Tonye P. Cole is the co-founder and executive director of the Sahara Group. An architecture alumni of the University of Lagos and Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program (AMP186), Tonye Cole, together with his partners has grown the company, founded in 1996, from a single entity to a leading African Energy (Oil, Gas and Power ) and infrastructure conglomerate with operations in over 10 countries across four continents of the world.
Tonye is an active member of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and also represents Sahara as a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group of the United Nations Sustainable Development Fund (UN SDG-F) – in recognition of Sahara Group’s role in promoting inclusive economic growth for poverty eradication, capacity building, food security and access to potable water in Africa.
His passion for youth development and giving back to the less privileged is expressed through his foundation Nehemiah Youth Empowerment Initiative and Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the group, Sahara Foundation; which has recorded many interventions in the area of Education, Environment, Health, Capacity building and currently in the area of Extraprenueurship using a model that seeks to drive sustainability and create platforms that finds, creates and connects young people with business interests in emerging markets.

A motivational speaker, ordained minister, entrepreneur and firm believer in Africa’s inherent greatness, he has travelled vastly delivering numerous papers to the continents youth. He is a regular columnist for Thisday Style and the author of Morning Reflections, an inspirational devotional and My God Thinks.