Oil & Gas Council Honours Tonye Cole

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Nigerian business mogul, Mr Tonye Cole, has been announced by the Oil & Gas Council as winner of the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr Cole is the Executive Director/Founder of the Sahara Group, a firm he established in Founded in 1996 and has grown from a single entity to a group made up of 10 firms across the energy value chain.

The Oil & Gas Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award recognises Mr Cole’s individual role and the Sahara Group’s corporate role in promoting inclusive economic growth for poverty eradication, capacity building, food security and access to potable water in Africa.

He will be presented with the award at this year’s Africa Energy Awards in Paris taking place on Tuesday, June 13.

The Africa Energy Awards take place on the first evening of the Africa Assembly (13th & 14th June) in Paris and are an opportunity to recognise the year’s best performing companies and executives on the African continent as well as those who have achieved excellence, pioneered new frontiers, inspired others throughout their activities and achieved growth in challenging markets.

As an innovation leader, thought leader and business leader, Mr Cole has, over the last 21 years, built a leading African power, energy, gas and infrastructure conglomerate and was rightly recognised by the judges for his commitment to the provision of energy across Africa as well as his business agility and his commitment to philanthropy.

Sahara Group has presence in eight countries, three continents and employs 3,200 people with an annual profit of more than $12 billion.

In addition to his commitment to business, Mr Cole is passionate about giving back. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and also the Private Sector Advisory Group of the United Nations Sustainable Development Fund (UN SDG-F).

In addition, Mr Cole has been dedicated to the establishment of his foundation, the Nehemiah Youth Empowerment Initiative and serves on the advisory boards of various youth focused charities such as the Africa 2.0 Foundation and the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation.