Chief Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr CSG GCON (born 29 April 1953) is a Nigerian billionaire businessman and the third richest person in Africa. 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 estimated his net worth at $6.2 billion as of May 2021.
Early life and education
His father, Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr, was a schoolteacher while his mother, Omoba 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, Oyo State, Nigeria, and Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro, for his Higher School Certificate (HSC). He worked as a taxi driver to help fund his university education. He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York, with degrees in Business Administration.
Career
Adenuga made his first million in 1979, at age 26, selling lace and distributing soft drinks. In 1990, he received a drilling license. In 1991, Consolidated Oil struck oil in the shallow waters of Southwestern Ondo State, making him the first indigenous oil company to do so in commercial quantity.
He was issued a conditional license in 1999. After revoking it, he received a second one when the government held another auction in 2003.
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 operator Comium Côte d’Ivoire for $600 million.