Drawing From The Ezenna Example
By Ingram Osigwe

In Nigeria, setting up a business concern is like challenging the unknown. No matter how great your preliminary figures showed a prosperous future for the business, you are soon confronted with a bitter truth of how wrong your prediction was. Hence many businesses failed. Many other intending investors are dead scare to try. But such is not the way of great men; men who dared where others feared; men like Sir Tony Ezenna.

A man of courage and conviction, he neither observes the wind to sow nor regards the cloud to reap. He believes in his country and her potentials.

Ezenna shows a consistent track record of turning failures into success. At a time of deep global recession where companies such as Dunlop are relocating to other countries and banks are in dire straits, Ezenna kept a straight head. As Osen Marden puts it, no man could be ideally successful until he has found his place.

Ezenna is strong on track here in Nigeria; in the manufacturing and health sectors. He is may be weak elsewhere. When asked how his company has coped under intense, stressful and unfriendly business climate in Nigeria, he says: ''Growing a business is usually a very challenging undertaking. Some people here may wonder how we have coped. Honestly, when we set up shop in 1988, little did we realise that within a decade, we would be one of the leaders of the industry.''

In 1988, Ezenna knew that as a citizen of this country, he would work tirelessly towards her development. When he set up Orange Drugs, he felt as if walking with destiny, and that all his past life had been but a preparation for this challenge. He thought he knew a great deal about it all, and was sure he would not fail. Today, the story is a magnificent one. He seems to have surpassed his initial expectation.

His doggedness is reflected in the simplicity and sincerity of his desires to etch the nation's name on the minds of countries that import beauty products. Even when the nation's economy seems to have terribly nosedived, Ezenna remains true to his vision. His vision is subsumed in the nation's vision of becoming one of the greatest economies of the world over the next decade. This is no easy task.

He knew the awesome magnitude of the task before him, one of which is the unrepentant sceptics who see nothing good in the country. Another is the inconsistent economic policies as a result of changes in political power.

These challenges might have daunted the bravest of the brave; they did not daunt Ezenna, and it might be true to say that a man feeling less than the exhilaration and the sense of destiny experienced by Ezenna would have been incapable of prospering Orange Drugs.

It is against this background that Ezenna embarked upon the construction of an ultra-modern factory at a whopping $50 million. The factory, constructed at an austere time as this, and employed many more Nigerians at a period of job cuts and losses, has a stored capacity to manufacture 2.8 billion tablets per year with only one shift, which will double the capacity to 5.6 billion tablets. The cream and gel section is expected to produce 20 million tubes per year per shift.

As the energy problem continues to torment Nigerians, his company, Orange West African Limited, pioneered the biggest revolution in the energy sector of the economy. This new energy revolution was achieved through the introduction of energy-saving bulbs into the Nigerian market. The bulbs, known as Osram, use low voltage electricity thereby saving energy and at the same time reducing heat. A 20-watt Osram bulb shines as brightly as 100-watts bulb with less energy consumption. The import of this revolution is that 500 households using Osram bulbs for a specific period of time would conserve 80 per cent energy more than the same number of households using 100-watt bulbs. Some countries in the world have experimented with the technology and found it to have solved their energy problems. Such countries include Ghana and Cuba.

Speaking recently on the introduction of the Osram bulbs into the Nigerian market, Ezenna said if energy-saving bulbs are used, Nigeria would be better for it, considering the low wattage generated throughout the country. He added that Nigeria generates a paltry 2,500 megawatts of electricity compared to South Africa's 45,000. Egypt, a fellow African country, generates 17,561 megawatts and hopes to increase it to 26,000 MW by 2010. United States generates 900,000 megawatts and since it will take some time for Nigeria to generate more, the best alternative for now would be for the country to resort to use of low wattage bulbs.

Ezenna is an actor, rehearsing always for the great part that awaits him. It was with remarkable interest that he took hold on the challenge of restoring the nation's football legacy by instituting the Boska/LDFA football champion's cup in 2007.

The Boska Cup championship is today the pivot of grassroots soccer development programme in the country. The competition seeks to discover and nurture hidden talents into international commercial success. Orange Drugs, in partnership with Dexa Medica, has continued to encourage and develop the round leather game in the country. Some of the discovered talents include Philip Asuquo (Plateau United), Ayo Filani (Union Bank FC, Lagos) and Allen Asogba now plays for Ozankoy FC of Cyprus in Europe. This tournament enjoys a sponsorship of N6 million annually.

If other entrepreneurs follow in the footsteps of Ezenna, the standard of our football would record exceptional improvement in a short time and place us on the map of great football leagues in the world as the English Premier League, La liga and Seria A.

That is not all about corporate social responsibility. Ezenna feels a great hunger for social responsibility and he feeds it in many other ways. His capacity for work is prodigious, and his choice of what to do eclectic and non-eccentric. His projection of police image is unique and it underscores his approved cooperation with government agencies. In Lagos State alone, Orange Drugs has constructed over 200 police stands with about N20 million. The stands are branded. Apart from projecting a positive image of the Nigerian Police, it provides shelter from the sun and rain to the traffic wardens on duty. The company is also working on spending N15 million each on the provision of stands in Kano and Onitsha for the police.

Whereas Ezenna's major business is to produce and market goods, his determination to improve the status of his society is his secondary business. His collaboration with the Lagos State Table Tennis Association is geared towards developing that sport. Sponsorship of this tournament, named Procold Championship, is N7 million. The figure is expected to increase at the next competition when, hopefully, it would have secured the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) approval.

Ezenna is a passionate man. His passions are his God, his family, his country and his business. The Orange Drug phenomenon is the result of a strong culture and clear values, sound strategy and vision, outstanding leadership, and disciplined management - necessary ingredients to any great organisation's success.

Orange Drugs is the realisation of a unique vision espoused by Ezenna.

The story of Ezenna shows us how we can be responsible role models in our business and communities. The story is an exciting and encouraging example of the unlimited opportunities available in the nation's free enterprise system.