Businessman and Sahara Group co-founder Tonye Cole has shared the remarkable story of how his wife became the family’s sole provider for nearly three years while he focused on building what would later become one of Africa’s leading energy companies.
Speaking on the Afropolitan Podcast, Cole revealed that he and his business partners invested all their savings into the company and deliberately chose not to draw salaries during the early years of the business.
“For about two and a half to three years, we took everything, all my savings, everything, and put it into the business. None of my partners or I earned anything from the business. We all had to survive and support ourselves from other sources.”
Cole explained that while two of his partners survived on income from a clothing business, his wife, who was a medical doctor undergoing her housemanship at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), shouldered the family’s financial responsibilities despite them living in different cities.
“My wife was a medical doctor at the time, doing her housemanship at LUTH. For that period, we lived on her little salary. She was in Lagos, I was living in Port Harcourt. I had to trust her, and she had to trust me. She paid the school fees, the electricity bills and everything else while I focused on building the business.”
Reflecting on the experience, Cole said those difficult years strengthened their marriage and proved that trust and sacrifice are essential for couples pursuing a shared vision.
“Today, I can afford everything. My wife is a trained woman; she doesn’t have to work. The compounded interest of those sacrifices paid off. By far, compounded interest works beautifully.”
