Otunba (Dr) Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr, (GCON) is a very fortunate man. This is not just in view of the fact that his is one of the richest men in the world nor is it because he single-handedly bankrolled an intercontinental fibre optic submarine cable, a feat unrivalled by any man on planet earth. It is not also just because he founded Africa’s most advanced Telecommunications network and brought us the elusive “per second billing” when others said nay . It is not even because he is the first Nigerian to have built a private oil refinery when others only saw it as a pipe dream. It is simply not for multifarious remarkable achievements in every sector of the Nigerian economy that are ever so numerous to mention, including in Oil and Gas, Banking and real estate.
But The Guru as he is fondly called by local and international business associates, as a result of his tremendous business acumen, is a very fortunate man because the lord has blessed him with gifted and extraordinary children full of wisdom beyond their years. And why wouldn’t a man be one of the most fortunate people on earth to have a young woman called Belinda Ajoke Olubunmi Disu as a daughter?
It would have been very easy for anyone to dismiss the child of a trillionaire as someone who had it very easy and started building an exceptional career very early in life. But Bella is unlike your regular trillionaire’s ’s offspring. An uncommon child, she has been a precocious young girl who turned out to be an extraordinary young woman with fecundity of imaginations. No! She does not operate in the shadow of her father; she is in the mould of her father. She possesses attributes that makes her father indomitable force in the world. After all, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
As she turns a year older, it is quite arduous for us and everyone acquainted with her prodigious abilities, not to fawn over her remarkable accomplishments and stroke of genius at an age when most young people grope for their bearing, including when they find a silver spoon in their mouth. Bella has been a thoroughbred professional who has a pride of place on the global stage.
A lot of people marvel at her propensity as a woman of many parts, giving meaning to the words, super woman. There is a consensus that Bella has to be the most talented and hardworking daughter of a billionaire anywhere in the world. She is benevolent and equable, even in her steely resolve, which gets jobs done.
Well, you don’t have to take our words for it, she is an ISFJ. According to Myers-Briggs personality indicator, ISFJs are quiet kind and highly dependable individuals. They are also loyal, practical, and stable. They value security and traditions. They also have a well-developed sense of space, function and aesthetic appeal. They possess exceptional memory and thrive with learning styles that involve practical application. Furthermore, they are nurturers with listening ears for advice and issues. ISFJs often get over burdened, avoid conflict and difficult to say no to a request for assistance.
Bella Disu holds a Bachelors degree in International Relations from the University of Massachusetts. She also holds a Master in Science Degree from the North Eastern University. Her experience schooling in the Boston area helped in shaping her adventure as a result of alliances and a strong bond with the Nigerian community.
Bella is the Vice Chairman of Globacom Limited. One of the most experienced people in Africa’s telecommunications landscape today, she knows the industry like the palms of her hands as she has been instrumental in engineering Globacom to a momentous height.
The Chief Executive Officer of Cobblestone Properties & Estate Limited, she has transformed the real estate firm into one of the most consequential in this part of the world, designing and constructing world glass properties, including the aesthetic Sisi Paris residential apartment in Lagos, one of its kind in Nigeria.
Bella sits on the board of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc as a director. She has brought with her a breath of fresh air and youthful effervescence into the apex engineering and manufacturing company which can do with her 21st century transformative perspectives. She serves on the board audit and remuneration committees and on the subcommittees for communications strategies, training and development.
She is a director at Abumet Plc, Nigeria’s leading glass and aluminum manufacturing company. Bella has contributed immensely in transforming Abumet to meet the challenges of the modern day. The company has in recent times continued to churn out spectacular, innovate products into the Nigeria Market.
She has become a magnet of some sort to organizers of global international business summits as her presence is coveted at such forums. She was featured as one of the top 500 Chief Executive Officers by a reputable African business magazine. She has been the guest of presidents and head of governments alike.
She has featured in African CEO Forum where she enthralled the audience. Her presentations at the forum has continued to reverberate around the continents and has put Nigeria in positive light as producer of great minds that can take the continent to its pride of place in the world.
A perfectionist just like the old man, she was inducted into Nigeria Institute of Directors last year. The Institute of Directors was established 36 years ago to professionally develop directors by imbuing them with leadership skills to enable them to develop the country.
Bella has been decorated with numerous awards and one of the most remarkable is French eminent national honuors, Chevaliers dans L’odre des Arts et des Lettres. She is one of the youngest recipients of that award in the world. It was conferred upon her by President Emmanuel Macron on behalf of the French government for her contributions to the promotion of arts and culture, including through the Alliance Française Project at the Mike Adenuga Alliance Française Centre.
A lover of arts, Bella has supported numerous laudable art projects in Nigeria. She is a de facto matron of the Nigerian entertainment industry as she understands that arts is life and the bedrock of the society. It is common knowledge that every entertainer in Nigeria aspires to be a Globacom ambassador.
As another pointer to her heavy involvement in philanthropy, she is the founder and director of the Bella Disu foundation. A nonprofit organization, the foundation helps less privileged children, especially in the area of education and acquisition of skills.
Bella is a powerful public speaker. She captivates audiences anywhere she speaks and she does so effortlessly. She has fast become one of the best public speakers from this part of the world. Her words are flowery but punchy and they permeate souls. She will enchant you.
A motivational speaker, she is an excellent story teller who communicates passionately and enthusiastically with a lot of confidence to her listeners, painting a vivid mental picture with words as she engages them maximally with her remarkable, but yet common life experiences. She lets them into her secrets with empathy and self-depreciation, ensuring that listeners come out very inspired.
As a polymath, Bella is multilingual and speaks several languages to various degrees. She has an excellent command of the English language as well as her native Yoruba. Bella also speaks a lot French and has a remarkable understanding and passable communications skills in Igbo language. She picks words in several other languages too.
A virtuoso and a quick learner blessed with an uncanny retentive knowledge, these have been one of her enduring attributes as she wades through the undulating topography of life. It is some of the reasons she is very effective as a motivational speaker. She learnt the French language in only a few months, taking only 30 minutes classes, six times in a week in-between heavy schedules.
Witty with lots of clever retorts as she is a fast thinker, Bella has a great sense of humour. Friends say you can never be bored around her. Her spontaneity is simply astonishing. She has some of the best words and knows how to use them judiciously.
Bella does not just love arts, she partakes in arts. She plays the keyboard. A lot of classic music lovers and admirers alike have been held in awe as a result of her performance on the keyboard. She holds her own with the instrument.
Bella also plays the saxophone. This is a musical instrument mainly associated with the male fork in this part of the world but is one of several instruments which she has been comfortable playing. She has performed with instruments at family parties.
It can never be accentuated enough that she loves music and she is in tune (pun intended) with all the waves making afro hip hop music but unlike most young Nigerians, she loves highlife music to the core. She listens to some of Nigeria’s and Africa’s legendary highlife musicians.
And she knows her lyrics very well. Be it the lyrics of some of the songs of our African highlife kings or Nigeria’s juju music maestro as well as some of the wave-making showbiz stars in Nigeria and the world, Bella can mouth the lyrics for you. How does she even do so many things? You may ask.
Yes, Bella does not only listen to music or play music or sing to the lyrics of different genre of music, she is a very powerful dancer. She can slug it out with any professional dancer on the dance floor after attending board meetings of multinational conglomerates and global business strategy sessions. She is that good.
She has been naughty too but her father taught her a lesson. When Bella was nine years old, she wanted a new school bag but her father wouldn’t budge. So, she intentionally destroyed her bag. However, to her chagrin, instead of getting her a new one, her stupendously wealthy father sent it in for repairs. That is one lesson she says she will never forget as she navigates the labyrinth of life and nuture her own children.
A lot of people like photographs and perhaps she does too but Bella does not like to be photographed. She has never hidden this. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately for her, a gold fish has no hiding place. This is even more difficult as she gets more and more engaged in multiple local and international projects and engagements. Hence, she is learning to be photographed, ever so reluctantly.
She is also a writer. Bella has written a book for children. It is presently in the publishing process. The book is eagerly awaited at the book stores as it has been delayed because of the pandemic. It will be in good old paperbacks as well as digital copies. Watch out for copies on kindle and other platforms.
She reads and reads. Her collection of books is quite phenomenal. She has on her book shelf some of the most consequential literature in the world. She is a fan of a lot of award winning authors and it cuts across deferent genres.
One of her best business literatures is Essentials of Strategic Management by Charles Hill and Gareth Jones. She calls it her business bible. She does not take prisoners when it comes to her quest for knowledge and personal improvement.
She is a very religious person. Bella loves life but she also loves God and does not miss an opportunity to glorify God and extol him for all the good things He has done in her life. She believes she cannot simply count her blessings.
She loves baking. It is not all about work and music and more work. Bella is very proficient in the home front. Apart from a mastery of some Nigerian delicacies, baking is one of her hubbies and she loves making cinnamon rolls. Call her for some cupcakes, maybe.
She named one of her biggest real estate projects after her lovely daughter, Paris. It is the magnificent Sisi Paris apartment’s complex. It is the first of its kind around this part of the world. It is a product of her properties company, Cobblestone Properties & Estates Limited.
Bella is endowed with this slim fit shapely figure. Her physique is complemented by a radiant velvety skin that runs in the family. People say they got the skin from papa. But do you know that she used to be on the heavy side? Bella used to weigh about 125 kg. She became determined to become slim and shed the weight rapidly. She sets goals and gets them. And it pays in spades.
She has been a role model in the organizations she run, more so than a boss. We learnt that her young workers see her as an idol as she enthralls them with her charisma, especially the women and girls who learn something from her every time she speaks.
She is a fashionista. Of course she does love fashion and it is very revealing from her appearance. Always garbed in stunning outfits every other day and each time she steps out, her ensemble inspires many a fashion lover and designer. And be sure that those outfits look like she came in them, right from heaven. Do you know she walked along the fashion runway? It was at a novel event more than a decade ago. So, she also has an experience of what it is to be a model.
She is a champion of women. As the world continues towards an egalitarian society, Bella has been helping to push for women causes through her foundation and engagements. She keeps tabs of all the statistics and endeavours in helping to push women issues to the forefront and campaigns for greater representations in the scheme of things.
A virtuous woman in every sense of the word. One big reason Mrs Disu is a super woman is that for her, an attachment to family is the foremost priority. She is married to Mr Jameel Disu, a debonair young man who is equally upwardly mobile. It goes without saying that they complement each other in every way. And he has been a bulwark to her. Theirs is a marriage made in heaven. They are blessed with two adorable children.
It has been some herculean task trying to condense all her giant strides even at this youthful age, into 34. And it seems we failed here as this is way more than the number we promised and we could go on and on. This is a testament to an uncommon personality who is proving every single day with her exploits that the future of the African woman and youth is a very bright one, indeed. Who knows who will be our first female president?
– Kelechi Okorie
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