Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr, chairman Globacom has been conferred with the 2009 Man of the Year by five media organizations.
This is the first time one private individual has been named Man of the Year by such number of media organizations.
He was chosen by Silverbird Communications, owners of Silverbird TV and Rhythm 93.7 FM; Independent Newspapers, owner of Daily Independent newspaper; Compass; City People and Ovation International as the most outstanding personality in 2009.
In a letter conveying the “2009 Silverbird Man of the Year” award to Dr Adenuga, Ben Murray-Bruce, chairman of Silverbird Group, said the Globacom chairman was overwhelmingly voted for by over 75% of Nigerians who participated in the poll.
Murray-Bruce noted that Adenuga’s “outstanding achievements in the last year and, indeed, years gone by were immeasurable.”
“The consistent and relentless giant strides you have made and continue to make towards the development of our beloved country are not just remarkable, but exceedingly outstanding. You were overwhelmingly voted for by Nigerians across the country. Your emergence further attests your popularity, which is not unconnected with your uncommon belief in Nigeria and the ability of the Nigerian to ‘Rule the World’,” Murray-Bruce stated.
The Silverbird Man of the Year award was initiated in 2005 to celebrate the Nigerian who, in the past year, positively touched the lives of other Nigerians the most.
In choosing Adenuga for the Man of the Year award, City People observed that he was one notable Nigerian who had caused a total revolution in the telecom sector. “His name reverberates across Nigeria and West Africa, from Ghana to Senegal, Togo to Benin Republic and Nigeria. Even in countries where the company is still prospecting licence, Globacom and the man behind it have become adorable household names. He is the authentic African business icon,” said the magazine.
Dr. Adenuga also emerged the Independent Newspapers Man of the Year from a shortlist of candidates including late Gani Fawehinmi, CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi, former Ghanaian President John Kuffuor, US President Barak Obama, Governors Rotimi Amechi of Rivers State, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, and Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta.
In deciding on the Man of the Year, the board of the newspaper said Adenuga’s impact during the year in private entrepreneurship struck it as inspiring and outstanding. “Adenuga was chosen for Globacom’s successful completion of the trans-Atlantic submarine cable which connects Africa to Europe and America and for the nationwide optic fibre cable (OFC) which connects over forty cities in Nigeria and is reputed to be Nigeria’s largest OFC network.
Ovation International and Compass also observed that Dr. Adenuga is the individual that positively touched millions of lives the most in 2009. They noted that in both banking and telecommunications, Adenuga affected millions of lives through excellent service delivery, customer reward schemes and poverty eradication initiatives.
All the five media organisations noted that Globacom’s successes in just six years of business are a tribute to Adenuga’s business and managerial acumen. “With its foray in Benin Republic where in a little over one year it is now one of the country’s leading telecom operators with over one million subscribers, the telecom licence it won recently in Cote d’Ivoire, its imminent launch in Ghana, its bid for licence in Togo and Senegal and the landing of Glo1 in Ghana and Nigeria, Glo is now on a fast track to actualising its vision of building the largest and best telecom company in Africa,” said one of the reports that justified the selection of Adenuga for the honour.
2009 also saw Adenuga’s Glo launch its fixed line network, Glo Broadaccess. With the new service, they observed, Adenuga has once again led the way in the drive to reinvigorate wired telephony in the country and is bringing Nigeria closer to the advanced nations that have long enjoyed the benefits of broadband which included convergence, high speed internet, video and TV on demand.
They also commended Adenuga for changing the face of sports on the continent through the sponsorship of the CAF Awards, the Glo International Half Marathon and the Nigeria and Ghana premier leagues and national teams.
