By Adebayo Ogunbiyi
INTRODUCTION:
He is the Chairman of Chairmen, and achiever par excellence. A great philanthropist and accomplished businessman.
Welcome to the world of the iconic Nigerian billionaire. The man with the midas touch. Everything he touches turns to Gold.
He is Dr. Michael Agbolade Ishola Adenuga, Chairman of Globacom.
AT THE BEGINNING:
He started quietly from from Ibadan Grammar School, in Oyo State, Nigeria and moved to Northwestern State University, Oklahoma, in the United States for his for degree. He also earned a Master’s degree at Pace University, New York, majoring in Business Administration.
THE MIDAS TOUCH:
Adenuga moved to the top hierarchy of Nigeria’s business with the ownership of two banks: Equatorial Trust and Devcom in his mid thirties. By early forties he had conquered the nation’s oil industry and at the age of 50 he founded Globacom, thus berthing powerfully in the nation’s telecommunication industry.In 2001he lost out when the Federal Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo licensed three GSM network operators, namely MTN, Econet, now Airtel and MTel. He however bounced back in 2002 when his company, Globacom was licensed as the country’s second National Carrier
Globacom rolled out services in 2003 and from inception the company demonstrated its commitment to creating value with its products and services, thus empowering millions of Nigerians in the process.
YEARS OF CONSOLIDATION
Glo under Adenuga’s astute leadership and guidance entered the market in a grand style, offering Nigerians the elusive per second billing package, thus forcing other networks to follow suit to the delight of millions of Nigerians.
After 20 years Globacom has remained an 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.
INNOVATIONS:
Without doubt the biggest supporter of Nigeria’s entertainment industry, Glo was the first telecom company to use Nollywood stars as brand ambassadors, thus re-inventing and rehabilitating aging stars of stage and screen. The company has also emerged a strong supporter of Nigerian music, comedy and acting. Innovative and disruptive, Globacom pioneered a lot of innovations in the Nigerian telecommunication sector that included Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) and International MMS; pioneered Mobile Banking; first to launch Mobile internet service; pioneered Vehicle tracking; first to Launch Prepaid Roaming and first to launch In-Flight Roaming.
Glo sponsorship of literature has set the pace for other telecom companies. Its support of the Wole Soyinka prize was globally applauded while its “Evening With WS” events remain the gold standard.
Globacom is playing a leading role in the country’s march to a digital future with a range of customized and community-driven voice and data connectivity offerings as well as verticalized IT solutions such as E-Health, Smart Cognitive Learning, Smart Energy, Industrial IoT and Cloud Applications.
In 20 years, the company has emerged the biggest promoter of African football. For many years, it sponsored the Premier League, the Super Eagles and the NFF as well as other national teams, the Supporters Club, Glo CAF Awards and Glo Soccer Academy among others.
This is why it has continued to amass one award after another including Most Popular Brand in Nigeria at the 2022 TOP 50 BRANDS NIGERIA. This was the outcome of a Top of the Mind (TOM) Survey, where respondents were asked to mention 10 corporate brands that came to their mind or could easily recall.
Also in August 2023, Globacom carted home three awards at the Marketing Edge Brands and Advertising Excellence Awards, the biggest awards event in Nigeria’s marketing industry. The company won the Telecom Brand of the decade [Data] and Innovative TV Commercial of the year [Telecom], while the Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Entrepreneurship.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
As the Guru marks his 71st Birthday, A big congratulations to him.. Many more years on earth in good health. Thank you for being a true Nigerian who believe in Nigeria by investing heavily in the country and empowering Nigerians massively.
Happy Birthday, Dr. Mike Adenuga jr
