Nigerian businessman Cosmas Maduka speaks plainly when he displays on success, and his message leaves little room for shortcuts. In a latest LinkedIn post, the Coscharis Group founder addresses a brand new technology of African entrepreneurs, urging them to construct patiently and guard their character, arguing that companies that final are formed extra by values than velocity.
“If my life carries one message, it’s this: Construct slowly. Stroll humbly. Honour God. Shield your identify,” Maduka writes. He frames success not as a sudden breakthrough however as the results of regular decisions revamped time, including that endurance in enterprise is rooted in character, not comfort. The put up was not framed as recommendation from a distance. As a substitute, it drew instantly from a life formed by self-discipline and lengthy years of studying the commerce from the bottom up.
Rising up robust by way of adversity
Maduka recalled rising up with out privilege, dropping his father at a younger age and taking up accountability early. By six, he was hawking items on the streets to help his household. College gave solution to survival, and work turned his classroom. “I didn’t develop up with consolation,” he wrote. “I grew up with hardship, self-discipline and the willpower to outlive.”
That sense of realism runs by way of his account of getting into enterprise. As a youngster apprenticed to his uncle as a mechanic, Maduka swept flooring, carried heavy hundreds and endured rejection. A disagreement ended the apprenticeship, and he was despatched away with simply N200. Somewhat than seeing it as an finish, he describes it because the second that compelled him to face on his personal.
From auto startups to diversified empire
At 17, he co-founded a small auto elements enterprise known as CosDave with a pal. The enterprise failed, however it taught him classes that proved lasting. In 1977, he began once more, this time founding Coscharis Motors, a reputation drawn from his personal and that of his late spouse, Charity. Married at 21, the partnership between the 2 turned each private {and professional}, shaping the path of the enterprise in its early years.
A key break got here in 1982, when the Nigerian authorities issued import licenses to 10 motor corporations. Coscharis was amongst them, opening the door to formal partnerships and nationwide recognition. Over time, the corporate turned a serious distributor for international manufacturers together with Ford, Jaguar and BMW, thus establishing Maduka as a high determine in Nigeria’s auto trade.
Development didn’t cease there. As alternatives emerged, Coscharis expanded into agriculture, expertise, healthcare, petrochemicals and client items, thus reflecting a cautious method to threat in a unstable macroeconomic setting. Maduka typically credit endurance, consistency and religion for holding the group grounded by way of cycles of growth and correction.
Maduka values Coscharis at over $5 billion
In November 2025, Maduka drew consideration when he mentioned that if Coscharis Group had been publicly listed, it could place his net worth at $5 billion. “If our firm had been listed on the inventory alternate, which is how Forbes normally estimates wealth, I wouldn’t be value lower than $5 billion,” he mentioned. Whereas exterior estimates put his fortune beneath $500 million, the remark highlighted the size of worth constructed over a long time.
That concentrate on long-term pondering remains to be clear as we speak. In 2024, Coscharis Applied sciences introduced a $4 billion renewable vitality venture to assist Nigeria transfer towards photo voltaic and inexperienced infrastructure. For Maduka the venture suits right into a broader view of enterprise as service, constructed on belief, self-control, and a robust sense of responsibility.
