From Importing Biscuit to Making the Most Popular Cracker Biscuit in Nigeria, the Story of Obi Ezeude

What’s not to like about Cracker biscuits? Is it the ‘crackiness’ from where it appears to have gotten its name or the taste that’s so creamy and tasty, yet not so sugary like most biscuits?

Most households favour Cracker over other types of biscuit. Parents would rather give it to their kids, and adults don’t play with it either.

You love Cracker too, don’t you? Maybe you will love it more when you read this inspiring story of Obi Ezeude, the founder of the most popular Cracker brand in Nigeria today.

Birth and Education

Born on the 7th of July 1967, Obi Mark Ezeude is from Ubuluenu Uke, in the Idemili North local government area of Anambra state.

His education kicked off in Anambra before leaving the country for the United States, where he got himself a degree in Banking and Finance.

After graduating in his 20s, Obi returned to his motherland when most young people like him wanted to leave the country as it was under the control of the military, bringing a lot of economic and financial difficulties for many. For Ezeude, however, it was a time for him to come use the knowledge he had acquired to build his country’s economy.

Returns to Nigeria and starts importing Biscuit

So, upon returning home, he knew he wanted to start a business. Hence, he paid attention to his environment to see that the trending business at the time was trading and importation. He decided to follow the trend.

There was a problem, though – he didn’t have enough capital. That meant there was a limit to the kind of products he could import. Small items like biscuits were what he could afford, and so he went for it.

Ezeude registered his business, Beloxxi & Company Limited (BLC), as an importer and distributor of Hwa Tai and Luxury Cracker biscuit and Dean’s shortbread from Malaysia and Scotland, respectively.

Obasanjo strikes – Ezeude strikes gold!

Business was good; Beloxxi kept bringing in biscuits and distributing them across Nigeria. However, things took a different direction in 2003 when the Obasanjo-led federal government of Nigeria decided to ban the importation of biscuits to encourage local production.

“For a start, we are going to ban the importation of toothpicks, bottled water, biscuits, spaghetti and noodles and every six months; we will meet to look at other things we can ban to encourage local production. It is unacceptable that we spend up to $13 million to import toothpicks and up to $30 million to import bottled water”, President Olusegun Obasanjo was quoted to have said at a campaign (it was election season).

Of course, this was no good news to those whose means of livelihood at the time was importing those items, including Ezeude.

Opportunity disguised as a problem

However, Ezeude saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He saw an opportunity in the ban. After all, the whole idea behind the ban is to encourage local production. So, who said he couldn’t be one of those local producers? He decided to start a biscuit manufacturing business in Nigeria.

While his mates were trying to get the government to reverse the policy, he plans to have a biscuit manufacturing business in Nigeria. The plan was simple – get his Malaysian partners to set up the manufacturing factory in Nigeria and make him their partner. Perfect?

Well, the Malaysian company wasn’t having any of it. For reasons best known to them, they didn’t buy his idea of making biscuit in Nigeria. First disappointment (or second, depending on when you started counting).

“Affliction” rising the second time?

It seems that not many people thought biscuit manufacturing was lucrative enough to warrant an investment because two Nigerian banks denied him a loan. The reason they gave him was that he didn’t have enough collateral.

Ezeude then approached the US Export and Import Bank (US Exim) for a loan. The process was long and tedious, and he didn’t even have all the requirements.

“I had series of meetings with their management, and even when I did not have all that they requested, the management and officials were more interested in my ideas and how it would work, whereas my Nigerian bankers were only interested in collateral,” he remembered.

As a result of the negotiations and discussions, a $2.2 million loan was approved to Ezeude in December 2003. He did not build the factory immediately but started with a disused factory block in Ikeja, Lagos State capital. The factory became fully operational in 2006.

Another problem, but a good one

In a few years, Ezeude was faced with a problem that most entrepreneurs would call a good one.

“We faced the challenge of meeting the market expectation in product volume and had to do something about it,” he revealed in an interview.

As a result of this problem, the company expanded into Agbara, Ogun state, creating thousands of jobs for Nigerians. President Goodluck Jonathan commissioned the first phase of the Agbara project in September 2010.

Soon after, Ezeude added three more production lines to meet up the ever-increasing demand for its product. While this is certainly not a problem many entrepreneurs can boast of, it is a sure result of rolling out a quality product at a competitive price.

As a result of the second phase of the expansion, which was commissioned in February 2018, Beloxxi’s production capacity increased from 30,000 metric tonnes to 40,000 metric tonnes.

A few months after the second phase expansion, the third phase expansion was laid, adding three additional production lines, increasing the company’s staff strength from 2500 to 6000 and increasing production capacity from 40,000 to 100,000 tons of cream crackers a year.

One could easily see Ezeude’s confidence in the Nigerian economy from his speech and what he hoped to accomplish with the expansion.

Where did the money for expansion come from?

It is understandable to wonder how a company that began with a $2.2 million loan from US Exim managed to keep expanding.

The company divested a minority stake to German prime investment bank KFW-DEG in August 2016 for an estimated $85m. The third expansion to nine production lines and the establishment of an allied packaging factory in Oregun were facilitated by this sale by a joint venture between the German Investment Bank and 8Miles of London; a private equity firm focused on Africa investment.

Ezeude didn’t disappoint the investors in his method for allocating and deploying the funds. When the bank’s president, Bruno Wenn, visited the Agbara factor in October 2017, he couldn’t hide his satisfaction with what had been accomplished.

In his visit, Wenn emphasised that investing with Beloxxi was worthwhile. As soon as he had toured the factory and asked all the questions he could think of; he assured the management of KFW-DEG that it would not be a bad idea to invest more funds in Beloxxi.

Awards and Recognitions

To honour the contribution of Ezeude to the country’s economy, he was awarded The Sun Manufacturer of the Year award in 2017.

The 2020 Ernst and Young (EY) Global Entrepreneur Award for West Africa, the Emerging Entrepreneur category, went to Obi Ezeude. While receiving the award, Ezeude described Beloxxi as his “modest contribution to Nigeria’s national development.”

He received the Fate foundation award for the year 2020 in June.

At 53 and as the owner of one of the most technologically advanced biscuit factories in Nigeria, Ezeude has no intention of slowing down. Social media posts reveal that the founder is still very much involved in running the company he founded at the age of 27.

Lessons and Conclusion

There are loads of lessons for entrepreneurs from Ezeude’s story. However, one that stands out is seeing opportunity in challenging situations. You’re probably tired of hearing this from motivational speakers all the time, but as demonstrated in this story, you will agree it’s true.

Most times, opportunities come in the guise of challenges. And it takes some level of doggedness and superior knowledge to see this and act accordingly.

Following the ban by Obasanjo then, while most of Ezeude’s colleagues were lobbying for the government to reconsider their stand, Ezeude saw an opportunity in the situation and quickly exploited it. There are more lessons on finding opportunities in challenging situations here.

Another lesson to take from this is, sometimes, all you need is an idea and that convincing drive. Ezeude didn’t have money too, but he had an idea.

Even though he met disappointments at different points as not everyone saw what he was seeing, he stayed true to his vision and help eventually came.

What’s that idea, and what’s your excuse?