Vice Chairman of the Coscahris Group, and wife of Dr. Cosmas Maduka, is dead. She died at about 8.pm on Saturday, November 29, 2021, in Umudim-Nkwa, Nnewi.
Family sources disclosed that Mrs. Maduka had earlier in the day accompanied her husband to the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia state, where he received an honorary degree, but started “feeling uncomfortable” shortly after arriving their country home in Nnewi.
Mrs. Charity Maduka {nee Ikedife of Umuenem, Otolo, Nnewi}, played a vital role in the growth of Coscharis – a name coined from her husband’s firs name, ‘Cosmas,’ and hers ‘Charity.’
Here is what her husband, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, had to say about her in my exclusive interview with him published the SUNDAY SUN of August 25, 2019:
“My wife has been very helpful and instrumental to my success. For instance, somebody who came to our wedding gave us a weighing scale. One day, things got so hard that I took it to the market and got people to weigh themselves for a fee. I was collecting 10 Kobo from each customer. I came back with some money and my wife wanted to know what I did, and I told her. She cried like a little baby. Later, to support me, she dusted her certificate and got a job where they were paying her N85. She would bring the money every month to keep us going and we did that until things got better again for me…
“When you see the name Coscharis, it means Cosmas and Charity.
So, we own the company together, because we built it together. She married me when I was driving a motorbike. She came to me when I had nothing. So, whatever I make today, she is my first employee and whenever I went to Japan, she stayed in the shop. Whenever I sent a consignment of goods, she sold it and when I returned, I would collect the cash and take a flight the next day back to Japan. Later, her elder sister joined her and that was how we built this company.
“She did that and she was very helpful and instrumental to the growth of the business. I am good at working hard and making money, but she is good at administering and making sure we keep the money well, even though I would say I taught her some of those things. This is because those days when things were hard for us, I used to ask her to give me a list when it was time to give her money to cook soup.
“I never gave her money without seeing her list. When she returned the week after for money for another soup, I would say ‘write another list.’ Then, I would bring out the former list to compare with the new one. And, if I saw a bottle of palm oil, I would ask, ‘you bought oil last week, why are you writing oil again?’ Then she would ask me if oil had become Coca-Cola that she could drink. That was the level of poverty and training. But she had learnt from all of those things, and today she can sign a cheque of N10 billion and her credit card has no limit.”