Mike Adenuga :Celebrating Boardroom Maestro at 70

Tribute

Festus Akanbi, in this tribute to Nigeria’s foremost philanthropist and chairman of Globacom, Otunba Mike Adenuga, who hit the age of 70 years on yesterday, says the billionaire entrepreneur has paid his dues as a shrewd businessman, whose impacts reverberate beyond the confine of the boardroom 

Throughout last week, the Nigerian print media was awash with tributes in honour of the foremost entrepreneur, serial investor, audacious administrator, and boardroom maestro Otunba Mike Adenuga, who marked his 70th birthday on Friday, April 29. 

For Adenuga, whose business interests span sectors like oil and gas, telecoms, aviation, construction, banking, and real estate, it is a celebration of success and optimism in business, uncommon management skills, and philanthropy.

To others, the billionaire businessman represents the triumph of indigenous entrepreneurship having demonstrated the capacity to match and sometimes surpass foreign competitors in business management. Each of his businesses in these sectors plays preeminent roles, helping to set the pace and contributing to the growth of the Nigerian economy.

A man who does not allow excuses to stop him from his goal, Adenuga is committed to all the businesses he has an interest. As the chairman of Conoil, he holds a majority (74.4 per cent) stake in the oil marketing business. And apart from his status as one of the largest shareholders in Nigeria’s leading commercial bank, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Adenuga, Africa’s sixth richest man and Nigeria’s third by Forbes rating, owns 25 per cent of Sterling Bank’s outstanding shares equivalent to 7.2 billion units, held through Silverware Investments Limited.

 He holds 25.1 per cent (401,834,494) ordinary shares of construction giant, Julius Berger. The shares were acquired through Goldstones Estates Limited. Apart from being the single largest majority shareholder in the company, his daughter Belinda Ajoke Disu is also on the company’s board of directors as a non-executive director and was in 2012 awarded the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) by the federal government.

Adenuga’s entrepreneurial skills did not start with Globacom. He began to etch his name in the consciousness of Nigerians in 1990 when he responded to the challenge of the then-military administration to open the nation’s oil industry to indigenous operators to participate in a discretionary oil licence bid round. The exercise produced 11 Nigerian businessmen, including Adenuga with oil licences.

One year after the licence round, Mike Adenuga’s Consolidated Oil (now known as Conoil) was first among the 11 to hit oil and in commercial quantities. Conoil quickly validated the Federal Government’s thinking that Nigerians could play big in the oil and gas industry if given the opportunity.

For many reasons, Adenuga’s stake in Conoil Plc has witnessed a surge in the market value in the first four months of the year as the company’s impressive financial performance sent its shares flying on the Nigerian Exchange. Conoil is a leading petroleum marketing firm that offers a range of products, including diesel, kerosene, low-pour fuel, aviation fuel, and gasoline. The company also produces and markets lubricants under the “Quatro” brand name.

Midas Touch

Being a man with a Midas touch, Adenuga, a majority shareholder in the construction giant, Julius Berger, has brought his foresightedness, business acumen, and his audacity on investment issues to bear at the construction firm. For instance,  the company has successfully completed its first-ever N30 billion ($65.3 million) commercial paper issuance (CP issuance) in Nigeria’s fixed-income market.  

According to the report, the company, partly owned by Adenuga, is now expanding into the cashew processing industry, a move aimed at diversifying its operations.

The Adenuga-linked company has achieved a significant milestone with the successful issuance of its commercial papers, which offered a 182-day Series-1 issuance with a 14-percent yield and a 267-day Series-2 issuance priced at a 15 per cent yield.

Financial analysts said the issuance solidifies its position in the Nigerian construction industry and highlights the organisation’s financial strength and stability.

Additionally, the proceeds from the CP issuance will be utilised to bolster the company’s short-term working capital and funding necessities, thereby cementing its competitive edge in the construction industry.

Interestingly, his busy schedules and pressure to meet deadlines have not stopped the foremost philanthropist from attending to the needs of different categories of Nigerians. For instance, every year, the Mike Adenuga Foundation awards nearly $20.5 million in scholarships and aid to help students. Annually, they award undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. scholarships for female students offered in Africa, the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Indonesia, and India.

Under his watch, his flagship company, Globacom was able to launch a payment service bank unit, MoneyMaster PSB, to foster financial inclusion. The telecommunication firm said the launch aimed to empower Nigerians by providing them with unlimited opportunities.

MoneyMaster was granted a payment service bank licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2020. Globacom said the PSB is expected to facilitate payment and remittance services within Nigeria, accept deposits from individuals and small businesses as well as issue debit and prepaid cards. The company added that MoneyMaster would also operate electronic wallets, and inbound remittances and carry out other services in line with CBN regulations. 

To show for his uncommon leadership, Globacom was announced as the Most Popular Brand in the country for the year 2022. This announcement was made at the public presentation of the 2022 brand evaluation by Top 50 Brands Nigeria.

Businessman with Heart of Gold 

Adenuga has a heart of gold and has impacted the lives of many people in positive ways. Stories of his kindheartedness are all over the media. He is rarely seen in public. He doesn’t dabble in politics, even his act of philanthropy is devoid of fanfare. However, beneficiaries of his kind gesture said Adenuga’s name is written in gold in their hearts.

Investing in Sport

Adenuga’s love for sports was underscored by the unveiling of the current African, Commonwealth, and World 100m hurdles Champion, Tobi Amusan, as Globacom’s latest Brand Ambassador. The company explained that its decision to make Amusan its ambassador was not just to reward her for her sterling accomplishments, but also to promote the growth of sports in Nigeria and encourage the country’s teeming youths to aspire toward realising their dreams by looking up to the new ambassador as a mentor.

This trend manifests in the frequency of mouthwatering bonanzas which Globacom regularly dishes out to its subscribers.  Such bonanza as Glo Always on tariff; Glo Berekete ++ tariff; Glo Bumpa tariff; Glo 22X tariff; Glo G-BAM; Glo Infinito; Glo Bounce tariff; Glo Jolof tariff; Glo Talk Special tariff; Glo Jumbo tariff; Glo Yakata tariff plan among other enticing tariffs just for the customers’ enjoyment.

To enhance its operations, Adenuga’s Globacom launched the Glo 1 submarine cable, a 9,800km cable stretching from the UK across West Africa with landing points in Nigeria, London, and Lisbon, and connecting different countries to the rest of the world in 2010. It was launched to provide tonnes of terabytes of data per second to West Africa and many European cities.

In entertainment, it has also provided massive platforms for Nigerian and African entertainers to ply their trade through direct sponsorship of concerts such as Glo Campus Storm, Glo Rock ‘n’ Rule’; Glo Slide ‘n’ Bounce; Glo Laffta Fest; Glo Mega Music Nationwide Tour, Dance with Peter, Glo X-Factor, Glo Naija Sings and the popular sit-com, Professor Johnbull. The Glo Battle of the Year Nigeria is the world’s biggest dance reality television show brought to Nigeria by Globacom.

From every indication sports rank very high on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and investments of Globacom, including the full sponsorship of the CAF African Footballer of the Year awards. As a company ready to support excellence, Adenuga’s Globacom signed a sponsorship agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation thus becoming the official telecommunications partner and major sponsor of Nigerian national teams. Alongside this, it sponsors the Supporters’ Club in any part of the world where any of Nigeria’s national teams is competing.

Background

 Born into the family of Oloye Michael Adenuga (Snr) and Omoba Juliana (née Onashile, of Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State), Mike Adenuga was raised in humble but dignified circumstances. His father was a teacher, while his mother was a businesswoman from a royal lineage. 

He attended Ibadan Grammar School in Oyo State. He got his Higher School Certificate from the Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro, Ogun State. He proceeded to Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and Pace University, both in the US, to bag degrees in Business Administration.