The co-founder of Sahara Group, Tonye Cole, has revealed how the company adopted a foreign identity during its early years to overcome bias against indigenous businesses in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
Speaking about the company’s humble beginnings, Cole explained that he and his business partners believed they faced an uphill battle because many clients at the time had greater confidence in foreign companies than locally owned firms.
To overcome this challenge, Sahara Group was registered in the Isle of Man and presented as an expatriate company. According to Cole, the founders also created a fictional British representative known as “Dr J,” who served as the public face of the business when dealing with potential clients and partners.
He said the strategy was designed to counter what he described as a lingering “colonial mentality”—the perception that foreign companies were more competent and trustworthy than Nigerian-owned businesses.
Cole noted that the approach helped Sahara Group secure opportunities that may have been out of reach for a young indigenous company at the time. As the business expanded and established a strong reputation, it gradually embraced its Nigerian identity without relying on the foreign image.
The entrepreneur said the experience reflects the challenges many local businesses faced in earning trust in an industry that historically favoured foreign firms, adding that perceptions have improved significantly over the years as more Nigerian companies have demonstrated their capabilities.
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