Key Factors
- Mike Adenuga’s internet value rose by $700 million in 2024, reaching $6.8 billion, securing his spot among the many world’s 450 richest individuals.
- Adenuga’s wealth spans telecom, banking, oil, and actual property, with main holdings in Globacom, Sterling Monetary Holdings, and Conoil Producing.
- Globacom leads digital transformation, with initiatives like digital innovation hubs and fintech ventures to help monetary inclusion and tech progress.
Amid a yr marked by foreign money depreciation throughout a number of African nations, together with Nigeria, billionaire businessman Mike Adenuga solidified his place among the many continent’s wealthiest people and the world’s 450 richest individuals. Adenuga, who constructed his fortune in telecommunications and oil manufacturing, noticed his internet value rise by $700 million in 2024, a testomony to the resilience and diversification of his enterprise empire.
As of Jan. 1, 2024, Forbes, the U.S.-based enterprise journal famend for monitoring international billionaire fortunes, estimated Adenuga’s wealth at $6.1 billion. By Dec. 31, 2024, his internet value had grown to $6.8 billion, rating him because the 448th richest individual on the planet. Adenuga’s wealth is anchored in his management of Globacom, Nigeria’s second-largest cellular telecommunications and digital companies supplier, which boasts over 60 million subscribers.
From humble beginnings to international affect
Revered because the “Spirit of Africa” for his benevolence and transformative charity throughout the continent, Mike Adenuga’s journey to wealth is a quintessential self-made story. From humble beginnings as a taxi driver funding his schooling, he graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State College and Tempo College in New York with levels in Enterprise Administration.
At simply 26, Adenuga earned his first million by means of lace buying and selling and tender drink distribution. These early entrepreneurial successes laid the muse for his groundbreaking achievements within the oil and gasoline business. In 1991, his firm, Consolidated Oil, made historical past by placing oil within the shallow waters of Ondo State, making him the primary Nigerian to realize this feat.
Constructing on his oil business triumphs, Adenuga turned his sights to Nigeria’s telecommunications sector, remodeling it from an unique luxurious to an accessible necessity. The appearance of the World System for Cell Communications (GSM) within the 2000s noticed Nigerians paying between N20,000 and N25,000 (roughly $200–$250 on the time) for a SIM card—an expense that was solely accessible to the elite. Nonetheless, the launch of Globacom by Mike Adenuga revolutionized the telecommunications panorama by democratizing entry. Adenuga made SIM playing cards inexpensive, empowering hundreds of thousands of Nigerians and considerably increasing cell phone utilization throughout the nation.
His visionary management was additional demonstrated with the completion of the Glo-1 submarine cable, a 6,100-mile underwater system connecting Nigeria to the UK through Portugal and Ghana. This $1.5 billion venture underscored Adenuga’s dedication to technological innovation and connectivity, cementing his legacy as a transformative determine in Africa’s financial panorama.
Adenuga builds generational wealth throughout sectors
Whereas Forbes pegs his fortune at $6.8 billion, Adenuga’s wealth extends far past telecommunications. His portfolio contains important pursuits in banking, oil and gasoline, building, actual property, and manufacturing.
Key property embody Sterling Monetary Holdings, building large Julius Berger, and Conoil Producing, an oil exploration outfit working six blocks within the Niger Delta with over 400 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves. Conoil Producing delivers 20,000 barrels of oil day by day and holds 1.8 trillion cubic toes of gasoline reserves. Different ventures embody Conoil Plc, Cobblestone Properties & Estates Restricted, and Abumet Nigeria Restricted, which makes a speciality of aluminum and glass options.
Globacom stays the crown jewel of Adenuga’s empire, driving Nigeria’s digital transformation by means of substantial investments in community enlargement and buyer rewards. Its initiatives have earned loyalty amongst subscribers, whereas its improvements, such because the Glo Studying Administration Resolution, prepare as much as 100,000 customers month-to-month in digital expertise like blockchain, AI, and digital advertising. These efforts align with Nigeria’s objective of manufacturing 3 million tech skills by 2027.
Innovating past telecom
Globacom has constantly demonstrated its business management and dedication to Nigeria’s growth. In October 2023, the corporate reaffirmed its regulatory compliance and dominance within the telecom sector by paying N156 billion ($210 million) in spectrum renewal charges. Past telecommunications, Globacom has made a notable affect throughout sectors similar to schooling, agriculture, and transportation, showcasing its dedication to nationwide progress.
Constructing on this basis, Globacom superior its efforts in 2024 to bridge the digital divide by launching 4 digital innovation hubs geared toward fostering entrepreneurship and driving Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. The primary hub debuted in Lagos in late 2024, with extra hubs deliberate for Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Abuja by mid-2025. These hubs are set to turn out to be key drivers of progress and innovation within the nation.
Globacom’s enterprise into fintech can be yielding features. The corporate’s MoneyMaster Fee Service Financial institution, launched in October 2022, has capitalized on a community of 100,000 brokers to offer important banking companies. This initiative performs a key position in advancing the Central Financial institution of Nigeria’s monetary inclusion targets, specializing in the 79 million underbanked and unbanked residents. It underscores Globacom’s dedication to driving socio-economic transformation within the nation.
In parallel, the affect of Mike Adenuga’s enterprise empire extends past telecommunications into the true property sector. His daughter, Belinda Ajoke Disu (Bella Disu), the Govt Vice Chair of Globacom, can be making important strides in property growth. As the top of Cobblestone Properties, Bella Disu has strengthened her presence with high-end retail malls similar to Ilé Ọjà Victoria Island in Lagos’ prestigious Victoria Island, and Ilé Ọjà Opebi, positioned within the vibrant Ikeja space of Lagos State, Nigeria’s financial hub.
