Popularly called the bull, Otunba Mike Adenuga is no small fry in the business sector globally. As he has made a success of his business so has he successfully nurtured brilliant and hardworking children who are making him proud in all the fields of their endeavours. While many of them are at the helms of affairs of his many companies, some have also taken a step further to pursue some of their personal businesses. For many who don’t know, Otunba Mike Adenuga has 4 pretty girls who are all towing his path of greatness. They are Oyin Adenuga Olufeko, Bella Adenuga Disu, Bimbo Adenuga and Sade Adenuga. They occupy key sectors in his business and doing well at it. One beautiful daughter of his who is carrying on the flag on and doing so well is
Oyindamola Adetutu Emilia. She is the first child of the tycoon. She is a graduate of the department of Sociology a board member at her dad’s establishment. This eldest daughter of billionaire businessman, Dr Mike Adenuga, Oyin Adenuga is now Mrs Oyin Adeolu Abayomi Olufeko.
She worked with Equatorial Trust Bank as a Senior Manager and later worked with Consolidated Oil as an Executive Director. Presently, Oyin runs Imaginative Buying Services, a company that gives Nigerians the opportunity to acquire products from the United States of America. Oyindamola also runs a trading business in Georgia. She is happily married to Ade Olufeko. Their beautiful wedding took place few years back. Ade Olufeko is an American multi-disciplinary designer of Nigerian descent, a digital strategist and a passionate digital artist. Ade, born into a creative family spent most of his formative years in the metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria(Surulere). He relocated back to Minneapolis in the mid-’90s and shortly after attended Minnesota State University in Saint Paul, where he studied computer science concentrating on multimedia.
The second girl is Belinda “Bella” Ajoke Olubunmi Disu born 29 May 1986. She is a thorough businesswoman. Dubbed as the “star girl” of the Adebuga dynasty, Bella is the Chairman, Board of Directors Abumet Nigeria Limited, Executive Vice Chairman of Globacom, and a non-executive director of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Well-loved by all and sundry, his father couldn’t hide his love for her when he built her a massive corporate office on the Island, called Bella’s Place. She was educated in Lagos, first at Corona School, Victoria Island and then at Queen’s College for her secondary education. In 1998, she left Queen’s College for the Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, where she graduated in 2000.
She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, US and an M.Sc in Leadership from Northeastern University, Boston. In 2004, Bella joined Globacom Ltd, a multinational telecommunications company operating in Ghana and Nigeria, and is now the Group Executive Director.
In 2011, she took on an additional role of group executive director of Cobblestone Properties and Estates Limited to become CEO in 2015. She is a non-executive director of a Nigerian construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Chairman at Abumet Plc, a glass and aluminum manufacturing company, also in Nigeria.
In January 2019, she assumed the role of Executive Vice Chairman of Globacom after joining the firm in 2004. She attended the Africa CEO Forum that year, where she had a private meeting with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. She was also a keynote speaker at the Women in Business Initiative of the Africa CEO Forum and she joined 149 other global business leaders like Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia and Tony Elumelu at the 2019 choose France International Business Summit held at the Chateau de Versailles in France. At the summit, she announced a deal with Nokia Alcatel-Lucent, to supply, install, and integrate a new Sure Pay Intelligent Network platform. On the 31st of October 2019, as Executive Director of Cobblestone Properties, she unveiled a 10-storey luxury apartment at Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos State which is called ‘Sisi Paris. In 2021, she was appointed Chairman, Board of Directors of Abumet Nigeria Limited. Bella is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Directors and the Nigerian Institute of Management. In April 2010, she married Jameel Disu, a venture capitalist, and they have two children. Disu is the founder and president of Bella Disu Foundation, a nonprofit organization which says it aims to help less privileged children by providing education and employment skills. She is a promoter of the French language and culture through the Alliance Française Project at the Mike Adenuga Alliance Française Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
She is listed as a “benefactor” of music by the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Wall of Fame for her contributions in encouraging a better environment for musical learning.
Bella Disu, representing the Mike Adenuga Foundation (MAF), donated N1.5 billion to Federal Government and Lagos State government to support Nigeria’s fight against the global Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
For Abimbola Micheal Adenuga, she strikes a rare resemblance with her dad and one significant thing about her is that she also shares her birthday with her Dad, Mike Adenuga. She always plays a prominent role in celebrating with her father every year. Abimbola Adenuga cuts a picture of a very successful young lady who is doing so well for herself. She has been at the helms of affairs at her dad’s company, CONOIL Plc for many years now and has exhibited unrivaled performance. She is the group Executive Director and she is the only child on the board of directors at CONOIL Plc. She is also a board member and her large and compassionate heart has made her benefactors to many top NGOs in Nigeria. Tall and beautiful are some of the apt words to describe her, she schooled in Ivy League institutions like her other siblings too.
The last girl of the house is creepingly following the steps of her sisters. Sade Adenuga, is the youngest daughter of a tycoon. In 2015, she became a graduate of a British University, where she received a degree in Law. She is a certified Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. She is also one of the directors at one of her father’s companies. She is into the business of law and doing very well.
Their Dad’s intimidating CV surely tells you the kind of children he will bring up to succeed him in business. Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr (born 29 April 1953) is a billionaire businessman and listed among the richest persons in Nigeria. His company Globacom is Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator and has a presence in Ghana and Benin. He 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 the second-wealthiest Nigerian behind Aliko Dangote, with a net worth of $14.1 billion.
His father, the Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr, was a school teacher while his mother, Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (née Onashile, of Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo), was a businesswoman of royal Ijebu descent. Adenuga received his secondary school education at Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan, and Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro, for his Higher School Certificate (HSC). He worked back then to help fund his university education. He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York, with degrees in Business Administration. 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 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. In 2012, he was made Grand Commander of the Order of Niger by the government of Nigeria. He holds a Yoruba tribal chieftaincy as an Otunba of the Ijebu clan.
–TAYO OYEDIJI
