The law of entropy is a natural principle that keeps things breaking, dimmer or simply losing their shine. For all its universality, this law has refused to touch the person or business of Mike Adenuga, also known as the Bull, master of national, continental and global investments. After decades of relevance in the African corporate corridor, Adenuga’s prestige has only continued to grow, reaching unprecedented heights and slowly extending into the noble lands of France.
To state that Mike Adenuga is up there with global industry leaders is to call a spade a garden spoon — a gross understatement. Since he made his debut in 1979 with the distribution of lace and soft drinks, his momentum has increased exponentially. Today, to mention the top five super brilliant African businessmen and leave out Adenuga is to poke a nest of Africanised honey bees.
Adenuga dragged the limelight to himself in 1999 when he secured a conditional GSM licence. Though this licence was later revoked, his unyielding spirit had earlier brought about his striking oil in Ondo State a few years before, so he remained undaunted. Consequently, when he regained the licence during an auction in 2003, only those who didn’t know him were surprised.
At the moment, Adenuga’s Globacom, the company that came from that licence in 2003, has grown beyond all expectations. With about 55 million subscribers, the telecom company is among the top three in the industry in Nigeria. Having accomplished this much, folks recently began to wonder whether he might retire (he clocked 68 this year). But no, he said.
Adenuga’s response to the rumours of retirement has been smashed with the new alliance of the Nigerian business space and France. As one of the stakeholders, Adenuga’s business sense casts a shadow on the European business bloc. The same prestige that accompanied the Bull’s journey from 1976 to the present is enough to deter others and earn him a near-monopoly of any other market, excepting Nigeria’s; for now, at least.
This is the Bull at his best: in perpetual motion, trampling expectations and competitions with that same unyielding spirit.
