The Executive Chairman of the Tobinco Group of Companies, Elder Nana Amo Tobbin I says he used to sell groceries on the streets while he was in school.
The Business tycoon said he had to sell toffees, chewing gums, polythene bags and others either in the morning before going to school or in the afternoon after school because he was attending the shift system of schooling .
Born into a ‘poor’ family, he said he had to hawk on the streets until he gathered money to start selling medicine.
As a beginner, he said some of the medicines were given to him on credit and he had to send some to Tarkwa and other towns in the Western and the Eastern Regions to sell.
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When asked why he switched from groceries to medicine in an interview with Zionfelix, the Tobinco Boss said he was introduced to it by a Muslim guy, Alhaji Baaba at the time.
He explained that after school, Alhaji Baaba who was already in the Pharma industry told him he would buy medicine for him to sell with his (Nana Tobbin I) little capital he had.
As at 1984, the 20 year-old who had completed school was able to raise 1 cedi and gave it to Alhaji Baaba who bought medicines for him to sell.
Meanwhile, Nana Amo Tobbin I said the brothers of Ernest Chemist also helped him very well by giving him some of the medicines on credit.
He said he did not sell the medicine directly to the public but to retailers, pharmacy shops, chemical shops for them to sell to the public.
“I started putting them in ‘efiera suame’ bag on my neck, then I had bags and then about four, five cartoons and later it increased,” he said.
Nana Amo Tobbin I said he was later given a license after the Pharmacy Council noticed his medicines but realised he did not have license.
After obtaining license, he said he sold the medicine until he had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo, where he had his working capital.
He noted that in 1989, he stopped the pharmaceutical job to go and hustle in Tokyo-Japan where he spent five years.
According to him, he had a job with a cement factory where he was paid higher than all the Ghanaians in the company.
By the time he returned, he said he had a lot of money, aside completing his own house and buying his car.
Nana Amo Tobbin I then opened an electrical shop at Opera Square and a chemical shop at Darkuman and that was how the Tobinco brand came about.
Although he had a little beginning, the Tobinco Boss said he envisaged that he would one day build a pharmaceutical company which he has.
He is now the Owner and Chancelor of the Entrance Pharmaceuticals and Research Centre and the Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited (TPL).
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Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
Writer’s email: [email protected]