The story of Dr. Mike Adenuga’s success reads like a divine script where every twist of fate, every stroke of luck, and every obstacle overcome carries the fingerprints of a higher power. From his childhood prophecies to boardroom miracles, one of Africa and the world’s richest men has walked a path where business acumen and spiritual grace intersect in remarkable ways.
Those who know the Globacom founder intimately speak of a man whose life has been punctuated by moments so serendipitous they defy mere coincidence. And the good thing is, he has never failed to acknowledge God always. He once told a close associate, Otunba Niyi Adewunmi: “If a diviner had predicted many years ago that we would be where we are today, we would have said it’s a lie. Let’s give God the glory.”
Mike Adenuga’s elder brother Otunba Ademola Adenuga puts it plainly: “Most of his breaks, you can see the hand of God—the God factor.”
This is not the typical rags-to-riches tale, but rather a riches-of-faith narrative that begins in the disciplined halls of Ibadan Grammar School. The Anglican missionary school where young Mike boarded instilled more than academic excellence. Every morning began with compulsory Bible reading, psalm chanting, and hymns from the Songs of Praise. The same ritual repeated in the evening, creating a rhythm of devotion that would subconsciously guide Adenuga throughout his turbulent business journey. That spiritual foundation became his anchor when, years later, he would face trials that would break ordinary men.
Perhaps the first clear sign of divine orchestration came when a teenage Mike locked horns with his mother over his American dream. While she wanted him to follow his brother’s footsteps to University of Ibadan, Mike had set his sights on America. The standoff became so intense that his mother dragged him to the Police Commissioner in Ibadan, Chief Adeniji, a family friend, expecting the officer to talk sense into her stubborn son. Instead, the commissioner saw something else entirely. “When your son shows traits like this,” he told Mama Adenuga, “it is the hand of God. Maybe fate is beckoning on him to go in that direction.” That divine endorsement changed everything.
Adenuga’s life is studded with such supernatural interventions. There was the time he missed his British Airways flight only to end up seated in Business Class next to an Austrian lace manufacturer on Swiss Air—a chance encounter that birthed his first million-dollar business – importing lace into Nigeria from Austria. Or when his toddler prophecies to his aunt Mama Rachael Olaitan Osunsanmi—“Mama, come and see plane, this is my plane”—materialised decades later when he bought his first private jet and gifted her a “tear-rubber” (brand new) Honda Civic that dazzled Mama Rachel whom I interviewed for my Mike Adenuga book, in Surulere before she went to rest in the Lord. “Today, looking back,” his aunt Mama Rachel would say, “I can say my son Mike is a prophet.”
But nowhere was God’s hand more evident than during Glo’s darkest hour. After finally securing its telecoms licence following a two-year legal battle, the company faced systematic sabotage from entrenched competitors who blocked interconnection deals. Most businesses would have crumbled. Adenuga turned to prayer, then revolutionised the industry with per-second billing—a masterstroke that didn’t just save Glo but propelled it to become Nigeria’s second largest network. “He didn’t just survive; he rewrote the rules,” says one telecoms analyst. “Only divine insight explains that foresight.” He backed it up with four additional winning strategies, which you will find in my forthcoming book: HOW TO THINK LIKE MIKE ADENUGA.
Those close to Mike Adenuga recognise this divine thread running through his life. His eldest sister, the late Mrs E.O. Osunsade, often said their father’s strict Anglican upbringing—with compulsory morning and evening prayers—planted Mike’s feet “on the solid ground which is Christ.” His immediate older sister Otunba Yetunde Adegbola even sees spiritual significance in the very name of his telecoms company: “Someone was telling me: ‘It’s God alone that glows.’ So with Glo, it’s like sharing the attributes of God himself.”
Today, the billionaire maintains this covenant with the divine in quiet but profound ways. There’s the Mike Adenuga Memorial Church he built to honour his late father, complete with a bishop’s residence that he maintains. In his Banana Island palatial mansion, he constructed a private chapel—not for show, but for daily gratitude. As journalist, Michael Effiong observed” “He is indeed a combination of grit and grace, maybe that is the main reason he has built a chapel in his imposing Ikoyi, Lagos home to enable him to thank God daily for His mercies.”
Adenuga’s philanthropy reflects this same spiritual ethos. Unlike many who trumpet their charity, he gives quietly, often anonymously, living by his own creed: “If God has given you this kind of resources, it is not for you and your family alone.” Former military President Ibrahim Babangida captures it perfectly when I interviewed him at home in Minna for this legacy book project: “Mike Adenuga is not just a good businessman, he is a good man with a good heart. He is blessed by God with vision, wisdom, riches and compassion. The world needs more Mike Adenuga.”
In the end, Mike Adenuga’s story challenges our conventional narratives about success. Yes, there’s unparalleled hustle, razor-sharp strategy, and relentless execution. But woven through it all is a golden thread of grace—those inexplicable moments when the universe conspired in his favour, when obstacles became opportunities, and when a young boy’s prophecies became a billionaire’s reality. As his brother, Otunba Ademola puts it: “The story of Mike Adenuga is proof that there is a divine hand guiding us all and propelling us to greater heights.”
For those seeking success, perhaps the greatest lesson isn’t in Adenuga’s business strategies, but in his quiet recognition that behind every great fortune lies a greater faith and a very big God. The same God who miraculously made Adenuga to discover oil exactly on the Christmas Day of 1991, on an oil well OPL 113, aboard a lucky oil rig called Trident 8, in Okitipupa, Ondo State, a place where nobody thought could produce oil in commercial quantity, being a “heavy oil zone”—meaning the possibility of finding oil there was zero.
But with God, nothing is impossible! God gave Adenuga his best Christmas gift ever: liquid gold. And he became the first Nigerian to strike oil in commercial quantity. Let me end with a quote from Otunba Ademola Adenuga: “My brother’s story shows us that Nigerians, if we are committed, we can really build our country. Nobody would come from outside to build our country. He has broken the myth that only multinationals can run certain types of businesses in Nigeria. Mike Adenuga is a unique creature and the pride of Nigeria and Africa. I pray for him every day. That God will give him good health and long life.” And we all roar a resounding “Amen” and wish him happy birthday on April 29, 2025 when the Godfather of Globacom and Africa’s Business Guru will turn 72—by God’s grace and goodness.