LAST week, at the International Conference Centre Abuja, former Chief Executive Officer of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, among several other private sector operators, was honoured with the prestigious Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by President Jonathan. Chairman of Globacom Nigeria, Chief Mike Adenuga, was also honoured with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) following last year's conferment of the same honour on Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the President of the Dangote Goup. The move, analysts observed was to encourage the private sector operators that move the economy. Marcel Mbamalu and Geoff Iyatse chronicle the footprints of some of the honourees.Dr. Mike Adenuga, GCONMIKE Adenuga's rise to limelight is an interesting story. His resolve to succeed despite all odds started when, while in United States of America, he worked as a taxi driver and security guard to support himself at university.Born on April 29, 1953, Adenuga got his secondary school education at the Ibadan Grammar School, Oyo State, before proceeding to the North-Western University in Oklahoma and Pace University, New York, both in the United States of America, where he studied business administration.At age 26, he became a millionaire. With his unique flair for risk-taking and unusual tenacity of purpose, he delved into sectors many young entrepreneurs could only consider as dreams. His first shot into public consciousness was when his company, Consolidated Oil emerged the first indigenous firm to strike crude in 1991. He lately ventured into banking and telecommunications markets. With his Communications Investment Limited (CIL), he was issued a conditional licence in 1999 and frequencies to operate the Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM). The licence was later revoked.When in 2002 the government, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), opened new auction for GSM licence, CIL participated and was one of the four companies that won the bid. He paid $20 million mandatory deposit.However, in the process of completing the balance payment of $265 million, the company was adjudged to have failed to pay within the stipulated time. CIL lost both the licence and $20 million deposit. He later went on to bid for the Second National Operator (SNO) licence and deposited another $20 million. This time, he was fortunate.He won the bid in August 2002 through Globacom Limited. Globacom was given right to operate as a national carrier; operate digital mobile lines; serve as international gateway for telecommunications in the country and operate fixed wireless access phones.Adenuga's business interests cut across several countries in, America and the Middle East. Forbes ranks the Globacom boss the 248th world's richest man with a net worth of $4.3 billion. He is the second Nigerian entrepreneur to be decorated with the GCON national honour.TONY ELUMELU, CONEVER since his retirement from the UBA, based on the Central Bank of Nigeria's mandatory benchmark of 10 years for chief executives, Tony has committed himself to supporting private sector growth in Africa. He currently does this through the instrumentality of the Foundation, which he inaugurated in 2010.In its propagation of what it coined, Africapitalism, The Foundation has partnered several international agencies, including the Western Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Africa Diaspora Market Place (ADM)An astute believer in entrepreneurship and mentorship, Elumelu has, at various fora, canvassed afro-centric approach to global economic challenge and private sector-driven growth for national economies.Last year, the trio of the Western Union, a leader in global payment services, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Tony Elumelu Foundation, launched the second African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM), a project that seeks to tap the economic potential of the 1.4 million Africans living in the United States and bring more direct investment to the continent.Moved by global economic trends and the need for the continent to explore its business potentials, Tony, who is also Chairman of Heirs Holdings, called on entrepreneurs and business leaders to embrace the concept of Africapitalism.He has toured several African countries with his message of Africapitalism.For instance, he had spoken at several engagements in Kenya, where he stated that the much-needed growth and development of Africa could best be achieved through a private sector commitment to economic transformation of the continent.Following Elumelu's emergence as Chairman of Transcorp, he has taken major growth-propelling steps in the running of the conglomerate, the most recent being the pioneering of the ultra modern juice processing plant in Makurdi.No doubt, Transcorp Hilton, a (hospitality industry) subsidiary of the group, is experiencing the best of times under Elumelu's watch, as chairman.PERHAPS, Elumelu' s destiny, as an astute banker became more pronounced through the fortunes of the legacy Standard Chartered Bank (STB) and later the UBA, which is regarded as leading bank, not just in Nigeria but also on the African continent.He had begun his professional banking career in 1985, when he founded the BGL Limited, an asset management company, and became its pioneer Chief Executive Officer. In 1997, he led a group of investors and turn-around experts to reposition the then distressed Crystal Bank into Standard Trust Bank.In 2005, he also led the acquisition and subsequent merger of the smaller STB with the UBA. The acquisition by a smaller company is considered the first in the Africa, at least in the banking sector. The integration was also done, remarkably, in record time.Subsequently, he conceived and executed the bank's three-tier approach to financial sector dominance in Africa and masterminded UBA's spread to 20 African countries, even as he championed its expansion drive in the USA, the UK and France.His innovative credit and marketing approach led to what is today referred to the 'cowboy' era. He was broad, daring and focused on building a banking institution that could bankroll mega project the traditional and earlier local lenders could not fund.With him at the helm of affairs, the UBA received an 'A' rating with an estimated brand value of $322 million, thus emerging one of Africa's 40 fastest growing companies (the African Challengers) in 2010.Elumelu, now an alumnus of the Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Programme, also founded the African proprietary investment company, Heirs Holdings, after his retirement from UBA. The company investment policy targets opportunities that will create economic prosperity and social wealth in Africa. In 2011, Heirs Holdings gained a controlling interest in the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, a conglomerate with interest in energy, agribusiness and hospitality.In one of his international TV outings shortly before his exit from the bank, Elumelu described 'today's UBA' as a product of the amalgamation of two banks in Nigeria. 'The erstwhile United Bank for Africa, which was the third biggest bank in Nigeria and the erstwhile Standard Trust Bank, which was the fifth biggest bank in the country.In 2005, the two banks came together and created the new UBA. When we created this new institution, we agreed on what we called the three tier strategic intent for UBA. The first tier was to be the leading financial services group in Nigeria; second tier was to be the leading financial services group in Africa and that is what we are trying to execute and this has taken us beyond Nigeria, across Africa and major economic regional blocks in Africa. This is the driving force in what we are doing across the continent; and the third tier is the next phase,' he said.Elumelu was brought up by struggling, middle-class parents, who circumstantially found himself studying Economics as First and Second Degree Courses.Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, CFRThe life's journey of Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion started in small farming village of Okada, in the present Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State on September 11, 1934.'The Heavens,' as Shakespeare would say,'did not blaze forth his birth,' for his parents, though of proud and noble heritage, had humble beginnings. He was born to late Josiah Agharagbon Oviawe Igbinedion and Madam Okunozee, a descendant of the Royal House of Usen.Igbinedion's numerous companies have over the years had invested in diverse areas such as aviation, electronic media, banking, salt manufacturing, oil exploration, solid minerals, soft drink bottling, real estate, fruit/fish farming, palm oil production, petroleum and gas marketing, shipping, haulage, road transport, confectionery and hospitality.Perhaps, one of his greatest legacies will be the pioneering of Mid Motors (Nig) Limited in 1968 ' a company that would became the first indigenous motor assembly plant in Nigeria.It is often said, sometimes enviously, sometimes admiringly, but always with a hint of awe that Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, the Esama of Benin Kingdom, has exercised longer business dominance than any other Nigerian. Igbinedion, though too polite to make such a claim himself, tacitly acknowledges its validity whenever he is asked. The top, he also says: 'is tough and lonely.'During the peak of Nigeria's oil boom in1981, the Benin chief saw the need for active participation of the private sector in the aviation industry. In the same year he purchased his first private aircraft through Mr. Derek Lowe of Executive Jet Sales. The HS125, was launched at Benin Airport by the Oba of Benin, HRM Omo N'Oba N'Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Omo N'Oba Erediuwa. Thereafter, in 1983, Igbinedion boldly recorded the first private initiative in the fledgling industry when he established Okada Airline Ltd. His next venture was the purchase of a BAC 1-11 executive jet, which was formerly owned by the deposed President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines.By 1988, the Okada Airline fleet comprised two executive BAC 1-11 and nine BAC 1-11 passenger/cargo aircrafts. From that moment, Okada Airline, began to grow by leaps and bounds.The renowned entrepreneur made history when he acquired a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. The B747 was officially commissioned by Vice President Augustus Aikhomu on behalf of President Ibrahim Babangida, who also graced the occasion anyway. The arrival of Babangida in recognition of the unparalleled achievement by a Nigerian gave the commissioning ceremony the Presidential Seal. The ceremony, which took place at the Abuja International Airport on May 7, 1992, made Igbinedion the Chairman of Okada Airline, the first black man in the 20th century to own and operate a Boeing 747 aircraft.Igbinedion's feats might have been dwarfed by achievements of younger Nigerians, yet he was one of the most successful at the prime of his business ventures. Today, he is Chancellor/Chairman of the Board of Regents of the first private university in the country, Igbinedion University. The position is a reward for 15 years of tenacious struggle to bring about a phenomenal development in education.Cletus Ibeto, CONCletus Ibeto, born on November 6, 1952, is a Nigerian businessman from the industrial town of Nnewi. He heads the Ibeto Group, the largest business enterprise from Nnewi, a commercial city unique for its entrepreneurial landscape. In the early 1980s when crude oil crash and a controversial import licensing system was making a dent on the manufacturing environment, Nnewi went through a phenomenal growth. Ibeto Group under the leadership of Cletus was a pace setter in the region and nation's trading, and later manufacturing, in that era.Ibeto started as a spare parts dealer, after spending some time as an apprentice in the motor parts business, a step taken by many eastern traders. In March 1988, he stopped direct importation of lead acid automative battery and plastic motor accessories after completing his factory in Nnewi. By 1995, the Ibeto Group had become one of the largest auto spare parts manufacturing outfits in the country.In 1996, he established Ibeto Petrochemical Industries Ltd, which engages in the blending of oil lubricants as well as production of various types of petroleum products for local and international markets. The company, located at Apapa Wharf and Ibru Jetty Complex, owns the largest liquid storage facilities for petroleum products in Nigeria with a capacity of over 60,000 metric tones.Ibeto Cement Company Limited was incorporated in 2002 in response to goevrnment's call on indigenous entrepreneurs to go into bulk breaking and bagging of the commodity. The company has an ultra-modern cement bagging terminal at Bundu Ama, one of the creeks in Port Harcourt metropolis. The project with a purpose built jetty was completed in June 2005; it currently has a production capacity of over 5,400 bags of cement per hour. This facility, apart from being the biggest in the West African sub-region, is the most mechanised and environmentally friendly type.In 2008, Ibeto received the Order of the Officer of the Niger (OON) for his outstanding contributions to the country's manufacturing sector.Ifeanyi Okoye Eric, OFRDr. Ifeanyi Eric Okoye is a Pharmacist with an MSc and a PhD in pharmaceutical technology. He is a fellow of the pharmaceutical society of Nigeria.After undergoing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in 1982, Okoye joined Upjohn Nigeria Ltd, an America-based multinational pharmaceutical company, where he worked for five years before the establishment Juhel Nigeria Ltd.He is the National Vice President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN). He is an award winner of Abuja and Port Harcourt chambers of commerce industry mines and agriculture.He is a member of the Board of Trustee of the UNDP-assisted Human Development Fund in Anambra State as well as a member of the Governing council of Federal Polytechnics, Oko, Anambra State.
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