At 39, Bella Disu stands at a rare intersection where legacy, ambition, and self-reinvention meet. In a corporate landscape where many inherit empires but few redefine them, Disu has emerged as one of Nigeria’s most compelling business leaders—an executive who operates with the precision of a strategist and the introspection of a lifelong learner. Her journey reflects the complexity of modern African leadership: grounded in history, responsive to disruption, and unafraid of evolution.
As the daughter of Chief Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., one of Africa’s richest billionaires, Disu grew up inside a dynasty built on enterprise and relentless drive. But her path has never been that of an heiress content to inherit a legacy; instead, she has carved her own signature across sectors that mirror Nigeria’s economic heartbeat. From teleco to real estate, manufacturing to construction, she has held demanding roles with an ease that belies the rigor behind them.
Today she serves as Executive Vice Chairman of Globacom, CEO of Cobblestone Properties, and Chairman of Abumet Nigeria, leading transformative projects that fuse purpose with innovation. Her academic journey—spanning the University of Massachusetts Boston, Northeastern University, and Imperial College London—and her recognition as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Directors Nigeria further anchor her rise as a global business and social-impact voice.
Yet the story that captured the spotlight at TEDxIkoyi last week was not simply her executive ascent. It was her decision to dismantle one of the most deeply held myths in professional growth: the idea that readiness must precede action. Her talk, titled “Say Yes Now: Why Readiness Is a Myth,” was both a master class in personal evolution and a candid roadmap drawn directly from her own experience.
Disu redefines readiness through action
“I was 38 when I finally met my whole self,” she told the audience—“the changemaker, the creative, the lifelong learner, the woman unafraid to keep evolving.” What followed was a revelation not delivered from a place of perfection but from fatigue—specifically, from what she described as “walking within the same walls.” After years of discipline in her fitness journey—tracking protein intake down to the gram, strength training four times weekly, logging thousands of daily steps on the three walking pads she kept in her bedroom, study, and office—she realized she had mastered routine but not renewal. It was this moment that birthed a thought that seemed almost radical to her at the time: Maybe I should learn tennis.
The hesitation was immediate and familiar. Was she ready? Was it too technical? Too late? Who starts tennis at 38? The questions mirrored the same self-doubt that often shadows major professional decisions. But she said yes anyway. And soon she found herself on the court three, sometimes four times a week—discovering, to her shock, that tennis generated very few steps and yet opened an entirely new dimension of physical and mental growth. That, she said, was her first lesson: readiness does not arrive before action; it emerges because of it.
But Disu’s talk did not rest on the tennis anecdote. It dug deeper, pulling back the psychological layers behind hesitation. She spoke about destination addiction—the belief that fulfillment exists only at the next milestone—and how this fixation disguises itself as a need for more time, more qualifications, or a more perfect version of oneself. She described her own moment of confrontation with this mindset in 2014, when a coach asked a simple but piercing question: “So, tell me about Bella.” She froze. She could speak about her work, her father’s mentorship, even her wedding—“probably my biggest claim at the time”—but not about herself. That silence revealed the distance between her accomplishments and her self-definition.
A follow-up session with the coach offered her a breakthrough. By prompting her to reflect on her past and future selves—who she was ten years prior, and who she wanted to become ten years ahead—he revived passions she had buried under responsibility and achievement. His clarity unlocked her own: “What’s stopping you from pursuing them? You can be many things at once.” Her internal yes led to degrees, an MBA, the publication of her first children’s book, the expansion of the Bella Disu Foundation, and the confidence to walk into rooms that once intimidated her.
Small yeses drive big execution
In her corporate roles, this philosophy has shaped how she leads. She described steering teams through restructuring, redesigning strategies, making difficult decisions, and confronting the late nights and doubts that accompany high-stakes leadership. For Disu, urgency grounded in facts—not haste—defined mature leadership. “Seeing what could be and moving toward it,” she said, is what differentiates organizations that evolve from those that freeze. Companies, she noted, hesitate just like people do, often with devastating consequences.
Her examples were stark: Kodak seeing digital photography coming but stalling, Blockbuster dismissing Netflix, companies that once defined eras collapsing under the weight of their own caution. By contrast, she pointed to Apple, which accelerated into the digital future others feared. The same dynamics, she said, are evident in Nigeria—from the fall of once-beloved quick-service restaurants to the rise of new brands like Chicken Republic and Kilimanjaro, from fintechs forcing banks to rethink their long-held methods to new entrants challenging complacency across industries.
The through-line is clear: courage and speed outperform size and comfort. Leaders grow by recognizing hesitation’s mask and removing it. Individuals transform by acting before they feel fully prepared. “Every important shift in my life began with a small yes,” she said—whether learning tennis at 38, pursuing more education, or stepping into spaces that demanded more than comfort could provide.
What surprised her most, she told the audience, was how saying yes radiates outward. Her teams now confront comfort because she did. The women she mentors raise their hands because they watched her raise hers. And her daughter Paris picked up a tennis racket because she picked up the courage to do something new. “Every yes we give ourselves becomes a light that tells someone else it is safe to begin,” she said.
Growth moves beyond perfect timing
Her closing words at TEDxIkoyi were simple, direct, and unforgettable—echoing her central thesis that growth does not wait for readiness. “Right now, someone in this room is sitting on an idea,” she said. “Maybe you’re waiting for the perfect time, asking: Should I do it? Should I wait? You already know your answer. The light is already green. Move. Say yes. But most of all—say yes now.”
In a corporate world defined by pressure, timelines, and relentless expectations, Bella Disu’s message landed with the weight of lived experience. She is a business leader shaped by legacy but defined by her choices—choices that challenge the myth of readiness and invite others to step boldly into their future. And in that invitation lies the essence of her leadership: not perfection, not inherited power, but the courage to say yes before the world expects it—and long before she feels fully prepared.
