Ask any youth who
he would want to be
as per financial
stability, he would
quickly say Bill
Gates. But Bill Gates
is not the only rich
man (financially on
earth), Dr. Cosmos
Maduka is rich as far
as knowledge and money was concerned.
But his riches did not come just on a platter of gold, as
many youths today are wont to making money without
putting any hard work or, work at all, to make success. Dr.
Maduka had one time told the world that what is known
today as CosCharis Group took 27 years of hard work. It
was not just by chance but he did a lot of menial jobs
before his initiative on planning for the CosCharis Group
started, which predates, started about 1975. He gave the
background, beginning with himself.
Cosmos Maduka is a native of Anambra State, precisely
from Nnewi North Local Council in Anambra State. He was
born to Peter Maduka. His father died when he was just
four. It was very difficult for his mother to take care of
them. This was before the Civil War. But his mother, as a
single parent, had to take care of him and other children his
late father left behind with difficulties, but with love.
He believed that heʼs a first class brain. But he had to drop
from out from school at elementary three because it was
difficult for his mother to cope with the family
responsibilities.
Dr. Maduka started hawking akara for the mother. Her
mother discovered his entrepreneurial spirit and would fry a
pan of akara each for him to sell. His elder brother was not
exempted. But he sells three pans of the akara sometimes
before his elder brother could sell one. But in all, Dr.
Maduka sees it today as an act of God
Hear him: "I am a Christian, which is why I refer
everything to the Bible. The gift and the calling of God are
without repentance. Many of us are born as we are into the
world but we can also improve on what we are destined to
become by sheer hard work and dedication".
In his early years, it was his mother who saw that there was
something about this enigma and that was unique in terms
of creating wealth. His motherʼs younger brother took him
as an apprentice when he was just nine. He sold spare parts
of motorbikes and they lived in Lagos. He worked for his
uncle for seven years without salary. Though apparently, he
was fed and sheltered.
Basically, as it is the norm from where Dr. Maduka hails
from - Nnewi, at the end of the tutelage, his uncle was
ready to let him start his own business. But why did his
uncle not back him up in school? Perhaps his uncle was
induced by the fate with Dr. Maduka. It was only Dr.
Madukaʼs elder brother who went to school, up to
elementary six, with their mother paying a coin through the
nose.
It was unbelievable that the settlement orchestrated for this
dude today by his uncle then, was his uncle giving him
N200, to start his own business. This was in 1975.
Young Dr. Maduka then looked at the whole thing and
complained that the money was too small. He complained
that he served his uncle well and deserved something better
than the token given to him. Rather than argue with the
young Maduka, his uncle said 'even if I didn't give you
money, I believe you will succeed.' He blessed him by
given him the hope that there was something in Maduka that
would take him to the very pinnacle of business. And there
he is today.
As he left his uncle, his elder brother and him teamed up
and opened a company called, 'Maduka Brothers' at Nnewi
and came to Lagos. By this time his elder brother had also
completed his apprenticeship. They teamed up and were
buying motor parts and sell at Nnewi from Leventis, Boulos
Enterprises.
Until sometime in 1977 his brother and him started having
different opinion and they peacefully parted ways business-
wise. After this, Maduka teamed up with a friend called,
David Nwosu. What did they do? They both formed a
company called 'CosDave Motors'. Each of them
contributed N5, 000 to form the company. They worked so
hard and by 1978, they had about N300, 000 in capital and
by 1980 they had over a million naira. They also parted
ways in 1981, having had differing little ideology.
It was in 1982, he incorporated Coscharis Motors. The
word, 'Coscharis' came from a combination of his name and
his wife's name. His wifeʼs Charity. When this company
was formed the tireless Cosmos hired some young staff to
join him. According to him, it was not yet uhuru. "But the
turning point in my business was in late 1982 to early 1983
when the economy of this country came to a halt", he
intoned. "This was during the import licence regime".
In a plan of God, CosCharis was the seventh company,
among 10 motor companies, that were penciled down to be
given import license by the Ministry of Trade then perhaps
because, Coscharis Motors Limited, sounded like a Greek
name.
At that time very few companies had import licences. And
Nigeria was almost grounded that whatever that one brought
in the country could be sold at maximum profit. It was a
seller's market. It was like money doubling. That was where
he made money to prepare the base and foundation of the
todayʼs booming Coscharis Group.
Not only CosCharis was making money then, but lots of
people were also making money. But unlike many of them
who did not manage it well, Maduka was a different. Maybe
because of the discipline he had acquired.
Maduka was known as not a flamboyant person. He was still
living somewhere in Ajegunle, in Olodi Apapa, driving a
second hand vehicle then, when he bought a whole complex
by 1983. Nobody knew he had money, not even his mates
knew how much he was controlling as of 1985. But Maduka
knew that he was sitting on oof.
Dr. Maduka then did not believe in making noise. Hear
him: "An average Igbo trader would build some high rise to
announce to people that he had arrived. But that was not my
idea. As I am talking to you, I don't own any of such
buildings but I own some few prime property like our
corporate offices in Lagos and Abuja and the new place I
will be moving into as residential quarters. I don't want to
do what everybody does; I believe I can create my own
idea. I believe I can do something and become a role model
and act as a source of inspiration to others". This was in
2003.
But when he felt that he has arrived, he began to put a lot of
things back to the society. He began to sponsor sports.
Table tennis precisely. When this took place was when
people started hearing about the man and his company.
People asked: 'what is this company called Coscharis?'
Because the dude was into table tennis sponsorship, people
amiss the company to be dealing on tennis balls. They never
knew things like selling cars or being into banking and the
selling of auto parts was not something that people attached
value to. People attached interest to school.