An astute Businessman and Rivers State All Progressives Congress Governorship Candidate, Tonye Cole has emerged the “Businessman Of The Year” in 2022 Leadership Excellence Awards.
In a 14-day online poll by Nigerians both home and in the Diaspora monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Cole was voted ahead of three other nominees.
He polled 367547 votes, that’s 57% of all votes to defeat Chief Executive Officer of Cubana Group; Obi Cubana who secured 166458 votes while Chief Tony Elumelu; CEO of Heirs Holdings, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation polled 73645 votes and
Mike Adenuga; CEO of Globacom polled 41096 votes.
The prestigious award, endorsed by the African Union, African Film Institute, will be presented on 5th November 2022 in a glamorous awards presentation ceremony organised by IgbereTV at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Abuja.
Mr Cole is the co-founder and former Group Executive Director of Sahara Group, an energy conglomerate with operations spanning the entire energy chain in Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries to East Africa and beyond.
The Group operates in 38 countries around the world with over 4,000 employees and annual turnover of $11 billion, according to report.
He has also served in many organisations such as being responsible for building the Group’s global expansion and upholding her corporate governance principles, maintaining her status with global institutions like the World Economic Forum, where he was a key member of Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), The United Nations, where he was a pioneer member of the advisory board of the Private Sector Advisory Group for the UNDP Sustainable Development Group Fund (SDG-F), The African Philanthropy Forum amongst others.
IgbereTV media crew led by the Executive Director, Emeh James visited him to formally inform him of his nomination and victory in the online poll.
During the visit, the team also conducted awardee post-profiling, photo session and presentation of his Table reservation for the event.
The prestigious award, which is the fourth in a row, is an annual event; it recognises and honours outstanding impacts of leaders across public and private sectors in Nigeria.
The event also promotes outstanding leaders and personalities whose impacts have been felt in Nigeria’s political, social and economic spheres.
