Early Life & Education
On April 29, 1953, Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr. was born. His mother, Omoba Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga, was a royal Ijebu Igbo businesswoman, while his father, Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr., was a schoolteacher.
Mike Adenuga finished his secondary education at Ibadan Grammar School in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, then went on to Comprehensive High School in Aiyetoro to earn his Higher School Certificate (HSC). He had a job as a cab driver to help pay for his schooling. Both Pace University in New York and Northwestern Oklahoma State University awarded him business administration degrees.
Career
Mike Adenuga made his first million at the age of 26 by selling lace and distributing soft drinks. He received a drilling permit in 1990, and his Consolidated Oil (now Conoil) became the first indigenous oil company to find oil in commercial quantities in the shallow waters of southwest Ondo State in 1991.
Mike Adenuga received a conditional GSM license in 1999; after it was revoked, he received a new license in 2003 during a new government auction. His telecom business, Globacom, quickly expanded and started to challenge the MTN Group. In 2008, it started operating in Benin; since then, it has grown to include Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, and further licenses are being sought in other West African countries.
At the first-ever African Telecoms Awards in August 2007, he was chosen as African Entrepreneur of the Year (ATA). In May 2015, Adenuga made a buyout offer of $600 million to Comium Côte d’Ivoire, an Ivorian mobile communications business. Additionally, he has stock in the Equitorial Trust Bank.
Personal Life
Mike Adenuga has been married twice. He has six kids from his first marriage and two from his second. Oyindamola, Babajide, Mike, Belinda, Abimbola, Eniola, Folashade, and Richard are his children.
Honours and Titles
Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger by the government of Nigeria.
Otunba Apesin of the Ijebu clan.
Commander of the Legion of Honour by President Emmanuel Macron of France.
Net Worth
Mike Adenuga is the third richest person in Nigeria with a net worth of $6.2 billion as of April 2023.
