by Wilfred Okiche

Sahara Energy boss Tonye Cole is one of our favourite people.  A business man, preacher and father, he never fails to inspire young people with his success and lifestyle. We sat down with the oil magnate for a chat and he was quite forthcoming, speaking about big business and revealing how the fuel subsidy probes could have been handled better and why the Nigerian youth is like none other.

Enjoy excerpts from the interview.

A while back we on YNaija, we were doing the youth minister watch, a pool asking readers to pick who they would like appointed as the new youth minister and your name came up a number of times. What does this say to you?

I don’t know why my name is coming up and this is news to me. I will just say that it is obvious to me that the Nigerian youth are paying more attention to what concerns them and I think that is a step in the right direction.

You were once nominated for a ministerial position that did not quite work out. Is it something you would consider again ?

In a desire to help my nation forward, service for me is not a problem. So if asked, I would render my services in any position I can.

Would such service come in the form of an elective position?

Elective position is a bit different and that is something that may happen in the future, who knows? But as it is now I have not considered it.

How has Sahara Energy fared in the wake of the post fuel subsidy probes and deregulation attempts?

For us in particular, I think it has been a good experience. First of all the exercise separated those who were doing genuine business from those who were not. After all the investigations,  my company came out as one of those who were doing the right thing and I don’t think that can ever be a bad thing. It enhances credibility and integrity and so we have continued to enjoy growth. Competition helps to enhance business so it is all good.

Then you would say that the exercise was good for the industry?

I would say that any industry that operates under a transparent set up thrives. Competition is good and setting guidelines for business is also good. Efficiency in a system reduces cost of doing business so that is good too.  I do not fully agree with the way and manner some of it was carried out. That period , everybody was first of all labeled criminal and there was no attempt to understand that in every business you have the good,  bad and ugly. But outside of all of that, it was necessary.

So the main problem for you was that everyone doing oil business including you was lumped as corrupt?

Funny enough one of the things we fail to realize is that everything we do has international repercussions. Sahara Energy for example has an international face. We do business all around the world so when in an attempt to sanitize the industry you group everyone as bad, you put information out there that becomes very difficult to control and so we spend a lot of time trying to show innocence and it damages both the business you are trying to build and the reputation of your country. So the process in itself I wasn’t happy about. We had to do some corporate governance and responses to some of our international partners who just pick up news from the internet. The onus should be on protecting those who are doing the right thing while prosecuting the guilty ones. It wasn’t done that way and I think that was wrong.

How much damage did you suffer- personally and professionally?

We did not suffer any damage of reputation except that there were some tabloids printing a lot of junk. Like one that said I was on the run and I was here in traffic staring at the headline. And that day I had a speaking engagement somewhere that was being advertised on the radio.  For us as a company, we sued them for publishing libel so as to protect our reputation.  Outside of that, the entire industry between January and June suffered tremendously through a lot of the stoppages and checks put in place. After June though, things improved and we cannot complain.

What is the status on the court cases?

Litigation in Nigeria takes a long time so we are still going through it.

You do a lot of work with young people. Why this particular interest and what is in it for you?

I think the best way to describe it is that looking at the demography of Nigeria, the largest percentage of the population is under-30. I also found out that there is a wide gap between the reality of making the policies and driving things that concern us and the youth. More troubling was the fact that majority of these young people had no interest at the time in what was going on in government. I felt it would be necessary to begin to engage them to take an interest. That is where it started. I learn a lot from young ones too.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from young people?

I have learnt technology.  Seriously though, it continues to remind me of optimism that all is not lost. Every time there is an interaction, despite the negative things out there, you come across people who have taken it upon themselves not to remain illiterates. They push themselves within the boundaries of what is available and have created a living for themselves. From fashion to entertainment to technology and sports, it has been encouraging. I have travelled quite extensively and I always run into Nigerians around the globe and I noticed that once you give them an environment that is structured and allows them to express themselves, they always excel. So if we can create such an environment here, then what is to stop us from topping the world?

What is your take on venture capitalism here in Nigeria? Is Sahara Energy throwing their hat into the ring?

I do not think venture capitalism has fully taken root here and the reason is that we need to have a deep source of funding. Alternate markets need to be created for things that can turn ideas into cash.  Venture capitalism thrives in America because there are places that convert ideas to cash. We need an environment that allows us set up businesses very quickly. The time it takes to put up a business is unnecessarily long over here. The process from idea to reality here is long and any investor wants to shorten that time as quickly as possible. If within 6 months to 1 year I can set a business up and recoup investment in the next 2 years and I have my exit clause, then why not? What we have now are Angel investors and that is a different thing entirely. I try to do my own part but how many can you do? Besides angel investments are not really what you need to create real change. We need an African based commodity exchange market here, an environment that allows ideas to come to life, we need to strengthen our stock exchange. Right now we are trading all our raw materials out of Africa and that is ridiculous, we cannot keep money here.

You have relationships with the politicians and policy makers. Is this something you suggest to them?

In some instances it comes up but you have to have a structure that works around a common ideology. We are divided internally across ethnicities and religion so it becomes difficult to have this form of structure. These discussions are ongoing but there must be a shift in our relations with other African nations so that business across our borders becomes easier.