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A Salute to the Great Philanthropist
T
he great Irish poet and playwright,
Oscar Wilde said “success is science,
if you have the conditions, you get
the results. No doubt, Dr. Mike
Adenuga Jr, the business mogul
mastered the conditions earlier in life and
held steadfastly on to it, getting results all
through.
Adenuga’s trajectory right from his twenties
has been a success story, starting from when
he was an importer, to contractor and later
an entrepreneur par excellence. By this time
next week, Dr. Michael Ishola Adenuga,
GCON will be 70 years old. 70 years of great
accomplishments and outstanding successes.
70 hearty cheers to a reticent billionaire.
From the age of 26 when he made his first
million running family business, Dr Mike
Adenuga aka Guru made his first million
at the age of 26 when many of his peers
were finding their depth and since then it
has been an achievement filled journey
all the way. From twenties to his thirties,
he gradually stabilised the family business
and transitioned quietly to the league of the
nation’s top entrepreneurs
He founded the Equatorial Trust Bank and
Devcom Merchant Bank before the age of 40.
His weapon is his 100 percent commitment
and focus which has seen him nurturing all
his businesses cutting across all sectors of
the economy to utmost success.
His journey started from Ibadan Grammar
School, in Oyo State, Nigeria, from where
he moved to Northwestern State University,
Oklahoma, in the United States where he
obtained first degree, followed by a Master’s
degree in Business Administration at Pace
University, New York. It was after his
American experience that he came back home
and his entrepreneurial journey commenced.
Having successfully developed the family
business in his twenties, he conquered the
banking sector in his thirties and by early
forties he had successfully made a unique
incursion into the nation’s oil industry with
Conoil. At 50, the Guru founded Globacom,
with people, power, possibilities as its strap
line before Glo with pride later replaced it.
He thus became the only indigenous investor
to secure the GSM licence powerfully in the
nation’s telecommunication industry.
The Olusegun Obasanjo’ s Government in
2001 licensed three GSM network operators,
including MTN, Airtel which later became
Econet /Vmobile/Celtel/Zain/and presently
Airtel and also MTel. It was in 2002 that
Glo Mobile, was licensed as the fourth
operator and the country’s second National
Carrier. Etisalat, a Mubadala Development
Company became the country’s fifth while
in 2007 when the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC) introduced the unified
licensing regime.
In 2001, Dr Adenuga ‘s Communications
Investments Limited (CIL) also bided for a
licence but was not successful. The company
lost $20m. It later got the bigger national
carrier package, Globacom, the only indigenous
GSM Company operating in the country,
both countries are also not left out. It is
also remarkable that Glo sponsored the
annual CAF Awards, which celebrates the
best footballers and administrators in Africa,
(male and female) for a decade. A period
in which the profile of the award changed
from a mere event to that of a major global
sporting gala, attracting top personalities from
different parts of the world.
It is also on record that ten years ago, THE
GURU rewarded the Super Eagles who won
the African Cup of Nations in South Africa
with a whopping $1million and many more.
It was generally estimated that Adenuga
spent over 25 billion to date to support sports
in Nigeria since 2002.
Attesting to Dr. Adenuga’s massive
contributions to the development of sports
in Nigeria, former Sports Minister, late Bala
Ka’oje said, “National Telecommunications
Company, Globacom’s Chairman, Dr. Mike
Adenuga spent over N3 billion to sponsor
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the
then Nigeria Premier League”. It is generally
estimated that he has contributed close to
N30 billion to support the nation’s sports.
His other notable contributions include
Golf tournaments known as Glo Golf Tour
West Africa which offered millions of naira
to winners. There were also different editions
of the Glo Marathon with outstanding prizes
for winners. Dr. Adenuga also established
the Glo Soccer Academy which trained
young footballers to kick-start their career
in professional football. The finalists of the
academy were trained in Dubai Soccer Academy
and Manchester United Academy respectively.
Ten years ago, Globacom started the
sponsorship of English Premier League
live matches on Supersport, thus giving
footballers in Nigeria and other parts of
Africa the opportunity to watch live football
matches and also follow their football clubs
all through the season. The sponsorship of
the matches is still running in 2023. A decade
of live transmission of EPL.
Also in 2022, the Guru pulled another fast
one when he signed a business contract in Paris
between Globacom, and Eutelsat, the French
Satellite conglomerate. Many communities
across the country without access to internet
links will benefit immensely from VSAT/
Satellite-based internet service and Satellite
based community Wifi internet service, courtesy
of Globacom. Another masterstroke from
philanthropist par excellence.
On occasion of your 70th Birthday I wish you
many more years ahead , in good health and
filled with abundant blessings of God and like
President Buhari said last year on your 69th
Birthday, “I commend Chief Michael Adenuga’s
nationalistic and patriotic position of always
putting Nigeria first in his investment options,
expanding opportunities for employment and
business in banking, telecoms, oil and more
recently focusing on empowering younger
generation in entrepreneurship”., may God
continue to enlarge your coast.
Happy Platinum Birthday to the cheerful
giver and the nation’s number 1 philanthropist.
Adenuga
with an outstanding record of achievements
over the years.
Globacom rolled out services in August,
2003 with a mission to change the paradigm
through innovative services in the country. It
has demonstrated its commitment to creating
value with its products and services, and
empowerment of millions of Nigerians in
the last 20 years
Starting with per second which hitherto
was said to be impossible, Glo under the
leadership and guidance of Dr Adenuga
entered the market with delightful products
and services, alongside the elusive per second
billing package, thus forcing other networks
to follow suit to the delight of millions of
Nigerians. The other networks which had
been operating for two years before Glo were
completely outwitted with Glo making what
they called impossible a possibility.
By this time next week, Dr. Michael Ishola
Adenuga, GCON will be 70 years old. 70 years
of great accomplishments and outstanding
successes. 70 hearty cheers to a reticent
billionaire. From the age of 26 when he made
his first million running family business, Dr
Mike Adenuga aka Guru made his first million
at the age of 26 when many of his peers were
finding their depth and since then it has been
an achievement –filled journey all the way. From
twenties to his thirties, he gradually stabilised
the family business and transitioned quietly to
the league of the nation’s top entrepreneurs
Glo will be 20 by August this year and
it has been a journey filled with great
accomplishments. It has been two decades
of outstanding firsts in the Nigerian
Telecommunications Industry. It has remained
the innovative network, in spite of rolling out
its services two years after other networks
have started operations. It recorded first in
many areas including championing per second
billing, first to implement 2.5 G network in
Nigeria, first to implement 3g Network in
Nigeria, first to offer 4 G LTE, first to offer
Blackberry solutions in Nigeria and first to
launch of submarine cable (GLO 1) which
provides efficient and fast broadband internet
services.
Glo remains a leader in the nation’s
telecommunications industry. Presently it has
over fifty million subscribers cutting across
multinational corporations, decision makers in
the public and private sector, students, artisans
and those in rural communities connected to
the network and enjoying access to high quality
products and affordable telecom services,
Through Adenuga, a man that cannot
stop giving out, Glo has remained a socially
responsible entity. It has massively supported
the Nigeria movie industry (Nollywood) and
in Ghana (Ghollywood) with notable actors
and actresses chosen as Glo Ambassadors.
This move and many others had empowered
African arts and culture. The sponsorship
of several cultural festivals in its areas of
operation is another aspect of its Corporate
Social Responsibilities which has resonated
with the people. In addition to these are
countless donations and support by Dr.
Adenuga in different parts of the country,
thus empowering Nigerians in different areas
of human endeavour.
Globacom’s support has been outstanding.
In Nigeria and Ghana, the company sponsored
the national teams for many years as well
as the League. The Supporters’ Clubs.
Credit: Sanni Adebayo
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