Chief
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Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr (born 29 April 1953) is a Nigerian
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...
businessman, and
the fifth richest person in Africa according to Forbes. His company
Globacom is Nigeria's second-largest telecom operator and also has a presence in
Ghana and
Benin. He owns stakes in the
Equitorial Trust Bank and the oil exploration firm
Conoil
Conoil Plc is a Nigerian petroleum marketing company involved in the sale of regulated gasoline and kerosene, diesel, aviation fuel and low pour fuel. Other business activities of the firm include production and marketing of lubricants under the b ...
(formerly Consolidated Oil Company).
''
Forbes'' estimated his net worth at $6.7 billion as of May 2024.
Early life
His father,
Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr, was a schoolteacher while his mother,
Omoba Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (née Onashile, of Okesopin,
Ijebu Igbo), was a businesswoman of
royal Ijebu descent.
He is
Yoruba
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba consti ...
.
Adenuga received his secondary school education at
Ibadan Grammar School
Ibadan Grammar School is a secondary school in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria. It is currently located at Molete area, close to St. David grammar school.
History
Established in March 31st 1913. It is among the notable oldest secondary school in Ibada ...
,
Ibadan,
Oyo State, Nigeria and
Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro
Comprehensive High School is a secondary school in Ayetoro, a district in the Yewa North, Egbado Division of Ogun State, South Western Nigeria.
History
Just after Nigeria attained independence in 1960, the authorities began to consider the pro ...
, 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
Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) is a public university in Alva, Oklahoma, with satellite campuses in Enid, Oklahoma, Enid and Woodward, Oklahoma, Woodward. It offers both bachelor's and master's degrees.
History
In 1897, a normal ...
and
Pace University,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, with degrees in
Business Administration
Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...
.
Career
Adenuga made his first million in 1979, at age 26, selling
lace and distributing
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
s.
In 1990, he received a drilling license and in 1991, his Consolidated Oil struck oil in the shallow waters of Southwestern
Ondo State, making him the first indigenous oil company to do so in commercial quantity.
He was issued a conditional
GSM license in 1999. After it was revoked, he received a second one when the government held another auction in 2003.
He was named ''African Entrepreneur of The Year'' at the first African Telecoms Awards (ATA) in August 2007.
In May 2015, Adenuga made a takeover bid to purchase Ivorian mobile telecom's operator Comium Côte d'Ivoire for $600 million.
Honours
In 2012, he was made
Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger by the government of Nigeria.
He holds a Yoruba
tribal chieftaincy as the "Otunba Apesin" of the
Ijebu clan.
In 2018, he was decorated with the insignia of a
Commander of the Legion of Honour by President
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
of France.
Adenuga was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by
New African magazine in 2019.
See also
*
List of Yoruba people
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adenuga, Mike
1953 births
Living people
Yoruba businesspeople
Yoruba royalty
Businesspeople from Ibadan
Nigerian businesspeople in the oil industry
Businesspeople in telecommunications
Nigerian billionaires
Northwestern Oklahoma State University alumni
Pace University alumni
Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom
Recipients of Nigerian presidential pardons
20th-century Nigerian businesspeople
21st-century Nigerian businesspeople
Nigerian royalty
Grand Commanders of the Order of the Niger
Ibadan Grammar School alumni
Nigerian investors
Taxi drivers
Nigerian chairpersons of corporations