Mike Adenuga Biography – Celebrity News
Dr. Mike Adenuga Junior (born on April 29, 1953) is the Nigerian Chairman Chief Executice Officer of Globacom .
Adenuga’s rise to wealth and accompanying fame is an interesting story. His resolve to succeed against all odds started when, while in America, he worked as a taxi driver and security guard to sustain himself in school.
Born on April 29, 1953, Michael Adeniyi Isola Adenuga had his secondary school education at the Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan, Oyo State, before proceeding to the North-Western University in Oklahoma and Pace University, New York, both in the United States where he studied business administration.
At age 26, Adenuga had already become a millionaire with connections in high places. With his unique flair for risks and sheer tenacity of purpose, in no time he started reaping profits in billions. He owns Equitorial Trust Bank and Consolidated Oil, which carries out crude oil drilling, refining and marketing. Dr. Adenuga sits atop what is generally regarded as one of the continent’s largest business empires comprising oil and gas, telecoms, aviation, banking and real estate.
In each of these sectors, Dr. Adenuga has moulded his companies into major, if not dominant, players. In the oil and gas sector, for instance, Conoil Plc is one of the largest and most profitable oil marketing companies in Nigeria. He successfully revamped the moribund national asset when he bought the controlling shares in it and set on the path of profitability.
Conoil Producing, the downstream arm of the conglomerate, made history by becoming the first Nigerian company to strike oil and produce it in commercial quantity in 1991. In banking, Equitorial Trust Bank was one of the few banks that effortlessly met the N25b capital requirement during the 2005 banking consolidation exercise without going to the stock market. It only merged with Devcom Bank which was also owned by Adenuga.
In telecoms, Globacom is not only the most innovative network in Nigeria, it is also the fastest growing in Africa and the Middle East, with operations in Nigeria, Ghana and Benin Republic. It has also just won a licence in Cote d’Ivoire. Adenuga also has a multi-billion-dollar investment in real estate. These companies provide direct employment to thousands of workers and millions of others indirectly.
Dr Adenuga’s first shot into the consciousness of Nigerians was when his company, Consolidated Oil became the first indigenous company to strike crude in December1991. He recently made foray into the telecommunications sector. With his Communications Investment Limited, CIL, he was issued a conditional licence in 1999 and frequencies to operate the Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM). The licence was later revoked. Again, when in 2002, the government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), organised new auction for the GSM licence, the CIL participated and was one of the four that won the bid. He paid the $20 million mandatory deposit.
However, in the process of effecting the release of the balance payment of $265 million, the company was adjudged to have failed to pay within stipulated time. CIL lost both the licence and $20 million deposit. He later went on to bid for the Second National Operator (SNO) licence, and deposited another $20 million. This time, he was lucky.
He won the bid in August 2002 through his Globacom Limited. The SNO has a wider range of operations as Globacom has the right to operate as a national carrier, operate digital mobile lines, serve as international gateway for telecommunications in the country and operate fixed wireless access phones.
Adenuga’s estate business and company shares traverse several countries in Western Europe, North America and the Middle-East.
Dr. Adenuga is a native of Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State of Nigeria. He studied Business Administration at Northwestern State University, Alva Oklahoma in the United States and also earned a Masters degree at Pace University, New York, majoring in Business Administration with emphasis on Marketing.
Sources: Globacom website
Equitorial Trust Bank website