Through a rare combination of tact, courage, industry and determination, a mere drugdispensing store started with N5, 000 in 1977 has transformed into a multi-million Dollar pharmaceutical company. This is the story of Emzor Pharmaceuticals and its elegant founder and Chief Executive Officer, Stella Chinyelu Okoli. She had one of the best upbringings anyone could crave for, lives the best of life, studied in some of the best schools abroad and worked in some of the best establishments. But then, the urge to make impact in human lives through entrepreneurship and service to mankind pushed her to raise the bar from a mere drug-dispensing stores to one of the best and biggest indigenous drug manufacturing company in Nigeria.

 

That probably summarises the story of Stella Chinyelu Okoli, founder and Chief Executive Offi cer, Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, the fi rst indigenous drug manufacturing company in Nigeria. Self-effacing, hard working, industrious and elegant, Stella in a rare show of entrepreneurial skill has in the last 27 years, grown Emzor Pharmaceuticals from a four-product drug manufacturing plant into a multi-billion business entity with well above 50 different types of drugs in its production line.

 

What is today seated on 2.5 acres of land in the Isolo Industrial Area, Lagos, started way back in 1977 at No. 1, Fola Agoro Street, Abule Ijesha, Shomolu, Lagos, when Stella left her job with Part Davis Nigeria, now Pharma-Deko Plc, to start a pharmacy outlet christened Emzor Chemists Limited with an initial capital of N5, 000.

 

Focused and determined, the young enterprising pharmacist gave her drug retail outlet all the attention, and in no distant time, the business she fl oated with N5, 000 then soon became the cynosure of all eyes, a must-visit by anyone desirable of getting genuine drugs at relatively affordable prices. Because of her customer-centric approach and sometimes free expert advice, Emzor Pharmacy became an instant success. It recorded tremendous growth, such that she felt the need to expand her scope of business into the importation and wholesale of assorted pharmaceuticals.

 

As business continued to boom, Stella, the need for further expansion and re-modifi cation of business strategy became a little more compelling. At that stage, she felt the need to develop local capability, create jobs and provide high quality pharmaceutical products and services to the Nigerian people at prices that are not only affordable but represent value. It was at that point that the idea to manufacture locally rather than rely wholly on importation began. She took the fi rst step by incorporating Emzor

 

Pharmaceutical Industries Limited as a subsidiary of Emzor Chemists Limited, for the purpose of manufacturing high quality pharmaceutical products and medical consumables in 1984. It started the pilot production in 1985, and by 1988, it had become an established pharmaceutical manufacturing company especially with the introduction of Emzor Paracetamol.

 

From the humble beginning of four products lines in 1987, Emzor now manufactures a large range of over 50 products in the analgesic, anti-malaria, vitamin/ haematinics/multivitamin supplement, anti-helmintic, antibiotics and therapeutic class and today, it has become a household name in Nigeria, employing well over 1,000 people and has a turnover well in excess of N15.2billion ($100 million). The company’s products are widely distributed throughout the country, West African coast, Indian subcontinent, East/Middle Africa and East Asia among others. Its flagship brand, Emzor Paracetamol, is believed to control about 25 per cent of analgesic market in Nigeria.

 

The rapid expansion of Emzor Pharmaceuticals has also led to the establishment of several subsidiaries, which include Zolon Healthcare Limited, Lagos, a specialty healthcare organisation positioned for the provision of intelligent healthcare solutions to the needs of the people. This was achieved by building partnerships with world-class health organisations. Specialties in this subsidiary include Cardiology, Endocrinology, Neuropsychiatry, Oncology, Biotechnology, Ophthalmology, Gastroenterology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatric and Geriatric Medicine, as well as Health Fairs/Seminars.

 

There is also Emzor Hesco Limited, incorporated to provide good quality hospital and surgical equipment, instruments, consumables and other medical devices that aid diagnosis and management of diseases. The corporate philosophy is to provide solutions that empower healthcare providers rather than just supply products and in so doing, help to build their capacities.

 

At the University of Ibadan, UI, Emzor Hesco has a shop at the hospital where doctors can rent critical equipment for use. Emzor Hesco is into partnership with international companies like AESCULAP AG, Germany, pro such as surgical instruments and containers for all surgical needs; orthopaedic implants such as plates and screws, targon nailing systems, power drill systems like electric, battery and pneumatic; closure technologies for sutures and surgical specialties; and hospital project business, specifi cally in the fi eld of surgery.

 

Other partners include Huckerts Laboratory, Belgium, which specialises in safe and effective disinfection of instruments; Medical Research International, Italy, for spirometry, oximetry and telemedicine. This subsidiary provides services for the National Hospital Abuja, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, National Orthopaedic Hospital, NOH, Igbobi, Lagos, Chevron Clinic, Havana Hospital, among others; There are also the Emzor Pharmacy and Stores Limited and Life Gate Medicals. The pharmacy is a retail and dispensing stores positioned for the delivery of good quality and affordable products and services in the pharmaceutical downstream to the largest number of Nigerians, bringing unlimited wellness to our doorsteps. Life gate came into being as a result of identifi able gaps in the healthcare delivery system of Nigeria with particular focus on providing specialised training for healthcare workers, specialized medicare for patients as well as medical tourism.

 

In order to build the requisite capacity needed to deliver on the above-listed areas, the company entered into a collaborative arrangement with several specialist hospitals and institutions within and outside Nigeria. This collaboration enables it to provide services for patients seeking specialised medicare or healthcare workers seeking specialised training not available in Nigeria.

 

Indeed, it was not a bed of roses for the Anambra state-born industrialist, as infrastructural challenges continue to pose serious a hurdle on her path. She was even quoted at a time expressing deep worries over the failure of the government to encourage the sector that appears to have suffered years of neglect.

 

“You will find out that people have taken their money and put it elsewhere to either trade or do other businesses. We are, however, planning to revive the sector and we are hopeful that we will be lucky to do this,” she said.

 

She believes that having a virile pharmaceutical industry is a form of security for a country, adding that anything to the contrary would mean that in the event of a crisis, the country will remain dependent on outsiders for something that is vital to it.

 

However, while infrastructural problem appears to be a universal challenge across the industrial sector of the nation’s economy, one challenge which has particularly tasked the pharmaceutical sector and indeed, let to the closure of many factories is the issue of fake drugs. The phenomenon has remained a hydra-headed problem for the country despite the efforts of the regulators at curbing it. But then, Okoli believes that the fake drugs business thrives because there is a gap between the demand and the cost of drugs in the country. This accounts for the reason why foreign fi rms have capitalised on the gap to fl ood the country with different drugs.

 

“Look, it is not that they love us; they only saw a loophole and they are doing business, otherwise, why have such companies not come to set up their factories here?” she asked rhetorically.

 

There was, however, something instructive in the way Emzor under Stella has been able to contain the activities of drug fakers. Experts say that it has been diffi cult to fake Emzor products because of the extra mile the company goes to secure its products. Besides, products of the company are everywhere, and readily affordable, which is a disincentive to fakers. She is yet, saddened that the government has not been able to implement the national drug policy that stipulates that local manufacturers should produce 70 per cent of drugs used in the hospitals.

 

Born in Kano, to Felix Ebelechukwu and Margaret Modebelu, of Nnewi, Anambra State, Okoli bagged a fi rst degree in Pharmacy from Bradford University, in 1969, and obtained her Masters’ degree in Bio-Pharmaceutics from the University of London, Chelsea College, in 1971. She attended the Executive Management programmes at the Harvard Business School, HBS, United States, US, for ownermanagers between 1997 and 1999 as well as the Chief Executive Management programme of the Lagos Business School. Okoli has worked in various capacities at Middlesex Hospital, London; Boots Chemists London and Part Davis Nigeria now Pharma-Deko, before opening a retail outlet in 1977.

 

She has held several professional leadership positions, which include Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group, PMG, of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN; Member, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, NESG and Member, Health Matters Advisory Board of Nigeria. Okoli bagged the national honours of Member Order of the Niger, MON, Fellow Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Outstanding Service Award, Rotary International 21000, and ECOWAS International Gold Award. Her commitment to local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals along with her team of highly trained, competent and motivated staff has earned the company several awards, including Best Indigenous Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, given by the Board of Fellows of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria among others. Okoli, a member of the Board of Directors, GTBank Plc, also mentors other local manufacturers and encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to invest in the pharmaceutical industry fi rst, as her contribution to building a healthy nation and second, in pursuit of Nigeria’s quest for self-suffi ciency.

 

As a self-starter, Okoli has never believed in the concept that children of business owners should automatically take over their parents’ businesses without taking into cognisance, the ability, talents, skills and education of such children.

 

Business owners, she believes, should not force their children to take up their businesses, “when such children have their own dreams and goals different from those of their parents to achieve.” She added that her children do not have interest in succeeding her in the business because they are “multi-talented and have established their own businesses abroad and they are performing well.”

 

As part of her succession plan, Okoli said that she had to train three of her staff at the Lagos Business School, Pan African University, Lagos, as part of grooming them to take over the business, when she retired.

 

“Why should I cut the dream of my child because I want her to succeed me? You don’t need to limit them,” Okoli advised. Looking back 34 years after she started out with Emzor Chemist and 26 years after Emzor Pharmaceuticals’ root was planted, Okoli surely has every reason to be happy. She is no doubt a very successful entrepreneur and fi rst grade industrialist who ventured into a terrain many of her contemporaries would not dare and make a huge success of it.

 

But then, what would have been a whole 34 years of joy, fulfi lment and professional accomplishment for her was abruptly punctured a little over six years ago, when Chike Edward Okoli, her last son, died as a result of undetected cardiovascular disease at the prime age of 25.

 

Chike, a law graduate from the University of Hertfordshire and a Master’s degree (also in Law) from the University of Exeter, died as he prepared for a work out. “Chike is the last of my sons, a very lovely child and he loved life. He loved everything around him. He was very curious and most importantly, he wanted to do the impossible. He saw immense possibilities in life where people didn’t see it.” On a bright day like this, he woke up to go to the gym. He got his bike ready to go to work out and after a while, we didn’t see him,” Okoli narrated. She added that her son’s breakfast was getting cold and when they went to search for him, they found him lying on the fl oor. He was rushed to the hospital and was declared dead. “That was the end of a beautiful life, a life that was very well-lived.

 

He brought joy to everyone,” she said sadly. Perhaps, what made Chike’s death more painful was the fact that the source of his death was undetected despite the fact that her mother, a superintendent pharmacist and pharmaceutical manufacturer with all the facilities at her disposal could not detect early enough that her son had traces of cardiovascular impairment.

 

Though a very busy industrialist, Stella Okoli is equally a family woman who, despite her very busy, schedule takes special interest in her family, particularly her sons, Emeka, Uzoma and Edward in whose name her corporate identity (Emzor) revolves. So, it was only natural that the death of such a priceless son would be very devastating.

 

However, six years after, Chinyelu as she is called by close acquaintances, seems to have found some consolation in continuing the ideals of her late son through the Chike Okoli Foundation for Health and Entreprenuership instituted a year after his death. The foundation will ensure that every young Nigerian is fully aware of the causes of cardiovascular diseases and foster lifestyle adjustments and an entrepreneurial culture among Nigerian youth, by promoting business education and creating awareness about cardiovascular health.

 

As a starter, the Chike Okoli Foundation has established the Chike Okoli Centre for Enterpreneural Studies at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, in Amambra State.