His story is quite inspiring. Coming from a disadvantaged background, he was beset by poverty, overwhelmed by depression, and almost committed suicide at some point in his life. A victim of health circumstance that defied orthodox medicine, but for herbal medicine, little did he know he would later achieve remarkable success using the same traditional medicine that has now made him a name to reckon with. Meet Professor Clinton Brown Odiagbe, the CEO Nature Renaissance International, an indigenous company that caters for the health and wellness of Nigerians. A detribalised African, Brown in this encounter, talks about traditional medicine practice, which he has taken up as a profession, his motivation, collaboration with government agencies, and the way forward in the industry. Ferdinand Ekechukwu brings the excerpts:
Can you tell us about yourself, background and early experiences that helped shaped who you are today?
I am a professor of natural medicine, though it wasn’t my primary profession. I studied International Law and Diplomacy at the University of Benin. Because of my background, at some point it was like the world was against me. At some point it seem the only solution was to take my own life because I almost attempted suicide. It was just beyond amount of educational knowledge possessed. I was depressed. But then I’m alive because I was able to manage the situation. Probably it could be the level of knowledge that I possess or maybe, probably, God has also destined me for what I am doing today.
Specifically, what led to that depression, was it lack of money or your parents were not alive or what?
Poverty was a big thing in my life then. I lost my father at a very tender age, and my mother a peasant farmer; you should understand what that means. And as a matter of fact, I had that inclination of picking up at my tender age and being ready to hit the ground running, being a goal getter. I think naturally that is who I am; a goal getter. But while you so aspire, things just take another turn.
So is that what led you to traditional medicine practice, because, I mean, you studied ISD International Studies and Diplomacy
Yes, it wasn’t a conflict. What really happened was, somehow I was a victim of health circumstances. My tender age I had a domestic accident that actually affected my spine. And my parents managed to try the hospital unfortunately for me, the hospital couldn’t provide the solution that was actually needed. So, from the hospital I was referred to a local kind of treatment; the local bone doctor. Against all odds, the traditional bone doctor was able to proffer a solution that revived and changed the whole situation for me. But for that very scenario, it never occurred to me that this was going to be the practice or I was going to take it as a profession at any stage until the Chinese, the Indians started coming into Africa with their herbal therapy. So I had to ask the question, is it the Chinese that is supposed to provide this or we should be able to look around us in Africa, because if you judge by the world and the condition of this continent, Africa has so much of this. So, that was how I actually started the practice; looking for what we also have. Because somehow, technological knowhow, I think they are far ahead of us. So we also look at what we have. That was how I started doing findings. And you know, there are bottlenecks when it comes to standards and all of that. In the first place you will see that where it’s a bit more difficult is, there a lot of materials, ingredients that are quite health beneficial in Africa. But they are not found anywhere, except maybe around Edo state where I hail from. So how do you now, when it comes to standards, marry these ingredients that are not even recognized? So it’s still a bottleneck. But somehow, at some point when I made up my mind that ‘look this is something that I want to scale up’ I decided to collaborate with the agencies that are supposed to do regulatory. You have the NAFDAC. And there are a few departments where you can do control and other form of analysis. So, we actually leveraged on this. But a lot of people see these agencies as witch-hunting. We saw it as a way of measuring up, a way of scaling up. We started with the NAFDAC and we also go as far as doing some analyses in collaboration with some universities. And the results prove quite positive and impressive. If you ask me from 2016 I actually took off this practice professionally. And from 2016 to 2020, when the Covid-19 happened it was a blessing because we had this challenge of acceptance where a lot of us it was almost like a tradition unless it is western medicine, no medicine. But the Covid-19 was an eye opener to so many persons. Even till now I’m very sure a good number of some of the Africans still do not have idea what the Covid-19 actually threw to our face. During the pandemic I can tell you that almost the whole world was shut against Africa. We had to resort to what is available in Africa, most resorted to local herbs. The lesson is that against the prediction, Africa survived the Covid-19. The annoying part of it is we have not learnt a serious lesson from the pandemic. We have not asked questions: How did Africa truly survive Covid-19? Was it just with resilience?
So how did Africa survive Covid-19?
We resorted to the natural medicines we were taking, it was actually what boosted our immune system. If the vaccination was the solution, they would have resisted it too. They died in dozens. America, Chinese were most hit. The funny part of that pandemic was just all propaganda. That is not to say there was no pandemic, there was. We were not just taking decision based on reality. When America announced there was a lock down we also announced lockdown. We were not even sure of those vaccines we were actually taking.
You took interest in traditional medicine, did you have to go through any training or you took the training from somebody as you were growing up?
Yes, you know it’s really difficult because of the acceptance and the way the system consider the practice. But I think recently, even the federal government through its ministry of health is already looking at how to integrate alternative medicine. I was among the few that had one on one with the former first lady,. Aisha Buhari in 2022. She came with a very bold initiative on how to push alternative medicine. It will take some time. Like the question you ask how I was able to do all of these, it was never by trial and error. Because what I did like I told you I was a victim and I had an encounter. Mine wasn’t just because of hearsay, I was once sick and I survived it through this process. So, it was an eye opener. But as I took it as a professional practice I resorted to pushing these products for research. Like for example, all our products are NAFDAC certified. But we go beyond just NAFDAC certification. There are institutions, there are departments, chemistry departments and I can tell you our products have gone through a lot of these institutions. What we are looking at is the active ingredients of these products. There are analysis that would be able to spread the active ingredients to see if they are toxic, if they are harmful, or not. I think those are the basic things. We also look at the ingredients in those compounds. But what we do mostly now is to look at a particular ailment, what do we need? What ingredient do we extract from? Because we have already done all the analyses, but I think the approach is basically a holistic approach because if you look at the traditional medicine, they don’t tend to cure a particular disease. What the traditional or organic medicine does is looking at how to repair vital organs in form of boosting your immune system, in form of nourishing your system. That’s the truth. That is why if you have a little or minor cut, without medicine, without anything, it gets healed. And if you give it some more time, the scar will go off completely. Our body has the power to heal itself. But I think the system is de-immuned because we are living in a synthetic world. Everything is synthesized. You know in a synthetic world, the only answer is nature.
What do you think are the challenges facing traditional medicine today?
It’s still the bottlenecks that I mentioned earlier you know the standards. With the awareness NRI is creating today, and some other practitioners, people need to be aware, even the practitioners need to be aware going through all the processes. It’s just a way of trying to make it a healthy practice and improve on what you already have. Like when we started in 2016, what we have today weren’t presented in this form. We have a research department where we have the scientists there. What they simply do, before any of our products get to the market, there are a lot of research and analyses that is done on most of these products.
Can you describe your leadership style as the CEO of Nature Renaissance International?
Because we already said that beyond just the conventional business, our vision and our mission statement tells it all. NRI is actually positioned to take people off from the scourge of poverty and poor health. What it means that while we provide the necessary tools for us to be able to manage our health style, using the available resources in Africa, we are also using the same opportunity to create wealth for our people. Sad enough that the Asia, most especially the Chinese, and the Indians, have been able to leverage on this resources and can tell you a good volume of the GDP from these two nations is from their organic medicine and their products. You have the Indians they have the Ayurveda which is generally accepted. And you also have the Chinese traditional medicine. But in this part of the world it’s so challenging and this is where NRI stands to bridge the gap. So what we are trying to do is just to bring this nature, package this nature, and formulate this nature in a friendly manner out of that crude state that it used to be. That is why you now see that through that integration between natural practice and modern technology, we are able to formulate and bring dosage that goes with the normal body index so that it poses no harmful effect to human. Looking at the leadership strategy is simply about synergy. We try to interface with the regulatory agencies, basically that’s a way to be able to up our game and scale up this whole practice. Leadership style at NRI is about team work, collaboration with consultants, professionals in their various disciplines. We also have internal structures for quality control and assurance and the administrative aspect of the two. What we have been able to put on ground in NRI structure is just about team work because something deliberate has to be done for Africa to be able to find her feet when it comes to this practice. The African traditional medicine is as old as the continent itself. But painfully, we have not been able to make some level of progress as required. Even the average African has that understanding that the materials work but how to harness them and get the best of it. That mindset that because it’s made in Africa is still quackery we have gone beyond that stage. I keep saying it’s about the intentions and if the intensions are right, we are already gearing towards making that difference that is expected in this field. But if we judge by the acceptance now and then, I think it’s quite marginal because the level of acceptance as a result of the testimony, the effect, the efficacy of herbal medicine when they are properly processed and developed, I think the acceptance is quite better now.
They just write you off completely. But it was quite challenging! Because I understand I had encounter and I was so sure that look, one has to do this. If we all continue to face ignorance, practice like this that would have taken Africa to a great height might go extinct. And also let me equally say this that somehow the early practitioners abused the whole practice because they make people believe that you have to have certain powers that you have to be a witch or wizard, you have to be sorcerer for this thing to work. It’s far beyond it. That’s not what we are doing now. It’s quite challenging. That’s why 90 percent of my time is spent trying to get result from this field and just 10 percent is for maybe a normal life. But the best I do is vacation; I enjoy vacation, travelling to completely unwind.
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What are your thoughts on the current state of our health system with regards to the fact that a good number of people have a different notion of herbal medicine whereas we can harness these resources and local materials for medicinal purposes yet people still consider and prefer the orthodox medicine, believing foreign drugs and even traveling out for treatment?
Our products are not considered as drugs here they are classified as supplements or alternative medicines. Before NRI launched into the market in the year 2020, it has always been the Asians flooding our markets with their products and supplements, most especially the Chinese. But if you look at it now, the foreign operators are gradually giving way for local content to trend. Just go around you are going to see in this field what you have most common now are the ones that are locally researched and censored. It’s not something that is going to happen overnight because the health tourism is almost like a tradition, is something we are used to. But gradually I think there’s a paradigm shift and you know it has to do with creating more awareness, orientation, so that people should be able to accept these materials. The practitioners should be able to opt the way they present these materials because that’s another big aspect of it, talking about packaging. They should be able to package these materials; they should be appealing until you are able to scale up. But you know for so many to be able to do this it would require some huge capital. Packaging is another challenging aspect of this whole practice. That is where I think the government needs to assist now; where the government needs to come in. The government should really look deep into this whole aspect and I think if you ask me it’s a way of promoting micro economy. The way our economy is today for me micro economy is the solution. This little, little scheme they can look for a way to aid and they would produce unimaginable results. But if you ask me so far so well, we are already making a very giant stride and it is quite positive and that’s why you see I keep telling you we are already looking at the future very courageously. We have also made our own impact in the aspect of the capital flight to some extent. But don’t expect this whole thing to happen overnight. It’s not going to be a rocket signs approach. Gradually people are getting aware; people are getting opportunity to access these materials it’s not just by lips service. People should be able to access them and also should be able to have their own experience and encounter.
So tell us about the product you are launching today?
NRI product we are launching today is the UATD EYI Toothpaste. UATD is Universal Alternative Therapy Discovery. The EYI is actually my father’s name so most of our brands you see I love to attach EYI to it because I lost my father at a very tender age. The little I could remember about my father he was a great man. So, I feel it was a way to also project him before the world. So he’s great in me. That’s what it means. So, instead of me having my name attached to the product, let it be the name of my father. EYI Charcoal Toothpaste with herbal extracts for adult and we have other varieties. The UATD EYI Strawberry and also the grape flavor for children. The children brand is natural and they pose no side effect when consumed by children. It’s not just the regular black thing in form of a paste. This is charcoal toothpaste with herbal extracts. So the health benefits attached to the NRI toothpaste is just beyond oral hygiene because it has other health benefits.
What market research or insights led to the formulation of these products?
First of all we look at the project NRI; the vision in essence, is to create opportunity using the available resources in Africa. That is using local content as the way forward. Because as a continent, as a country there’s no way we will reliably carry everything from other continent while we have the resources available. So if you ask me, it’s about scaling up that ideology of indigenous or local content. And we have idea that can go in improving our economy, improving our GDP as a nation. So, we are already gearing and looking towards that direction where we should be able to produce or consume more of what we produce than importing. What is unique about this product is as a matter of fact they are exceptional products.
While working on this product did you work with dentists, people in the medical so that they would be able to give health benefit advice?
Yes you know like I said earlier, there’s no way you can do this things without standard. This very project is actually UATD in collaboration with Colori. Colori is a Chinese company that is rooted in cosmetics. We partnered with Colori and we were able to come with that marriage that I’m very sure is quite symbiotic. This is just a Nigerian made we are not talking about bringing the products into Nigeria; this is made in Nigeria. But in partnership with experts that we are very sure in that field have done so much not just in Nigeria, but across the globe.
You are friend to Obasanjo, we saw the wife duly represented, and we saw the Emir of Kano Ado Bayero and some other eminent Nigerians, what inspired your relationship with them, is it just as a result of this business or networks?
Yes. You know it’s about adding value. That is why my message to the youth and this upcoming generation is to look at value, give value a priority. This mindset of get rich quick is not just it. If you ask me, money that you consider as cash is the least of the resources that is required to create a sustainable wealth. My friend, Coscharis, Cosmos Maduka talks about this overtime. He said he has to first of all consider credibility, then credible relationship. Then you talk about competence and all of that. The prominent persons you referred to, your work will speak for you when it comes to credibility, credible relationship. You must possess credibility. Then once that is in place, credible relationship falls in place. That’s how it works. So, because I’m not a politician, I’m not even intending to, I don’t think it’s in my DNA. Whoever I have had contact with, is as a result of what I have been able to put on ground over the years. It could amaze you that from 2020 till date, even when the whole world was battling with Covid and economic issues, NRI has awarded over 560 cars to our distributors. And within this period have also created over one million jobs mostly in Nigeria but across other African countries because we are not just only in Nigeria but officially in Nigeria and eight other African countries. What we have achieved so far is enough to attract every reasonable personality that may want to associate with us.
What values have guided your decisions in the practice?
I wasn’t so fortunate growing up. And at some point it was as the whole world was against me. But I would have concluded then but that wasn’t God’s intension for me. But at some point and because I was able to cross the hurdle and stick to what I consider as innate or who really I am, about discovering who really you are. I have always wanted to, it has always been my plan to live by who I believe I am, be myself and not trying to outsmart certain things. So it got to a point that I now got convinced that whatever comes my way is my destiny. So at some point because I had similar encounter too that defied orthodox medicine. I think that was what led to me to start thinking more of African person. Already you and I know this is who we are but I wasn’t going to start living like an alien. I am proudly African. So from that point with this experience of my domestic accident and the remedy I think at that point I got almost consumed by African mentality. What it actually means is that there’s nothing wrong being an African. An African should be able to be an African, live our own lifestyle in an African way. There’s nothing bad trying to have international relationship, partnership, but let an African man understand that God didn’t make a mistake to create us African, for us to eat African food, drink African medicine, wear our African attire as a matter of fact.
A bit personal, on a lighter note, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy outside of your profession? Or is it just all work, work, and business, business for you?
(Giggling)… I love travelling, I travel a lot! It’s not just about work, work. Although at the early stage, of course you know because it’s quite demanding, you must do it differently, you should be able to, as a matter of fact, be judicious most times. You must be deliberate. Yes I think 90 percent of my time I spent trying to make this whole thing work because I started from the very scratch, no support. And you know this practice is not even the type that is enviable. When you tell people that you are an herbal practitioner they see you as maybe you are a native doctor.
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