(Tonye Cole And Wife. Photo by Ubasinachi Wise)
Tonye Cole, widely known as the co-founder of Sahara Group, has revealed the sacrifices he and his wife made in the early years of creating their business, stating that they lived on her wages for over three years while he poured all he possessed into it.
Cole stated on a podcast that he and his business partners had dedicated all of their savings to the company and agreed not to take paychecks during the startup phase.
He explained that for about two and a half to three years, they put everything they had, including all their savings, into the business, with none of the partners earning anything from it, forcing them to rely on other sources for their personal upkeep.
According to him, two of his business partners survived on proceeds from a clothing store during that period, while his wife, then a medical doctor undergoing her housemanship at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), became the family’s breadwinner.
He recalled that his wife was based in Lagos while he lived in Port Harcourt, and that the family relied on her modest salary throughout that period, requiring mutual trust between them, as she covered school fees, electricity bills and other household expenses while he focused fully on building the business.
Cole said the experience taught him the value of trust and sacrifice in marriage, adding that couples who genuinely share a vision should be willing to support one another through difficult seasons.
He noted that today he can afford anything, and that his wife, being a trained professional, no longer needs to work, describing the outcome as proof that the compounded interest of those early sacrifices eventually paid off.