Dr Stella Okoli has stepped down as Group Managing Director of Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries and stays on as founder and chief executive officer. Day-to-day management passes to pharmacist Uzoma Ezeoke, a senior executive who previously oversaw general duties, human resources and finance. In short, a new chapter has begun at Emzor.
As Okoli hands over daily operations and keeps strategic influence, the timeline alone makes succession a fair question. She earned her first degree in 1969 and opened the drugstore in 1977, nearly five decades before this handover. Is retirement in the works? Not clear yet, but she might be keeping the CEO title.
Once again, Okoli opened Emzor Chemists Limited as a small drugstore in Shomolu, Lagos, in January 1977. Seeing that Nigeria depended heavily on expensive imported drugs, she moved into manufacturing and incorporated Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries in 1984.
At present, the company makes over 140 products, including Emzor Paracetamol, a household name. It runs three factories, employs more than 1,000 people and distributes in 25 African countries, so a change in who runs it each day reaches well beyond Lagos.
The scientific grounding was already in place. She earned a pharmacy degree at the University of Bradford in 1969 and a master’s in biopharmaceutics at Chelsea College, London, in 1971. Okoli then worked at Middlesex Hospital and Boots in the UK.
Back in Nigeria, she worked at Massey Children’s Hospital and Park Davies Nigeria, now Pharma-Deko Plc, before opening her own drugstore.
Actually, it was a personal loss that moulded her public work. After the death of her son, Chike Okoli, Okoli founded the Chike Okoli Foundation in 2006 to promote heart health awareness and entrepreneurship training for young Africans.
The foundation has reportedly taught millions of Nigerians about heart health and business skills. Her honours include the Order of the Niger at member and officer levels. It is for such a legend that a new chapter starts.