Adenuga: The Ubiquitous Recluse @ 69

Nnaemeka Ifeme

The obvious paradox in the headline symbolises what the billionaire businessman, Dr Mike Adenuga, Jr. (GCON), represents.

The self-effacing Chairman of one of Africa’s most enterprising telecommunication companies, Globacom, lives a very private life, he is hardly seen in public, does not attend public functions, even some of the workers at his numerous businesses have never set eyes on him.

However, while Dr. Adenuga is as reclusive as a hermit, his accomplishments are as loud as thunder.
Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Spirit of Africa, Africa’s business icon, the Great Guru, Mr. Per Second, Unrivalled Philanthropist, Business Wizkid, Recluse Billionaire, Chairman of Chairmen are some of the superlatives employed by his admirers to describe him.

His gut and sheer determination manifested early in his life. Close friends and family members recall how as a teenager he faced nights of work in the freezing New York weather. Although his parents were well placed to take care of him, the young Adenuga opted to work as a taxi driver and security guard to sustain himself in school. The conditions were so tough that 6 of his fellow Nigerian compatriots had given up their jobs due to what they termed life-threatening weather and work-conditions. But the young Adenuga kept on working in spite of the adversities. He reaped bountifully from his hard work much to the envy of his friends.

Upon his return from the US after his academic sojourn at Northwestern University, United States, Adenuga chose to work in his parents’ saw mill rather than go for white collar jobs which were available at that time and which paid well and had attractive prospects. Young Adenuga showed his business ingenuity by transforming the mill through the installation of state of the art equipment.

Then he diversified into commodity brokerage and merchandising. He formed his Worldspan Holdings which traded in petroleum products, fuel oil, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and motor spirits. He enlarged his coast into real estate and ventured into industrialisation and particularly food processing and manufacturing.

His hope and belief for a better future as well as his unique flair for taking risks and sheer tenacity of purpose paid off as in no time he started reaping profits in billions. He founded Devcom Bank and Equatorial Trust Bank which later merged under the latter’s name. He then established Consolidated Oil, which carries out crude oil drilling, refining and marketing.

His foray into the oil business was a typically audacious one. In the 1980s when he acquired oil blocs through his Consolidated Oil company as part of the Babangida administration’s step to break the monopoly of foreigners in the production of crude oil in the country, Adenuga refused to toe his peers’ path of selling off the oil blocs to foreign companies. He chose to embark on drilling against monumental pressure and the risk of failure.

Tales are told of how his beloved mother came in tears, begging and asking him to change his mind about going into oil exploration. Her reason was that the business was still the exclusive preserve of multinational oil companies and not for individual businessmen. The mother preferred that her son remain in the manufacturing business where he had made his mark and where Nigerians had succeeded greatly.

But the audacious and achieving spirit in Mike Adenuga would not budge. He plunged headlong into oil drilling with the firm hope and belief in a better tomorrow. That step proved a huge success as he soon made history as the first Nigerian company to strike oil and produce it in commercial quantity.

He later bought over National Oil and Marketing Company, NOLCHEM, for a huge amount of N7.4 billion, when nobody wanted to touch the company because it was going down the drain. Again, the move paid off as the company now called Conoil Plc is today one of the most profitable oil marketing companies in Nigeria.

What perhaps shot him into the consciousness of Nigerians was his bold entry into the telecommunications sector, considered by many as his most audacious move yet. With his Communications Investment Company, CIL, he was issued a conditional licence in 1999 to operate the Global System of Mobile telecommunications, GSM. The licence was later revoked by the Obasanjo administration, which faulted the entire process. Again, when in 2002, the government through the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, organised a new auction for the GSM licence, CIL participated and was one of the four that won the bid. He paid the $20 million mandatory deposit.

However, in the process of resolving the controversy over the frequency allocated to CIL, the licence elapsed and CIL lost both the licence and the $20 million deposit. It was a colossal loss but Adenuga was undeterred. He later went on to bid for the Second National Operator (SNO) license, and deposited another $20 million. This time, he was lucky. He won the bid in August 2002 and Globacom was granted the licence 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.

Many concluded that Adenuga had finally met his waterloo. They argued that the telecom sector was for the well established foreign telecom companies and that Adenuga did not have the requisite experience in that field. And when he announced that Globacom would launch with Per Second Billing (PSB), the industry scoffed at him. But the Guru went on to prove sceptics wrong. Globacom not only launched on PSB, it went on to  crash SIM costs from N25,000 to N200 and call charges from N50 to as low as N10 per minute.

As we celebrate this worthy son of Africa at 69, it is so easy to forget that Adenuga’s rise as one of Africa’s wealthiest and most powerful men is attributable to his unflinching optimism, the inclination to hang on in the face of daunting challenges, to hold on to hope despite all odds.

As he looks back on his 69 years especially how he has positively affected lives through Globacom and his other companies, Adenuga will no doubt be a fulfilled man. And deservedly so.
• Nnaemeka Ifeme is a Lagos-based salesman.