Wale Tinubu looms large on Nigeria’s economic landscape — a savvy and smooth operator deeply entrenched in the oil and energy sectors.
When American author Napoleon Hill said: ”Most people wish for riches, but few provide the definite plan and the burning desire which pave the way to wealth”, he exemplified what is wrong with most potential entrepreneurs on the globe. In the class of ”few”, Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, would definitely include the wily Nigerian.
At 38 years of age, Tinubu is the group CEO of oil company Oando, which he has grown from a tiny private family business, known as Ocean and Oil, into a big player in sub-Saharan Africa.
Incorporated in 1984, Ocean and Oil started as a trading company, acting as a wholesale, retail and marketing company, in the petroleum sector. It was basically a small player running business errands for the big trading companies, including Unipetrol.
At its inception, the company crept into Unipetrol. Tinubu recalls how the fledgling company rode on the back of Unipetrol to get business deals that later became its lifeline. ”The management of Uni-petrol believed then that we could provide them with freight services for moving petroleum products from the refineries to areas of need — Unipetrol-designated tanks around Nigeria.”
Never a man to look only at growing within his borders, Tinubu will make a giant step later this year when the Oando Group debuts in a dual listing on the JSE.
”We believe that this move is a strategic one and will boost the liquidity of our shares as well as enhance our market position. Oando will also leverage on the market position of the JSE as the largest stock exchange in Africa,” said Tinubu.
He and partners Mofo Boyo and Jite Okoloko, directors of Ocean and Oil, were little known 11 years ago when they ventured into the oil and gas sector to supply and trade petroleum products worldwide.
In 2000, when Nigeria’s federal government began the second phase of privatisation, Ocean and Oil bid to purchase 30% of the equity in Unipetrol. Ocean and Oil brushed aside bigger players to secure this stake.
Oando’s vision has been to integrate vertically, from the refinery to the pump, in order to build a strong trading network in the petroleum sector. In 2002, when the opportunity came to make the giant leap towards covering the entire value chain, Tinubu was ready to pounce.
In August of that year, Oando acquired a 60% stake in Agip Nigeria after an international bid conducted by Agip Petroli International BV. Tinubu piloted the acquisition and then consolidated his interests, covering the entire energy sector under the Oando Group.
Turnover rose from $523,9-million in 2003 to $788,2-million last year. After-tax profit was $11,5-million, up from $6,7-million in the preceding year. After privatisation, Oando was judged the best performer in the privatised sector, having restructured and raised the stock value from 26 naira in May 2000 to 52 naira by November 2002. It is the second-largest oil marketing company, by revenue, in Nigeria, with more than 530 retail outlets around the country, nine depot locations and numerous retail outlets along the West African coast, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Togo and the Republic of Benin.
Oando plans to raise more than $1-billion (about R6,44-billion) in South Africa over the next five years, after completing its secondary listing on the JSE. The capital, to be raised in several tranches, would fund Oando’s entry into the Nigerian refining and power sectors, and possible entry into exploration and production activities.
The group, which has a market capitalisation of $500-million and is the sixth-largest on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, plans to dual-list in Johannesburg by the end of this year, although the date is subject to final regulatory approval.