BY LANRE BUARI
Dr. Michael Adeniyi Adenuga Jr, Chairman of Nigeria’s national telecommunications Company, Globacom who clocks 70 years on April 29, is one of Africa’s richest men, an entrepreneur par excellence and great philanthropist. His ascendancy to the top started in his twenties when he took the bull as he is fondly called by the horn and moved powerfully into business through exportation and contracting. He conquered this sector early and by age 30 he moved into banking and was able to establish two formidable banks by mid-thirties. He later moved into the oil industry and his foray yielded dividends with Conoil operating at upstream and downstream sectors. By the age of 50, he added Globacom to the list and by his 51st birthday, Dr. Adenuga was already sitting 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 players. In the oil and gas sector, for instance, 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. Same was the case when he had two banks, Equatorial Trust Bank and Devcom Merchant Bank.
In telecoms, Globacom remains the most innovative network in Nigeria, with many firsts since it rolled out services in 2003. His investment in real estate is said to be worth over billions of dollars.
These companies provide direct employment to thousands of Nigerians and other nationalities. That Adenuga is one of the world’s wealthiest men is not in doubt; what may not be well known is the driving force behind this business phenomenon. This can easily be gleaned from his postulations on “Achieving” dated April 29, 1993, on his 40th birthday.
Some of the masterfully crafted business bible bears recalling: “Achieving is a thing of resolve and persistence,” Adenuga wrote. “It is the state of attaining success as a goal through sustained consistency. The achiever is a leader, a winner, all the time, not just once. Achieving is an attitude.
“Leading the pack is the only worthwhile resolution for the achiever. There is no room for second place. It is often said that it is not the winning that counts, but the participation. This adage does not reflect an achieving attitude. It is not the mere participant, but the achiever, the winner, the leader who makes the difference that advances the course of humankind in the judgement of history. He continues: “High profile corporate game playing is an arena where the pervading zeal is on achieving in every single endeavour: to be the first, and always the first; to be the one who holds the aces that determine the pace of play.
“For you to survive, around Otunba Mike Adenuga, youhave to be smart, hardworking and straight forward. He likes brilliant people. He likes those who can think on their feet. He likes those who think the impossible is possible. He does not take No for an answer. He does not like to hear that something is impossible. He likes people with the CanDo spirit. He himself is like that”
You do not enter the arena to depend on luck. You match your wits against others, with your entire constitution springing to action. Every fibre from innermost recesses of your being, to the fore, becomes combative in a synchronised zeal to achieve. With this strategy, you’re never going to come off the arena a loser.” On how to successfully run a business concern, Adenuga submits: “Essentially, running a business is similar to leading a military operation or orchestrating a political campaign, or performing as a great athlete. The fundamental principles are the same.
The overriding objective is to outmanoeuvre the opposing forces; to outsmart the other party; to out-perform the competition; to outwit the other guy – to achieve. This may sound harsh.
But that is the way it is.” To be able to achieve success, he counsels that entrepreneurs must engage the best hands, those with a competitive spirit and winning attitude. No wonder then that Adenuga pays special attention to recruitment process in his companies: “Success is the goal of every business, and the most successful businesses engage the most competitive men.
They are there to compete – to savour the grind and brutal discipline of epic combat – and to achieve”. Lending credence to Dr. Adenuga’s lifestyle and Business style is Nigeria’s king of soft sell, City People magazine, which chronicled the Bull succinctly recently: “Otunba Mike Adenuga is an enigma. He is an unconventional man, who does unconventional things. He is not your regular rich man. He’s got Class & Style. He likes to be different. He loves to live a quiet and reserved lifestyle. He does not go out. He does not go to parties. He does not even attend functions staged by his company or family members. Whenever Glo holds an event, he rarely shows up. He has trusted aides. He has competent hands. He has a lot of expatriates working for him. His daughter, Bella, has effectively taken over the running of his group. In matters of policy, she takes all the critical decisions. They only go to him for a 2nd opinion. He has great trust in her. He properly groomed her. He made her pay her dues. Not only did she attend all the best schools, he got her involved in the day-to-day running of the family business.
He made her understudy him. “He personally supervised her for about a decade before letting her climb to the penthouse where decisions are made. He has also trained his other children making them play crucial roles in his businesses. They have all come to understand him. “For you to survive, around Otunba Mike Adenuga, you have to be smart, hardworking and straight forward. He likes brilliant people. He likes those who can think on their feet. He likes those who think the impossible is possible. He does not take No for an answer. He does not like to hear that something is impossible. He likes people with the Can-Do spirit. He himself is like that. “He works round the clock. He is always thinking of the next possible business deal.
He is always looking for the next deal to close. He was one of the businessmen who saw the role Data was going to play in our lives and went for a Telecoms license earlier. Today, the rest is history. He is now the Grandmaster of Data. “Mike Adenuga is one of the Bigger Boys in the world of business. He knows the Game. He plays the game. He is adept at it. He knows the principle of winning. He has set his own rules. He has his own winning formula, which has worked for him over the last 40 years. Though he is from Ijebu Igbo, he was born and bred in Ibadan. He will always tell all who cares to listen that he is an Ibadan Boy. He is a product of Ibadan Grammar School. He has a breathtaking house in Ibadan. That is where he often stays when he needs to relax or unwind. Many often wonder whether he relaxes or not. Yes. He does. “He has his circle of friends. They are all old, old friends. When he feels like partying, he will create his own party in his Banana Island Palace where he lives in Lagos. He can organise his own party in 24 hrs. He has a drinks person he uses. He has a caterer that handles catering. He has an event planner that plans such events. And for music, he can decide to call up Commander or KSA to come and entertain him and his friends.
“City People can authoritatively reveal that though Mike Adenuga is a great Philanthropist and one of the biggest spenders when it comes to helping other people, he does not like the recipients of his largesse to tell the world whatever kind of help he has rendered. Once he touches your life, you are made forever. But the Golden rule for you to keep getting more support from him is for you to keep mum.” That says it all about a man that has been described as God’s gift to his generation, a worthy Nigerian and a role model to millions of Nigerians.
He has added immense value to Nigerians in the last 40 years, through his companies, and through his quiet but numerous philanthropic gestures.
Happy Birthday to the greatest Chairman of all times.
