How She Plays BIG In Corporate NIGERIA
Mrs. Bella Disu is Globacom founder, Otunba Mike Adenuga’s eldest daughter. She is doing so well in Corporate Nigeria. She sits pretty at the top of 2 big blue-chip companies in Nigeria-GLOBACOM & JULIUS BERGER.
She dazzled everyone a few days ago at the just concluded 2020 ThisDay Award held at Eko Hotel. She stole the show when she came out to receive the award that her dad and their organisation won.
This stylish daughter of Otunba Adenuga was looking elegant in her formal wear. She has dressed corporately in a jacket on trousers. She got a slim frame that works for her. Bella, it was who represented her father and the company, GLOBACOM.
Let’s tell you more about Belinda “Bella” Ajoke Olubunmi Disu.
She is the Executive Vice Chairman of Globacom and a non-Executive Director of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.
At 34, Bella has achieved a lot for herself. She was born on 29th May, 1986.
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.
In 2011, she took on an additional role of the group executive director of Cobblestone Properties and Estates Limited to become CEO in 2015. She is a non-Executive Director of a Nigerian construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, and a director at Abumet Plc, a glass and aluminum manufacturing company, also in Nigeria.
In January 2019, she assumed the role of executive vice-chairman of Globacom after joining the firm in 2004.
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 apartment 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 the Bella Disu Foundation, a nonprofit 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 State.
She is listed as a “sustainer” of music by the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Wall of Fame for her contributions in encouraging a better environment for musical learning.
Bella was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in December 2019, for her contributions on the preservation of Arts and Culture especially her coordination of the construction of the Alliance Francaise Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos.
When her dad, Nigeria’s business guru and Chairman of the Mike Adenuga Group of Companies, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., was unveiled as the 2016 ‘Man of the Year’ by Nigeria’s leading society magazine, City People, in recognition of his humanitarian activities and business prowess, it was Bella that received the Award on her dads behalf.
The award was presented by the magazine at the Mike Adenuga Towers, headquarters of the Group, where it was received on his behalf by Bella who was then Globacom’s Group Executive Director. According to City Magazine, Dr. Adenuga was preferred for the award ahead of other eminent Nigerians including Prof. Attahiru Jega, the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who conducted successful general elections in 2015. Other contenders for the award were ex-Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, who bounced back as a ‘Super Minister’ after having gained wide acclaim as the ‘Poster Boy’ Governor of his party; President Goodluck Jonathan for willingly conceding defeat in the presidential election and initiating a call to his opponent even before the announcement of results from all the states of the Federation, came and Alhaji Aliko Dangote for spreading the tentacles of Dangote Cement to other African countries.
City People explained then that the award is on account of Dr Adenuga’s ‘silent philanthropic gestures across Nigeria’ and his leadership role in the business sector in Africa and his steadfastness in his commitment to various charitable causes over the years, describing him as a ‘self-effacing philanthropist.” The City People said: “Last year alone, unknown to many, Dr. Mike Adenuga touched the lives of very many people from the Arts to Music, Politics and Business and even ordinary Nigerians,” adding that “Dr. Adenuga had over the last 20 years made silent donations to about 5,000 senior citizens as monthly feeding allowances. And at the end of the year, he picked another 1,000 Nigerians across the country to endow and empower economically. But as a rule, he does not talk about it. And those around him are expected to keep mum”.
While describing Dr Adenuga as a veritable example to every prospective entrepreneur, the magazine declared that he is “a quintessential businessman” and glowing example of the irrepressible spirit of the African entrepreneur, passionate, committed, resilient and extremely hardworking African business person. “Through his businesses in the telecommunications, aviation, real estate oil, gas and other sectors, he is helping to set the pace and contributing to the growth of African economies, providing direct employment to thousands of Nigerians and people from the international community, as well as millions of others in indirect employment,” the citation posited. Born Michael Ishola Adeniyi Adenuga, the entrepreneur who clocks 63 on April 29, superintends over arguably one of the continent’s largest business empires which comprise Oil and Gas, telecoms, aviation, banking and real estate. His telecoms company, Globacom, in pursuit of its pan-African vision, boasts of operations in several African countries.
