Adenuga: The Bull at 71 is a Bull for Life

Most of the world billionaires—except showman Elon Musk—have this mousy personae. Their Nigerian counterparts take it to a high  level when it comes to public shyness. And one of them still takes it a notch higher: Mike Adenuga.

But don’t fall for it, and stand pat.  The second richest man in Nigeria, and the fifth in Africa, could charge at you, and butt you out of breath. He’s The Bull. And he makes no bones about it. It’s his totem.

Not much of him you get directly from him. But his bullishness pulsates all over Nigeria’s business community. He started from his heyday as a pushy twenager who called himself the Gold Digger. From taxi driving in New York to petty trading here, Adenuga struck his first million at 26. His digging continued, bull-headedly. Then he struck some veins with his Con Oil Producing (and marketing) in the Niger Delta—and aviation (fuelling) venture, too. That madde him about the first indigenous wildcatter.

Next up: his Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) in the banking industry. Then he founded Glo Telecom after losing $20 million on the first try. With it, he locked horns with the foreign competitors Econet and MTN the way a bull fights. He first took them up in a price war, starting with the per-second billing. Glo-1 followed that straight up—the first intercontinental submarine telecom cabling in Africa linking Nigeria to Europe.

One can only imagine the fun the NCC and other regulators have handling this battering bull that likes pushing the envelope. Frequent clashes, no doubt. Then some more scandals followed—money laundering allegations. And The Bull then bolted to London—to come fight another day. 

There’s no glossing over some pummeling and goring he took, too. His oil company’s accounts dipped in the red. Interconnectivity war—and debt— pounded his Glo. His fortune shrank from about $10 billion to around $4 billion. Age was advancing, too. But an old bull is still a bull, scars and all. Pushing 70 then, he still retained his jaunty brio. A businessman that nothing stands in his way.

Those who know him say Adenuga and Globacom are one and the same thing. Nobody, whatever their color, mucks with his network. Tell him you couldn’t reach him because of a network failure. Adenuga would give you a billionaire’s tick-off, and say, “I am the network. I. DON’T. FAIL.”

So he re-strategized, and kept up the fight.  His ETB merged with Sterling Bank. Glo tided over the storm, and 60 million subscribers currently bubble on the network. Things started looking pretty good again. The last time Forbes checked, The Bull had rallied up again, hitting $7 billion in his net worth.

And it appears there’s still some bullishness in him seeking expression. 

He can still charge.