Tonye Cole, the co-founder of Sahara Group, has revealed that the company registered as a foreign company in its early years to overcome the “colonial mentality” that made it difficult for young Nigerian entrepreneurs to enter the country’s oil and gas industry.
Speaking during an interview on the Afropolitan podcast, Cole said Sahara was registered in the Isle of Man through a UK entity and operated as what appeared to be an expatriate company. To reinforce that image, the founders created a fictional British executive known as “Dr J,” while they presented themselves as employees rather than owners of the business.
According to Cole, the decision was driven by widespread perceptions at the time that foreign companies were more capable than indigenous firms. He said prospective clients often questioned whether young Nigerians in their late twenties could own and successfully run an oil and gas company, making it difficult for Sahara to secure business opportunities.
“What I remember about back then was that there was what you would call the expatriate mentality, colonial mentality at the time,” Cole said, adding that “if you were white in Nigeria, then you would basically get everything.”
He explained that the founders observed that most companies succeeding in the industry either were foreign-owned or had foreign affiliations, prompting them to register the business abroad. The company then created the impression that it was managed by an experienced expatriate executive, with the founders acting as local staff representing the foreign entity.
Cole said the strategy helped Sahara gain credibility with clients who believed they were dealing with an established international company while also supporting young Nigerian employees. The arrangement lasted for about three years before clients began asking why they had never met the mysterious “Dr J,” whose signature appeared on company correspondence.
Deeper Issues
Cole’s account offers a rare glimpse into the informal barriers that confronted indigenous entrepreneurs during Nigeria’s post-military economic transition. At the time, multinational oil companies dominated the upstream and trading sectors, while local participation remained limited despite the gradual emergence of indigenous operators.
Before policies promoting Nigerian content gained momentum, many local businesses struggled to compete against foreign firms whose international ownership alone often conferred commercial legitimacy.
Sahara Group has since grown into a multinational energy company with operations across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Cole later ventured into politics and contested the 2023 Rivers State governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
