Bella Disu is the daughter of Glo Founder, Otunba Mike Adenuga. She is the Vice Chairman of Globacom, her father’s telecoms company. She is also the Executive Director of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, one of the biggest construction company in Nigeria, where her family owns substantial shares.
Though her real name is Belinda Adenuga-Disu, many simply call her Bella. Her staff at Glo call her Madam Bella. Interestingly, many don’t know much about this beautiful and intelligent lady who has made giant strides in the business world through her hard work and determination. She is a corporate fly girl who has been breaking the glass ceilings in all her exploits.
Her dad is one of the most respected and influential businessmen in Nigeria. He is the Chairman of Globacom, one of Africa’s biggest telecoms operators. Glo is the second-largest operator in Nigeria.
As Otunba Mike Adenuga has made a huge success of his business, so has he successfully nurtured brilliant and hardworking children who are making him proud in all fields. While many of them are at the helm of affairs of his many companies, some are pursuing their personal businesses.
Bella Disu is also the CEO of Cobblestone Properties and Estates Limited, and on the board of Abumet Plc, and the owner of one of the most luxurious residential property in Ikoyi, Lagos, called The Sisi Paris.
How has she been able to achieve all these? We can tell you.
Recently she posted a video on her Instagram page, where she spoke about her Success Secrets, how she has been able to manage her corporate responsibilities and revealed a lot about her other side, asides work, that many don’t know. What goal did she achieve in the past year? “2022 was my year of Learning, Living, and Giving and at the start of the year, I set out to do these 3 things and very thankfully, I accomplished all” What will she say are her strengths?
“I think my biggest Strength is in the kindness of my heart, because it might be hackneyed to say but kindness really is the balm that heals all and I think in every thing that I do, I try to be kind, I am hoping that even people that I work with will know that even if I am firm which I am or strict, at the end of the day, I am kind”. She also spoke about what opened her eyes to growth?
“At the beginning of the year, I sat with myself and I was just a bit retrospective into my life and the path I was on and I had to think and say to myself, often times we hear about women having imposter syndrome, which is true, it’s valid but then I sat with myself and thought okay, there isn’t imposter syndrome but there are times when we do have knowledge gaps, and how honest can I be with myself that yes I might be in rooms where I feel like, okay,I am a woman and I am young, so maybe I feel like I don’t deserve to be in this room however is there any knowledge that I feel that I am lacking enough of, and if I need that knowledge, I have to go out and get it. So realizing that, I decided to empower myself by learning more and I have always shared. One of the things I propagate quite widely is that we have to remain in the continuum of learning and we just find those areas where I felt, maybe I need a bit more about that and going out to get that has tremendously helped me this past year”. Who exactly is Bella apart form her work life? She spoke on how life has been outside work.
“I am not an ardent believer in horoscopes but I do believe that I am a true Gemini so I have 2 sides, 2 very different sides. The Bella in the office is the most serious Bella, you get most of my character infused into my work life of course but outside of the office is when I can just have my mood chilled, creative side, It is when I am in touch to be more playful, it is the Bella that works more with her hands, the Bella that even though she is planning and very conscious of time, she can sort of relax and ease off more than I would when I am at work”.
She revealed how she was recently gifted a book and its called Everything is figured out table. And for me that was quite profound, because it is congruent with who I am and how I like to tackle situations. I often say is it difficult or impossible to achieve, and I think that in many situations it is not impossible, it is just difficult”.
On her message on what to live by in 2023?
“In 2023, be authentic, be your true self, and have those honest and often uncomfortable discussions with yourself, have uncomfortable discussions with others that propel you in a part of growth and most importantly dance like no one is watching, everything good, everything good in life that you wish for yourself, a cornucopia of offerings I wish for you and more this year. Happy New year”.
Dubbed as the “Star girl” of the Adenuga dynasty, Bella is the Chairman, Board of Directors Abumet Nigeria Limited, Executive Vice Chairman of Globacom, and a non executive director of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Well loved by all and sundry, his father couldn’t hid his love for her when he built her a massive corporate office on the island, called Bella’s Place. She was educated in Lagos, first at Corona School, Victoria Island and then at Queen’s College for her secondary education. In 1998, she left Queen’s College for the Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, where she graduated in 2000.
She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, US and an M.Sc in Leadership from Northeastern University, Boston.In 2004, Bella joined Globacom Ltd, a multinational telecommunications company operating in Ghana and Nigeria, and is now the group Executive Director.
She attended the Africa CEO Forum that year, where she had a private meeting with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. She was also a keynote speaker at the Women in Business Initiative of the Africa CEO Forum and she joined 149 other global business leaders like Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia and Tony Elumelu at the 2019 choose France International Business Summit held at the Chateau de Versailles in France.At the summit, she announced a deal with Nokia Alcatel-Lucent, to supply, install, and integrate a new Sure Pay Intelligent Network platform. On the 31st of October 2019, as Executive Director of Cobblestone Properties, she unveiled a 10-storey luxury apartments at Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos State which is called ‘Sisi Paris.
Bella is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Directors and the Nigerian Institute of Management. In April 2010, she married Jameel Disu, a venture capitalist, and they have two children. Disu is the founder and President of Bella Disu Foundation, a non profit organization which says it aims to help less privileged children by providing education and employment skills. She is a promoter of the French language and culture through the Alliance Française Project at the Mike Adenuga Alliance Française Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos.
She is listed as a “benefactor” of music by the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Wall of Fame for her contributions in encouraging a better environment for musical learning.
-TAYO OYEDIJI
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