Guess what? This is how Africa’s popular billionaires made their money

Mike Adenuga — The Guardian Nigeria

Mike Adenuga

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Nigeria’s second richest man has built a fortune in telecom and oil production. He launched Globacom mobile phone network in 2006, which has reached about 37 million subscribers and continues to expand to other West African countries.

After studying in the UK, he returned to Nigeria at the age of 26, and that is where he made his first fortune. He began taking charge of his mother’s sawmill business and distributed lace and other materials.

Through that, he made friends with people in the Nigerian military, whom he cornered to help him get state construction contracts. Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s former president awarded Adenuga an oil prospecting license.

Adenuga used that to build Conoil, becoming the first Nigerian to strike oil in commercial quantities. In 1999, he was issued a conditional GSM license in 1999. It was revoked but he later received the second one when the government held another auction in 2003.

Currently, Adenuga’s Conoil Producing operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta. His net worth is $5.3 billion.