Update your settings

Hakeem Belo-Osagie is the Chairman and a significant shareholder of the Nigerian operations of United Arab Emirates-based telecom provider Etisalat. Etisalat is Nigeria's fastest growing mobile telecom network, with a subscriber base of 15 million, up from 6 million two years ago. Etisalat's growth is the catalyst for Belo-Osagie's increased fortune, up by $150 million from a year ago. 'HBO,' as he is usually referred to in Nigerian circles, grew up privileged. His father served as a doctor to the family of Nigeria's former military president Ibrahim Babangida, and Hakeem Belo-Osagie bagged degrees from Oxford and Harvard. In the 1980s he served as an assistant to the presidential adviser on petroleum and energy, then did a brief stint at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. In 1986 he set up petroleum consultancy CTIC. In 1998 he bought 51% of United Bank of Africa from the Nigerian government and sold it for a reported $120 million in 2004. He is also the founder of First Securities Discount House, a money market and Treasury bill trading and financial services firm.