My apologies for staying away from this subject for weeks. The truth is that I take delight in writing it under inspiration. Just like the experience I got on sighting Dr. Cosmas Maduka’s story in the Champions’ Destiny Force Magazine, published by Yemi Olowodola.

After reading many versions of the Coscharis story, it loomed clearly as an illustration of a point we have been making in this series: to everyone, God has given a special gift, which is nurtured over time, through thick and thin, to blossom into success.

“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,” he says.

Obviously Dr. Maduka’s gift is entrepreneurship. And from a meagre capital of N200 he has built an unimaginable business empire.
Today, thirty-six years after he was sacked as an apprentice by his boss for serving the God who gave him the rare gift, he has a visible presence in many key sectors of the economy.

The Coscharis Group has several subsidiaries which include, Coscharis Auto Industries Ltd., Coscharis Technologies and Foods Ltd., Coscharis Exports Ltd., Coscharis Securities Ltd., Coscharis Finance and Investment Ltd., etc.

Coscharis Motors supplies Nigeria and the entire West African sub-region with roller chain. Coscharis Food and Drug sells medical equipment, and Coscharis Technologies Ltd. is into the sale of computer hardware and software. Coscharis Technologies Ltd. today presents itself as an authorised dealer for major information technology product manufacturers like Compaq Incorporation of America, American Power Conversion (APC), and Epson range of printers.

Coscharis Export Ltd. is into the business of export of cocoa and wood to Europe and America to earn the much-needed foreign exchange for Nigeria.

Coscharis Finance and Investment Ltd has the primary responsibility of raising funds for the business of the entire group. Coscharis Finance and Investment Ltd. also manages fund for high network individuals. Coscharis Group has an office in Ghana and Gabon and he is exploring the possibility of expanding their business to other West African countries.

Cosmas was born to the family of Mr. Peter and Mrs. Rose Maduka in the city of Jos, Northern Nigeria on 24th December, 1958. Unfortunately he lost his father at the age of four. With six children to cater for, his mother had to enlist Cosmas and his brother in the hawking of her products – bean cake “akara” in Nigerian vanacular.

The Drop Out
The earning from this “family” business was insufficient to pay all their bills, particularly school fees. So young Cosmas had to drop out of school at the age of nine when he was just in primary three.

He was then farmed to his maternal uncle in Lagos as an apprentice in the motorcycle parts selling trade in 1970 as the curtains were drawn on the Nigerian Civil War.

The account is more touching in his own words: “I lost my father at the age of four and we had only our mother trying her best to raise us. We experienced poverty and I started hawking at the age of six. By the age of seven, I had learnt how to climb and cut palm tree for elderly women and I charged them three pence. I became a breadwinner at an early age. All along, I had a passion to make a difference. I brought the money home to my mother but when she could not cope, she sent me to live with my grandparents. From there, my uncle took me to Lagos to be an apprentice.

“My maternal uncle lived at Ebutte-Metta in Lagos and had a store at 88 Griffith Street, near Oyingbo Bus-stop. He took me to work as an apprentice for him, and people laughed at me and questioned what I could learn at my age.”

His uncle had no home of his own but stayed with a friend, and Cosmas spent the nights in the store while he went home with the key.
“I slept in the shop and I recall some children mocking me on their way to school. They laughed at me for sleeping in the shop but I told myself that I would be better than them in the next six years.

“Although I left school at Primary three, I tried to do some research and find out how I could take some parts from a Volkswagen car and fix into a Honda. I was always curious to know which automobile parts could work on another brand. For three years, I worked tirelessly with my uncle and he opened a branch in Jos. I went there to manage it; he opened another one in Sokoto, I was there and I became a born again Christian,” he recalls.

The N200 Punishment
“My uncle opened another branch in Nnewi, again, I moved there and I became a new personality entirely. I developed a strong passion for God. While at Nnewi at age 14, we had a church camp which I went for and when my boss came on the fourth day to the shop and didn’t meet me, he sent for me and my elder brother that evening and then gave me N200, saying I should go and concentrate on my new found faith.

“It was done to punish me, but having known a little about God, I looked at him in the eyes and said, `God hardened the heart of Pharaoh to show His might in the land of Egypt. I served you well, and I don’t deserve this. But if this is what you have to offer me, five years from today, you will be amazed at what you’re going to see out of this.”

“So, I teamed up with my brother, who had passed Standard Six, to establish a company called, Maduka Brothers but some months after, we differed in ideologies and parted ways. We didn’t make enough money but I had N316 and someone gave me his shop for free.

“I had my first breakthrough when I went to Boulous Enterprises to purchase motorcycle spare parts. I stumbled on a new innovation, motorcycle crash ban, and I bought several and then removed the address of Boulous from the carton so that others would not know where I bought them from.

“I sold everything the next day and joined the night bus again to Lagos to buy more. I did that four times in one week and my capital rose from N300 to over N3,000. I settled down in marriage at age 19, and I ventured into importation with the little capital I had. Lo and behold, I received the wrong consignment and therefore, had a serious setback which left me indebted even to my landlord for months. My shop was also locked.”

Unbelievable
Now this is unbelievable. Desperate for restoration, Cosmas did the unbelievable. He rummaged the gifts he received at his wedding and found something he could use to earn money. It was a weighing scale. He took it around in the market for people got on it to know their weight and pay Comos 10 kobo.

It is said that his wife cried when she knew what her husband was going out to do every day. She decided to pick up a job to support the family while Cosmas gradually built up another business capital through the scale.

Later on, when he had gathered enough capital, Cosmas teamed up with a friend, David, to set up a company called CosDave. “I formed Coscharis when Dave and I also parted ways due to some ideological differences. Coscharis is a combination of three letter words from my name and that of my wife, Charity.

“The real breakthrough came in that same year in 1982 when the Nigerian government decided to grant import licenses to ten motor companies and Coscharis Motors was selected! We’ve continued to expand since then, and we now have several subsidiaries.”

Cosmas sums it all up this way: When a lot of people look at me today, they think I was born Coscharis. I believe life is not so much about what happens to you, but about the opportunities and obstacles God puts in your way to get the best out of you.” he says.
Wow! A story of resilience, endurance, determination, and above all, God’s favour!