Vivian Onyebukwa
Cyril Okoye is the executive chairman of Grape Tree International Ltd. He is a native of Adaziani in Aniocha Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Okoye, a businessman and importer, is the marketer of Diplomat Toothpaste and other articles like torchlight,
camphor, among others.
What inspired you into business?
I have passion for it from my childhood, even from my school days. All my life is about business. Even when I was in the village, I was doing some businesses; I remember I usually go to the neighbouring town to advertise the product I was selling in the market. I had always had passion for business.
Is there any particular thing or somebody that inspired you into it?
Yes. When I was growing up, my father was not a businessman, he worked with Public Works Department (PWD), but my mother was a businesswoman. I found it easier to harness with my mother who was a businesswoman. She travelled outside Nigeria and came back and I learnt a lot from her in business and that really inspired me to join business.
Can you recall your growing up days?
A lot of things happened when I was growing up. In fact, I never knew I would go into business because sometimes some businessmen went out and some came back a failure. Sometimes you see some growing, and sometimes you see them fail. Sometimes you see them in the village after a failed business, so I began to have the fear to go into business. Sometimes you see somebody growing in business and within a short time you see the person within a short period become bankrupt, complain that was why the business collapsed, and you begin to wonder what happened to the business. But because I have the passion, I decided to try, but I said to myself that I must not fail in business. I said that I had seen different kinds of people; maybe they failed because they didn’t plan well and I promised myself that I am not going to fail and I have not failed, and I will not fail.
How small did you start?
The journey of so many kilometres is step by step. I started step by step, no one started once because my parent didn’t have a lot of money to push to me to start business. The fact is that I started with hawking. I started with shoes. After my school years I started shoe business, I started by selling shoes, taking them to people from one house to another to buy. From selling shoes, I commenced building material business in Onitsha, Anambra State and I did it for some years before veering into cloth business. I joined people who were selling clothes in the main market in Onitsha; from there we started travelling to different places like France, Hong Kong, Italy, where we went to bring clothes. We were doing very well until when the government placed a ban on clothes. It was not all rosy because in some instance we encountered some business setback and at one instance the Customs seized our clothes in Port Harcourt and Lagos ports, so we all started afresh, everything crumbled. That was when we came down to Lagos, and I started hawking toothbrushes on the streets, from one place to the other. I used the little money I made to travel to China in 1998 for a trade fair. There I met so many companies. From there we were able to make some contacts and I was able to meet Chen Lin, CEO of Celgo Manufacturing Co, Ltd, China, manufacturers of Diplomat Toothbrush. It was from there that we started business together since 1998 till date and we have been together in serious business.
How big are you now?
The business has grown a lot. We can boast of about 30 staff. We have branches in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Kaduna, Aba, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Sokoto.
Looking at what you went through to get to where you are today, what can you tell our teeming unemployed youths in the country?
They should have dreams. Be focused about what you want to be and where you want to go. That is very much important. It is a matter of determination. You must have a goal and a mission. When you wake up in the morning and sit down, think about your direction, Ask yourself where am I going today, how am I going to get there. If you want to go into education, you must know the course you want to study. Do you want to be a Medical Doctor or an Engineer? If you want to learn, learn. If you want to go to school to further your education, whatever you want to do, you must have a vision. How to start it is the most important thing. Ask yourself what will I gain? How do I create an impact on the people? If you want to go to America, what are you going to do there, because if you are heading somewhere, first of all what are you going to do there? Are you going to steal or to work? When you are going somewhere you must have a purpose before going to the place. I enjoy my business, because I want to make a difference. And looking at our products, the standard we are producing is different. I do use other products. I compare and contrast my own with them. We look at their standard, we review it and we try to meet their standard. That is why wherever our product goes, it is accepted because we give credibility to it, we are careful with what we bring into the market. We are not running them down, but we are progressing. Wherever you put our products, they sell because we don’t believe in fake or sub-standard products, that’s why we partner with all the government agencies because we know the product we have. It can be accepted anywhere. We can defend it anywhere. They can be saleable anywhere. Few weeks ago I went to London. I saw my product in London and I was so happy because it is accepted there. That’s how to do something. When you want to do something think about how to do it properly so that it can be accepted everywhere, that is the most important.
How do you give back to the society?
We have given enough to the society and we will continue giving because we employ people, and that is part of giving back to the society. We have some educational foundation where we pay school fees for a lot of people. In fact, we believe in building people. I have trained more than 20 students. We have trained doctors, engineers, and so on. In my community, I have educational foundations where I pay school fees for about 30 people. So, we are building nations and really working very hard. Even inside the market we are building a lot of people.
Is that why they want to give you a chieftaincy title?
No. In our community, they don’t just give you chieftaincy title because you have money. They don’t care about your money, we talk of the principle, qualities and the kind of person you are. We don’t talk of money because virtually everybody in Anambra State is a millionaire. We talk about character, that is what they use in giving title in my community, not money.
Can you tell us some of the challenges you have faced in the last 20 years in your business?
In everything there must be challenges. Part of the challenges is instability of government policies, which we all know, but that also is how life is. No condition is permanent, but we are facing the challenges and we are trying to overcome it. Two years ago when we were producing, the light went off twice, but what can we do. In production you must be sure of what you are doing. You run on generator. You know, the productions have a lot of techniques. You must be ready to face it. Little time a lot of damage can occur on the raw material and you start afresh. So, the challenge we have is electricity, but I think government is doing their best to tackle it. Once it is a bit stable, we will do more. We have acquired a property. We have some equipment here. In fact, we are doing some packages here in Nigeria. With time I believe we are going to do a lot here in Nigeria.
What has life taught you?
A lot. Life has taught me to be slow and steady. You also have to be disciplined in a way. Be focused, be a visionist, and be trusted. You must be trusted when you want to develop yourself. First of all, trust yourself then others can trust you, so wherever I am going that’s my language. Have confidence in yourself. As I have confidence in myself, I have confidence in my products. So, whatever the challenges, you face it. No matter the situation, Diplomat Toothpaste has come to this country and it has come to stay. No matter the challenges, we have to win the market. We are winning no matter the challenges, not only in Nigeria, but also in other African countries.
One word for the government
All of us can’t be civil servants or politicians. The problem we are facing now is policy without notice. Some of us are businessmen. The government just woke up and made policies without notifying the businessmen. It is affecting us seriously. How do the government want us to cope, they must be carrying the businessmen along when making policies for us to make contributions. We all can’t be civil servants or politicians. If there is need to change policies, let us know so we can prepare ourselves. We are asking government to look at us with human face.
Do you have any intention of going into politics?
Every human being is a politician. If I have the money and opportunity to be a politician I will, but I have passion for my business. I love business.
What is the title they just conferred on you recently?
Ezeani, meaning the true son of the soil. The man of people.