Meet Jeph Akaehie, successful wellness entrepreneur

Jeph Akaehie is the chief executive officer of Green Power Healthcare, a natural wellness manufacturing business that produces 100 percent natural healthcare products in Nigeria.

Jeph was inspired to establish Green Power Healthcare in 2016 owing to his dissatisfaction with the type of natural medicine made available to Nigerians.

The entrepreneur spent four years in the industry managing other products but later realised that there was a gap to be filled in the area of delivering excellent natural healthcare products in Nigeria and tapped it.

“I was not very satisfied with the class of natural medicine obtainable in the market, so the quest to change that led me to change Green Power from a marketing consulting company to a manufacturing business,” he says.

To ensure quality and standards, Jeph partners with some pharmacists and micro biologists in producing his goods. Currently, his natural products have been certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

He tells Start-Up-Digest that the business currently has 30 full-time employees at the factory, adding that the business sources all of its raw materials used in production locally.

Speaking on the challenges facing his business, Jeph says that having effective and efficient distribution channels has remained the major problem. The entrepreneur notes that demand for his products is high but the channel to effectively distribute them to customers across the country is lacking.

He states that the organisation is working hard to bridge the gap, while also intending to expand its capacity by scaling up production by 10 percent.

Answering questions on the organisation’s expansion plans, the marketer-turned-entrepreneur says, “Our long term plan is to finish our mega production facility which is about 1,500 square meters. This will enable us to expand our production capacity from now to December this year, as we hope to increase production to 15,000 metric tons.

“Also, we are planning to have more outlets for our products in the west and southern regions of the country.”

The microbiologist calls on the Federal Government to provide key infrastructure to spur growth in the health sector, adding that lack of it has been a bane to the sector’s growth and development.

He also charges the government to improve the state of security in the country while calling on them to provide a lasting solution to the problems.

“The things we ask from the government are security and an enabling environment for businesses to grow. Also, we need infrastructure to drive growth and development in the health sector as all that is lacking,” he adds.

Angel James