Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr (born 29 April 1953) is a Nigerian business tycoon, and the second richest person in Nigeria. His company Globacom is Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator, and also has a presence in Ghana and Benin. He also owns stakes in the Equitorial Trust Bank and the oil exploration firm Conoil (formerly Consolidated Oil Company). Forbes has estimated his net worth at $5.8 billion as of 2017, which makes him second wealthiest Nigerian behind Aliko Dangote,as well as the third richest person in Africa.
Early life and education
His father, the Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr, was a school teacher, his mother Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (née Onashile of Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo) a businesswoman of royal Ijebu descent.
Adenuga received his secondary school education at the Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan and Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro for his Higher School Certificate(HSC). He worked as a taxi driver to help fund his university education. He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York with degrees in Business Administration.
Career
In 1990, he received a drilling license and in 1991, his Consolidated Oil struck oil in the shallow waters of Southwestern Ondo State, the first indigenous oil company to do so in commercial quantity.
He was issued a conditional GSM licence in 1999; after it was revoked he received a second one when the government held another auction in 2003. His telecom company Globacom spread quickly and started challenging the giant MTN Group. It launched services in Benin in 2008, and has continued its spread across Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, with more licences currently being prospected in other West African countries.
He was named African Entrepreneur of The Year at the maiden African Telecoms Awards (ATA) on 15 August 2007.
In 2009, Adenuga was detained for money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Adenuga left the country and lived in London until the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua regime granted him a pardon.
In May 2015, Adenuga made a takeover bid to purchase Ivorian mobile telecom’s operator Comium Côte d’Ivoire for $600 million.
In June 2016 it was revealed that Adenuga was being pursued for a combined debt of USD $140.5 million, after his company ConOil failed to pay debts owed to, among others, the French oil giant Total. Bellbop, another company owned by Adenuga, has an interim injunction placed on it by the High Court in Lagos, after failed to pay USD $9.4 million it owed to the US oil and gas firm Baker Hughes.
Nigerian businessman Mike Adenuga has an estimated net worth of $10.9 billion as of June 2016, according to Forbes. Nicknamed “the Guru” in his native Nigeria, Adenuga debuts on Forbes billionaires list in 2011 after making waves with mobile technology, Nigeria’s second-largest mobile telecom operator. He made his first million at age 26 selling lace and distributing soft drinks. His telecom carrier Globacom launched a 4G network, and he’s invested $1 billion on a submarine cable connecting Nigeria to the rest of the world. He made his first million at age 26 selling lace and distributing Coca-Cola, then won a contract to build military barracks in the late 1980s. He owns a stake in the Equitorial Trust Bank and chairs Niger Delta oil exploration firm Conoil. Adenuga is a soccer devotee and sponsors a number of tournaments.
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