, for the business sector while  the Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) was more into retail banking. He was simultaneously entrenched in the oil and gas sector with his flagship company, Conoil Producing Limited holding pride of place, in offshore and onshore activities, as the foremost indigenous oil producing company in Nigeria. It is on record that he became the first indigenous explorer to discover oil in commercial quantity. This was achieved by navigating the roads less travelled. The risk was just too much but it separated the men from the boys.

Far from being contented with the big apple pie that he had beautifully baked in banking, and oil and gas, Adenuga had scanned the economic landscape in the horizon and foresaw the diamonds and gold mines that telecommunications would soon become. Despite the gigantic obstacles and landmines mounted against him, he never gave up. His far-sighted decision to take the seeming kamikaze plunge has since seen Globacom become the second

ranked mobile operator in the country, with over 56 million subscribers. His singular ability to lay submarine cables from Europe to West Africa remains such a daredevil investment by any significant organisation. 

This changed slow Internet into the speed of life.The journey from then to now has not been easy. It was right from inception fraught with steely roadblocks and mortal dangers that would have floored anyone without the type of patience, stamina and ruggedity to take risks that Adenuga is substantially imbued with.

The first major problem was that the mobile telecom licenses of Adenuga’s Communications Investment Limited (CIL) and over fifty other entities were cancelled overnight by the Federal government which went on to announce a stringent bidding process under which only four licenses were to be issued out. The process called for interested bidders to each deposit $20 million which would be forfeited if the bidder could not come up with it or  decides not to pay the balance of the bidder’s winning bid.

While some of those whose licenses were cancelled decided to challenge the decision in court, Dr. Adenuga immediately turned his attention to the requirements of the new bidding procedure and promptly made the $20 million deposit. Subsequently internal and external experts were commissioned to prepare and present a detailed business plan that sought to establish the bid level at which it would be advisable to walk away rather than pay a higher price that would make the investment a loss-making proposition from the onset. The experts determined that the cut-off mark for the bidding team should be $200 million.

A traditional bidding process was adopted by the organizers of the bid, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), with the reserve price set at $100 million. The five contenders, including CIL, were sequestered in separate rooms at the Hilton hotel in Abuja and contact between contending parties or the outside world was forbidden. NCC would continually inch up the bidding prize until only one contender was left standing; at which point the second to the last agreed price would be offered to all those still left in the race.

Dr. Adenuga had entrusted a carefully selected team with the task of bidding on behalf of CIL. As the team got ready to leave for Abuja it got a call from Adenuga whose terse and very clear directive made it impossible for CIL not to be amongst the winners of the four licenses being auctioned. No matter how high the bidding price went, the team was not to stop until CIL ended up as one of the winners. CIL was in effect to give the last word on the pricing level of the GSM license.

Dr. Adenuga’s directive made the job of the CIL team to be much easier than it would have ordinarily been.

Without the directive and with bidders not allowed to contact their principals during the bidding process, it would have been extremely tough for the CIL team to use its own initiative stay or back out of the bid, after the breakeven point of $200 million was crossed. All the team now had to do, and did, was to relax, enjoy the delicious sandwiches and drinks that were continually supplied the bidding team and approve whatever the staggering price the bidding process threw up. The Chairman of Chairmen had the financial muscles and never-say-spirit to match and surpass any other bidder. It is not for fun that his main moniker is The Bull. 

The televised bidding process began on January 17, 2001 with five companies jostling for the fourbavailable licenses. After several rounds, one of the bidders dropped out but the remaining bidders had no way Of knowing this. Thus, the price kept going up until CIL became the proverbial last man standing after accepting the offered price of $300 million. Since the other remaining three contenders had surrendered following the preceding price of $285 million, the latter was set as the final price and offered to CIL and the other three remaining bidders.

With the successful battle for one of the GSM licenses over, attention swiftly turned to planning for the balance of $265 million to be paid before the payment deadline, which was only a few weeks away.

Dr. Adenuga had no difficulty in getting the amount ready but a few hours before the money was to be transferred to the designated government account, word came in from Abuja that the frequency allocated to CIL was under litigation. The specter of a complex, drawn-out court process during which CIL could be denied usage of the frequency suddenly loomed, and a go or

no-go decision had to be taken. With the clock ticking towards the deadline, the decision taken by Adenuga was to go but with a condition attached to the payment, to the effect that the receiving bank was not to release the funds to the government until the latter provided CIL with an Indemnity Letter. The requested letter was to protect the company from losing the funds if the litigants succeeded in keeping their frequencies.

The payment was thus made before the deadline, but the government refused to give the Indemnity Letter and ultimately cancelled the award and seized the $20 million deposit.

Faced with this excruciating development, Dr. Adenuga’s extraordinary ability to take on and surmount any intractable challenge came into play. Under his guidance, CIL began a protracted battle to not only get back the GSM license but the Indemnity Letter as well. Over one year down the road, neither objective had been attained and the prospect of achieving them looked very bleak and impossible. Despite this  sad and unfortunate hurdle, Dr. Adenuga continued to pay the salaries of the CIL staff of Network engineers, sales and customer care.

It would take another one year before his stupendous faith moved mountains and both objectives were achieved at a time most people would have given up. Under the new name of Globacom, Dr. Adenuga once again bidded for and won the national carrier license and since the license came along with the same litigious frequency, the NCC this time did not hesitate to give the indemnity letter!

With the license finally and firmly obtained, full attention was turned to making up for lost time. The other three telecommunications companies were two years ahead in not only providing telecoms services but in garnering the most lucrative segments and entities of the telecoms market: the business entities and the high net worth individuals. The biggest hurdle for Globacom was however not the difficulty of catching up but the threat of sudden death.

As may be expected, the other telecoms companies were not in a welcoming mood for what they derisively considered a brash novice that should not have ventured into the business in the first place. The ploy they came up with for stopping Glo dead in its track was snobbishly simple. They did everything they could to

frustrate interconnections between Glo and their networks with the result that as a Glo subscriber you could only get in touch with other Glo subscribers; the number of which was unsustainably small at the start.

During several meetings that ran into the nights, Dr. Adenuga listened to suggested solutions that all centered around getting NCC to force the networks to interconnect with Glo, as required by law.

At the end of these crises, Glo came up with a five-stage action-plan that ultimately worked to save the palpably determined company as well as catapult it to its current number two position. The first was to crash the price of sim cards, bringing it to almost zero. The second was the fateful decision to introduce per second billing, a masterstroke that broke the camel’s back and the ultimate game changer. It was a most patriotic act that rescued telephone users from the excessive gains being made at the expense of Nigerians. The third was a well deliberated plan to be the first to market new products and innovations such as Blackberry and 4G network. 

The fourth action plan was to procure the Glo Submarine cable, GLO1 which has been pivotal in propelling Glo to its current enviable position of being the Grand Master of Data, an extremely intricate and expensive investment, which broke the monopoly of the only epileptic one in existence, owned by NITEL. It entailed laying submarine cables under the belly of the ocean from Europe to West Africa. This was technology at its highest. The fifth was to flood the traditional and social media with Glo news and top-notch advertisements, which millions of Nigerians have come to see as being home grown. Many young and old Nigerian artists and entertainers became wealthy as Glo Ambassadors. Same as the footballers. They also enjoyed massive promotions and exposure on television platforms, including CNN.

Adenuga’s impending attainment of the ripe age of 70 years may give a false sense of hope to all the anxious competitors of Glo looking forward to his retirement; an expectation, perhaps, that he may finally decide to slow down and

spend most of his time in Acapulcoor or on some other exotic resorts. Unfortunately for the

competitors, three major factors stand in the way of their wishful anticipation. The first is that rather

than wane in strength and vision, Adenuga’s phenomenal stamina continues to wax stronger as a result of his uncommon passion. Secondly, his determination to make Glo the first, the best and the most attractive

telecommunications company in Africa and ultimately the world remains resolute and unshaken. The third is that he has groomed those who share in his vision and mission. The forth and possibly the most important factor is that Adenuga’s heart is totally for Nigeria, his fatherland; where he has patriotically invested and continues to invest despite deliberate attempts by competitors to underrate and undervalue his humongous resources. On behalf of his countless admirers globally, and those of us who work for him, in one capacity or the other, day and night, we wish Dr Mike Adenuga Jr. a most resounding birthday celebration and many more years in excellent health, happiness and prosperity, as well as continued ascendancy on the list of the most successful and wealthiest business icons of this century.

70 happy cheers to The Spirit of Africa…