The combination of nationality and age therefore created what the Sahara founders perceived as a credibility gap. Rather than introduce themselves simply as young Nigerian business owners, they could portray themselves as local representatives or employees working for an established expatriate-backed enterprise. Young entrepreneurs may struggle to command authority because commercial success is associated with age, established networks or imported legitimacy. It captures the lengths to which a group of young Nigerian entrepreneurs believed they had to go to gain entry into an industry where foreignness was seen as an advantage. It also charts the transformation of that same enterprise into a major African energy business whose identity eventually became rooted in the performance of the company itself.