The

SAHARA
STORY
The Journey To New Frontiers
Starts From Within

A
lthough Sahara was founded in 1996, the story of its formation
started in the late 70's and early 80's, when Ade Odunsi, Tope
Shonubi and Tonye Cole were classmates at different points in time.

Their earliest commercial venture started during the banking boom in the
mid-1990s.Tope and Ade saw an opportunity to set up a retail business and
take advantage of the increased purchasing power of young Nigerian bank
executives who had limited opportunity to travel abroad due to strict visa
restrictions at that time but wanted, and needed to "power dress".

The Sahara Story 3

S
tarting out with a pot of about $10,000
culled from their savings, they started door-
to-door sales, literally carrying their stock
from office to office in the boots of their cars. Very
quickly, the out t called Men's Room, grew
rapidly to three major stores, including a agship
store at Nigeria's premier and most prestigious
mall at the time, Mega Plaza.

At the height of its existence, Men's Room was

one of the nation's leading men's clothing
retailers with a clientele made up of leading
bankers, entrepreneurs and government
executives of the day. The diverse clientele gave
the owners an opportunity to establish
friendships and build relationships with men (and
women) from various sectors of the economy
that went beyond the sale of clothes.

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The opportunity to break into the Oil industry This created an opportunity to trade the
opened in the course of carrying out their products on behalf of the allottees, but at that
business diligently in Men's Room. They time most of the allottees seemed only willing
developed relationships that would eventually to engage international companies with
become their window into the oil sector. expatriates in tow. Where Nigerian faces
where accepted, they needed to be staff or
Tope and Ade soon learnt that the oil trading representatives of the international
business was essentially driven by allocations companies.
for lifting of crude oil and naphtha for export,
importation of a limited range of petroleum
products to complement re ning shortfalls or
coastal shipments of Automotive Gas Oil
(AGO) and Bunker Fuels primarily for
bunkering vessels calling in Nigerian waters.
Typically, the contracts were allocated to
highly connected individuals who had limited
or no expertise in trading and marketing the
products.

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 “
In time, the question
W
ith a mentor in the Oil industry,
Tope and Ade started their
of opportunities in education in the business. The
eager "students" engaged in informal
the trading arm of discussions about the dynamics of the
petroleum industry. In time, the question of
the industry arose opportunities in the trading arm of the
industry arose and they were encouraged to
and they were carry out their homework with diligence and
guidance. As they "bounced ideas" off their
encouraged to carry mentor, it became evident that there were
out their homework business opportunities available to those
who were willing to be enterprising and
with diligence and resourceful.
guidance.
A decision was made to set up a company as
the vehicle with which to seek opportunities in
Oil and Gas and this led to the creation of P-
Lyne Limited. The Seed capital for P-Lyne was
sourced from the pro ts and dividends from
Men's Room and contributions from family
members.
Garbed in optimism, the young men began to
actively seek access to identi ed allottees.
Despite their effort and the encouragement of
their mentor who truly believed in the passion
he saw in them, breaking through proved far
harder than they initially envisaged. By 1996,
the business staggered reluctantly to a halt.
Thankfully, the young entrepreneurs still had
Men's Room - which was still a going concern
– to fall back on; , even with the prospect of a
new and exciting bride!
Key lessons were learnt, and they soon realized
that in order to succeed, a new strategy had to
be devised and very quickly too!
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While all this was going on, Tonye, who was
Tope's old classmate and friend was working
“
It seemed a totally
in Goiania, Brazil with leading architectural
rm, Grupo Quatro SA and later on as the
preposterous idea for him to
Director of Operations for EMSA Engineering
Ltd, which at the time, was executing World
risk it all for a failing start-up
Bank sponsored water projects in Nigeria. venture and in spite of Tope's
Having convinced themselves that Tonye characteristic relentlessness,
would add value to their venture into the Oil
industry, Tope and Ade decided to ask him to he declined the offer.
join their partnership.

Tope had the task of convincing him that this

venture and the industry was the way of the
future and the combination of youthful zeal,
passion and intelligence would bring
immense success. At this point, Tonye's job at
EMSA was going very well, he was extremely
comfortable, very well paid and had bright
career prospects. It seemed a totally
preposterous idea for him to risk it all for a
failing start-up venture and despite Tope's
characteristic relentlessness, he declined the
offer.

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C
ircumstance and fate eventually played a crucial role in
what followed. As a fall-out of the annulment of the June 12,
1993 presidential election in Nigeria, the country became
“
Tope stopped by his
embroiled in one of its worst ever political uprisings and many
office and once again
international companies promptly closed and left the shores of the
country. EMSA was one of such companies and with orders from the
extended his
parent company to retrench all the staff, pay them their terminal invitation to join
bene ts and liquidate the company, Tonye's cosy world collapsed
within the space of days. It was during his liquidating the company them. This time, there
that Tope stopped by his office and once again extended his
invitation to join him (Tope) and Ade in the oil sector project.. This was no hesitation!
time, there was no hesitation!

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H aving been knocked-back from their
initial foray into the Oil business, the
(now) 3 partners decided to go
back to the drawing board, re-strategize and
rede ne the rules of the game.
They created a company called Sahara Energy
Resource Limited in 1996 with the primary
objective of being a brokerage rm.
Becoming a broker presented the most likely
breakthrough for the company.
The choice of name, i.e. "Sahara" was
speci cally chosen to ensure that the
company had a name that was easily
remembered, had an international ring to it
and was re ective of its African roots.
Clubbing together the pro ts from the
clothing business over the years as well as
Tonye's redundancy bene ts, the partners
“
Relationship building
managed to raise about $60,000 which was
and management
used to rent and equip a small office in
Victoria Island, one in Port Harcourt and
became and till date
employ an administrative officer and an
operations officer.
remains the key
mantra within the
Relationship building and management
became and till date remains the key mantra organisation.
within the organisation

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 “
Despite these
challenges, the
tenacity and 'never-
say-die' attitude of the
principals of Sahara
saw them successfully
broker 3 deals to
completion

H aving devised a new strategy and

approach to the business, the
partners had the opportunity to
broker a transaction on a con rmed
allocation and after hours of negotiation, the
allottee agreed to assign his allocation to
Sahara.
The new thinking and innovative ways of
doing business ensured that within a short
while, Sahara gained a reputation for being
able to pay a small percentage as an upfront
payment and this attracted a few allottees to
the negotiating table.
However, it was not all smooth sailing as
there were still the nancing challenges to
overcome. International banks would not
entertain Nigerian businesses, Nigerian banks
had no understanding or interest in the oil
trading business, all of which meant that
credit lines to Sahara Energy were practically
non-existent. Despite these challenges, the
tenacity and 'never-say-die' attitude of the
principals of Sahara saw them successfully
broker 3 deals to completion within the rst
half of 1997.

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 A
s the year was coming to an end, a Sahara now had to achieve something that
phone call from French bankers, BNP had never been done.
Paribas swiftly changed the company's
trajectory from broker to trading company, Though Sahara's entire operational pro t for
forever. BNP Paribas was the bank through the year was wiped off due to two business
which a vast percentage of letters of credit to deals gone south, many positives came out of
PPMC was routed. these negative transactions. The greatest of
Incidentally, all the LC's opened on Sahara's them was the fact that once performance was
behalf since the rst transaction, had been assured, the question of Sahara's competence
routed through BNP Paribas. The bank had to deliver was answered once and for all.
seen the steady traffic and had noticed that
the proceeds from the transactions were
always paid into the United European Bank.
Realising this was denying them possible
revenues, they promptly requested for a
meeting!

“
Though Sahara's
entire operational
pro t for the year was
wiped off due to two
business deals gone
south, many positives
came out of these
negative transactions

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1 998 was a good year. A golden
opportunity presented itself when
Sahara secured an extremely urgent
cargo. However, the earlier advantage of
making an upfront payment to allottees was
With nothing left to lose, the Sahara Directors
presented their case to the Executive
Management of the NNPC. Bottom line was
that the survival of the company was entirely
dependent on the reversal of the revoked
now commonplace and the competition had allocations. Fortunately, the management of
hiked the percentages. Despite this challenge, NNPC agreed to spread out the cargoes and
Sahara was able to pull off a hitch-free gradually slotted them for loading. This
transaction, netting a tidy pro t. The company ensured that over the next year, all Sahara
had now bounced back, was sound and ready Energy's commitments were met.
to perform. Most of all, the question of Sahara's
competence to deliver was answered once
and for all! This was a giant leap for Sahara.

With the in ux of new capital, Sahara

aggressively went after allocations. Soon
enough, the company was able to secure a
new set of allocations and successfully
programmed them to load.

However, in a sudden twist of fate, just as they

were concluding the logistics of the loading
cargoes, there was a major shift in the Federal
Government and the NNPC. The newly
appointed minister of petroleum cancelled all
allocations and cargoes including those which
were ready to load. Sahara approached all the
allottees to whom they had made part
payment to intervene in restoring the
contracts or return the fees paid but they all,
without exception, refused. This was a massive
blow to the company and once again Sahara's
resources and everything else, but their
resilience was hanging on a limb.

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 “
...the beginning of the
T
he shock of nearly losing everything
emphasized the dangers of a one
product, one country, one source
drive for Sahara's business model and the founders of Sahara
expansion beyond its immediately began to look for asset-based
revenue streams that would enhance the
core trading business company's growth and survival.

and has resulted in the The turn of the century brought the advent of
democratic rule in Nigeria and with it, an
company establishing aggressive drive for foreign direct investment
and the growth of indigenous capability and
businesses across the capacity. This also marked the beginning of
the drive for Sahara's expansion beyond its
entire Energy sector... core trading business and has resulted in the
company establishing businesses across the
entire Energy sector in Africa, Asia, Europe and
the Middle East.

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A
s the business continued to grow and
expand, the fame of Sahara was sung among
notable oil companies. It was evident that
more capable hands were needed to take the vision
to higher heights. Along came Wale Ajibade, Moroti
Adedoyin-Adeyinka and thereafter, Kola Adesina
who all grew to become executive Directors and key
players in driving the Sahara vision.
Sahara Group grew rapidly, expanding its business
operations and reach to new territories. To create a
legacy and train new leaders for the future, the
Graduate Management Trainee (GMT) program was
set up in 2001. These new additions would be
responsible for the expansion of Sahara into Africa,
Europe, The Middle East and Asia. The GMT program
was successful and has continued as a platform for
raising the future leaders of Sahara.
Over the years, Sahara has successfully developed a
crop of capable, well-educated and courageous staff
that are willing to stake their competence and
venture into making the Sahara vision a reality. The
sheer will and audacity to be the provider of choice
wherever energy is consumed drove Sahara to seek
opportunities to become a major player in the
energy value chain. Sahara Group became key
players in the power industry, not just in Nigeria but
across Africa.
The spontaneity, versatility and humility with which
the company has been able to overcome the barriers
of the early years continue to characterise Sahara
and all that it stands for. Sahara is an ever evolving
and growing conglomerate which has leveraged
relationships, teamwork, diversity and innovation to
a company, sharing its global story with a local
audience. Our partnerships with international
organizations re ect our drive to giving wings to
aspirations through our Sahara Foundation.
Over the years, Sahara has
“
successfully developed a
crop of capable, well-
educated and courageous
staff that are willing to stake
their competence and
venture into making the
Sahara vision a reality.
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The journey is still on and the tale is still being
told. With you, Sahara will continue to expand
its reach, covering the globe with the essence
of our presence. Then, we can take this energy
to mars and to Jupiter… the expansion is
limitless…

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The story continues...