By Keem Abdul

It was the legendary Chinese philosopher, Confucius, who said, ‘He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.’

For Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr, GCON, the iconic Chairman of Globacom Nigeria Plc and one of Africa’s richest persons, who turns 72 on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, wealth has always been about far more than just money and how much of it one is able to accumulate or consume. What sets him apart lies neither in the stupendous wealth he has amassed, nor the sprawling business empire he has built. The truest essence of his celebrated affluence is engraved in the momentous revolutions he has ignited across the worlds of business, society, and the welfare of his fellow humans. His wealth is more about the transformations he has wrought in lives transformed and livelihoods boosted; in paradigms created, recreated or discarded; and in narratives re-written (to always make for happy endings).

As he marks another milestone on his remarkable life-journey, the world he inhabits – as well as the worlds he has touched, impacted, or inspired whether intimately or from afar – will of necessity pause in reflection at the significance of this day, and then rise in salute of a man of rare substance, pedigree and class.

If he had his way, of course, the famously reclusive Dr. Adenuga would rather have such celebrations done without the pomp and pageantry that, in the eyes of others, should befit a titan among men such as he is. But reticence and the avoidance of fanfare has been his hallmark throughout his life: he has always preferred to give without applause or reward; to talk with quiet but unmistakable authority: to achieve great prosperity without the baggage of pomposity; and to command respect without having to demand it. Indeed, Adenuga’s way is that of someone who is seeking, not to be known, but simply to be worth knowing.

And if there’s anyone on this side of the cosmic divide worth knowing, it is Dr. Mike Adeniyi Ishola Adenuga. Throughout his career, he has been both known (and worth knowing) for a variety of outstanding things. Like the mythical personage in Ben Okri’s novel, The Famished Road, who lived various lifetimes and inhabited various universes (each existence marked by astounding accomplishments) Adenuga seems to have packed the achievements of many lifetimes into one, and all within the confines of this mortal plane.

A colossus whose admirers call ‘The Sphinx’ and ‘the Great Guru’, Adenuga is, in person, as elusive as a fleeting dream, and yet his presence – nay, his towering influence – resounds with the force of thunder in countless boardrooms, in communities both corporate and geopolitical, and in economies within and beyond the shores of Nigeria – a status he shoulders ever so lightly and with minimum fuss.

Not only is Dr. Adenuga worth knowing, but his story is worth telling (and retelling) from generation to generation, so that it goes down in the annals of our society and our country, and becomes lore. It is a story of single-minded determination, strategic brilliance, and the sort of humility and gratitude (in the face of amazing success and stupendous wealth) which John Ruskin was talking about when he wrote, “The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship between what he can do and what he cannot.”

Mike Adenuga’s rise from modest origins to global acclaim is more about a vision pursued with spartan discipline and almost monastic restraint, and less about the wealth acquired as a result of these attributes. He was born in Ibadan on April 29, 1953, into the family of Chief Mike Adenuga, Snr. and Madam Oyindamola Adenuga, a respected trader and community leader. He attended Ibadan Grammar School, before leaving the shores of Nigeria to pursue a degree in Business Administration at Northwestern State University in Oklahoma, USA. He followed it up with an MBA from Pace University, New York.

He first struck it rich in his mid-twenties, not through inherited fortune, but through the sale and distribution of soft drinks and lace, after a spell as a taxi driver and security guard in New York, USA, where he braved the icy streets of the Big Apple with equally icy determination. On his return to Nigeria, he eschewed the comfort of white-collar work, choosing instead the grit of his parents’ sawmill. There, he demonstrated an instinctive flair for transformation, as he saw to the installation of cutting-edge equipment, increased efficiency, and sowed the first seeds of the empire the world acclaims today.

In time, his business interests came to encompass a range of commodities and services, from timber to oil, from banking to telecommunications, and from aviation to real estate. It was a progression which, thanks to the work ethic he had honed back in the US, grew from strength to strength with the inevitability of sunrise. Guided not merely by profit but by the application of sound business principles, and driven by confidence in one’s purpose and the all-too-human desire for permanence, Adenuga’s business interests saw the establishment of firms over the years such as Worldspan Holdings, Devcom Bank, Equatorial Trust Bank (which later merged with Sterling Bank), Conoil Plc, Conoil Producing, Southern Airline and, eventually, Globacom.

One of his most audacious business ventures in those early days (the1980s, to be precise) was in the rather volatile world of oil. His foray into the business was a typically daring one, when he acquired oil blocs through his Consolidated Oil company in response to then military administration’s measures to break the monopoly of foreigners in the country’s oil industry. Adenuga refused to tow the usual path adopted by his peers – i.e. selling off the acquired oil blocs to foreign companies. Instead, he embarked on drilling, against the advice of those who told him that the oil business was the preserve of multinational oil companies, not for individual businessmen like him.

And that is how he became the owner of Nigeria’s first indigenous oil production company, Consolidated Oil (later to be known as Conoil), which, under his stewardship, rose to become one of Nigeria’s most profitable oil marketing firms. With one deft move, Adenuga, like Prometheus of ancient Greek myth, wrested the fire of oil-and-gas industry participation and equity from the gods of foreign monopoly and gifted it to his own people.

And yet it was not oil, that lynchpin of his entrepreneurial prowess, that made his name the stuff of legend it is today. It was telecommunications. Adenuga’s venture into this rarefied world was first marked by repeated setbacks; twice he won a GSM licence at auction during the Abacha military regime – and twice the licences were revoked; first, on the grounds that the exercise did not follow due process, and second, on the grounds that the spectrum he was initially allotted was overloaded, as it had earlier been assigned to another company. When he insisted on certain guarantees before he would make any payment for another licence, the federal government not only revoked it outright, but also stripped him of the $20 million mandatory deposit.

It was an enormous setback which would have daunted many a lesser man. But for a Mike Adenuga, the drive for personal success – coupled with what many who knew him at the time were beginning to see as a consuming passion for a Nigeria where communication was not a privilege but a right – was far greater than the weight of such a financial loss. In 2002, he bid again (with an outlay of another $20m!) for a Senior National Operator (SNO) licence – i.e. an authorization 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 services.

This time, it was granted. And thus was born Globacom – marking the dawn of what observers dubbed ‘the democratization of Nigerian communication.’

He wasn’t done yet. Braving the gauntlet of skepticism from naysayers (some of whom questioned Adenuga’s experience in this high-technology field), he shocked the telecoms industry by announcing that Globacom would launch its operations with a per second billing (PSB) call system. Once dismissed as impracticable by older operators, per-second billing became the industry standard – and almost overnight, call rates tumbled; and SIM cards not only became available but also affordable. It was a digital revolution that gave millions of voiceless Nigerians a voice.

Simply because of one man who wouldn’t quit. The rest, as they say, is history. But is not only in company boardrooms and in the halls of executive state power that Dr. Adenuga’s influence looms the largest; it is also felt, and ubiquitously so, in more mundane surroundings – homes, hospitals, and schools. Over the years, the fervour with which he has given money away (in thousands of millions of naira) has matched (if not surpassed) the entrepreneurial energy and intellectual rigour with which he set about making the money in the first place.

What is remarkable about most of his open-handed generosity is that it is known only to those who have benefitted from it; myself inclusive.

Adenuga’s philanthropy is, like his wealth, deliberate, vast, and unannounced. This exercise in social investment, which is directed by the Mike Adenuga Foundation, is manifested chiefly in healthcare, education, and poverty alleviation – as well as in the promotion of cultural heritage and the development of sports, not only in Nigeria but also across the African continent.

As Dr. Mike Adenuga, GCON, celebrates his 72 years of life, he has every right to do so with the quietude of a fulfilled life, a life larger than life, and yet constantly aware of its limited dimensions in the cosmic scheme of things, a life of gratitude and active empathy towards the less fortunate.

Happy birthday to Dr. Mike Adeniyi Ishola Adenuga Jr., GCON, a titan of business, a captain of industry, a leader of men and resources, a lover of humanity, and a firm believer in the providence and grace of a mighty and merciful God – to whom all wealth ultimately belongs.

• Keem Abdul, publisher and writer, hails from Lagos. He can be reached via +2348038795377(WhatsApp) or Akeemabdul2023@gmail.com

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