Net worth of Igho Sanomi
Igho Sanomi has an estimated net worth of $1 billion. He is a Nigerian businessman, orator, philanthropist, and entrepreneur.

He is the founder and CEO of Talevera’s conglomerate, which has interests in oil, telecommunications, logistics, real estate, aviation, and shipping.

Igho Sanomi’s Biography
The Nigerian businessman, who happens to be one of the youngest billionaires in Nigeria, was born on 17 May 1975 as the fifth child in the family.

He was born as Igho Charles Sanomi II of Dickens Ogheneruemu Patrick Sanomi and Mabel Iyabo Sonami. He is the first son of the family and he was born into a Catholic family in Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria.

His father was a member of the Nigerian police force and he retired as Deputy Inspector General (AIG).

His father was also the second national vice president of the Urhobo Progress Union. His mother was a nurse and is tribal head of the Kingdom of Isotun Ijesha, Osun State, Nigeria.

Education
Igho Sanomi enrolled at the University of Jos, Plateau State, where he received a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Geology and Mining.

Career and Business Relationships
Before Igho Sanomi founded his company, he went through many companies as an employee. Through his service in these companies, he gained enough experience to start and expand his business.

In the 1990s, he started working as the managing director of an international oil company, Cosmos Oil.

From there he approached the refinery in Port Harcourt to sign fuel export contracts. He entered into a partnership with an oil company in Zug, Switzerland, and through his involvement, the company was able to import and export several million tons of refined petroleum products in West Africa.

In 2004, he founded the Taleveras Group to manage and organize his various business interests.

According to Forbes and Venture Africa, Taleveras Group trades millions of tons of gasoline, LPG, jet fuel, and millions, probably billions, of barrels of crude oil annually.

The group acquired production sharing contracts (PSCs) for three Ivorian offshore oil blocks in April 2012.

In June 2013, the Taleveras Group sold to the Russian Lukoil a majority stake of 65% in one of its Ivorian offshore oil upstream projects to the Russian Lukoil.

The price at which this stake was sold remains unknown. Igho Sanomi’s group is also involved in the Nigerian energy industry.

… trades in over 100 million barrels of crude oil as well as several million tons of petrol, LPG and jet fuel. In April 2012 Taleveras acquired production sharing agreements (PSC) for three offshore oil blocks in the Ivory Coast. In June 2013, Taleveras sold a 65% stake in one of its Ivorian offshore upstream projects to the Russian company Lukoil at an undisclosed price. Taleveras also owns a stake in an electricity distribution company in Nigeria.

– Forbes magazine

… annually traded nearly one billion barrels of crude oil and millions of tons of condensates, gasoline, jet fuel, condensates, and LPG. Taleveras also owns substantial stakes in two oil blocks in Nigeria and lucrative Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) in three offshore oil blocks in Côte d’Ivoire. The subsidiary of the Power Group builds electrical substations in Nigeria and recently acquired a majority stake in Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company. Taleveras has annual sales of several billion dollars. Igho Sanomi is the majority shareholder of the group.

– Venture Africa

In July 2013 Afam Power was acquired by the Taleveras Group. The company is one of the indigenous oil companies in Nigeria that has been awarded an oil transportation contract by the federal government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as part of its plan to curb the oil transportation contract awarded to foreign oil companies.

In October 2013, the Taleveras Group and the Alstom Group signed a contract that was to lead to the development and expansion of Afam Power power plant in Rivers State, Nigeria.

The Dickens Sanomi Foundation
The foundation, whose chairman is Igho Sanomi, was established by the Sanomi family – Igho Sanomi and his siblings.

It was established in 2011 and the purpose of its creation was to honor the life of their father.

The project is funded by both the Midel Group and the Taleveras Group. The activities of the Dickens Sanomi Foundation are limited to the borders of Nigeria alone.

Project Rescue 10,000 flood victims
This project, introduced and financed by Igho Sanomi, helped the victims of the flooding in the state of Delta in 2012.

The total number of victims displaced by the flood in Delta State was over 12,000.

The Rescue 10,000 Flood Victims project supported over 12,300 victims by providing food and relief supplies to the victims in Ewu, Ughelli, Arhavwarhien, Ughelli North, and Ughelli South LGA.

The displaced people were rescued in motor and speedboats with 500 seats from the communities in Ughelli North, Ughelli South, Patani, Isoko North, Isoko South, and Burutu Local Government Areas of Delta State and then taken to some government-designated camps.

– Vanguard Newspaper

The Dickens Sanomi Foundation, as part of its intervention program to mitigate the impact of the devastating flood on the population, has distributed a comprehensive funding package worth over ₦100 million to flood victims in the delta and Bayelsa State.

– Lanre Alfred (Society Editor, This Day Newspaper)

The food and relief supplies provided hit several million Naira, and the affected victims had to leave their homes to settle temporarily in designated camps.

Non-governmental projects
Igho Sanomi is a rather philanthropic person. Through his Dickens Sanomi Foundation, he has contributed to the promotion of research on prostate cancer in the UK by funding the Bobby Moore Fund.

For this philanthropic effort, he received the Martin Luther King Legacy Award for Philanthropy. The Dickens Sanomi Foundation also committed to providing funding for Save the Children and Oxfam.

He was appointed a member of the Advisory Board of the West Africa Book Development Fund, and he also became Chairman of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Salute Committee.

From January 1 to February 6, Igho Sanomi was co-sponsor of the Dance Theatre of the Harlem Latin American Tour, organized in Tegucigalpa.

The trip by DTH was also made possible by Igho Charles Sanomi II, Executive Director of the Taleveras Group.

– Website of the U.S. Embassy

Through the partnership of his company, he is an integral part of the Global Initiative for Peace, Love, and Care (GIPLC). The official description of the purpose of the initiative is: Goals of the Initiative:

…to promote sustainable programs and activities that provide a better life for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC).

Host Essay Competition
In 2014, Igho Sanomi began sponsoring an annual essay competition for schools through the Dickens Sanomi Foundation.

The competition was divided between primary and secondary school students, in which they could participate. The project saw more than 250 entries and offered scholarship prizes to the winners of the competition.

The schools visited by the winners also received in-kind contributions, as they received grants for the purchase of learning and IT equipment.

Sports Sponsorship
In an effort to support the first African Youth Athletics Championships in Warri 2010, Igho Sanomi presented the sum of N10m as a cheque to the Delta State’s State Sports Commissioner in the person of Amaju Pinnick.

In Sanomi’s words of support:

We share the vision of Delta State in many aspects, especially in the area of sports development.

His company Taleveras has sponsored the 2011 tournament and actively participated in the 2010 International Kaduna Polo Tournament, with great interest and with the signature of the founder.

Honors and awards
In September 2014, at the first edition of the Choiseul 100 Africa, Igho Sanomi of the Choiseul Institute for International Politics and Geoeconomics was placed first in the list of growing business leaders, successful entrepreneurs and investors.

The Igho Sanomi category topped him as one of the:

… growing business leaders, successful entrepreneurs, investors who embody the dynamism and renewal of an entire continent and carry the hopes of an entire generation.

The list included African leaders under the age of 40 who would make a major contribution to Africa’s future development. Igho Sanomi was at the top of the list in the 2014 and 2015 episodes.

In 2013, the Nigerian economic mogul and billionaire received a nomination from the Nigerian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment for a seat on the Nigeria-South Africa Business Council.

On February 28, 2014, Igho Sanomi was recognized at the maiden edition of the Police Sports Awards, which was organized in the federal capital of Abuja, and received the Corporate/Friends of the Police Award.

For his enormous success, he was placed on the Forbes list of ten young African millionaires to watch in 2013. Igho Sanomi was also shortlisted by African Leadership magazine as one of the Top 25 Oil and Gas Leaders in Africa, 2013.

In 2012 he was named Humanitarian of the Year by Mode Men magazine. In 2014, he was honored to speak at the Africa Global Business Forum in Dubai.

He was also invited to speak at the same forum in Dubai in 2015. In the same year, 2014, he received the Emerging Community Development Icon Award, Africa.

He was also awarded the African Leadership Award and received the citizenship of Georgia, United States.

Critical Lesson from Igho Sanomi
They are not too small to take big steps. The height you want to reach on your way to success is attainable. And if you just believe in it, you will be motivated enough to achieve more in less time.