#Throwback: Meet Founder Of Alabukun Brand, Jacob Sogboyega

Alabukun Nigeria's first locally made modern drug was invented by Chief Jacob Sogboyega Odulate, famously known as Blessed Jacob, in 1918.

The over 100-year-old Alabukun powder which is seen as a cure-all by many has stood the test of time. It is a brand of aspirin used for minor headaches, migraine, sore throat and to prevent blood clots and stroke.

Without any significant advertising, Alabukun remains popular among Nigerians and even in the diaspora.

In Nigeria, where it has become a household name, the red and white packaged powdered medicine can be found displayed and sold in thousands of pharmacies, markets, and roadside stalls. 

About Jacob Sogboyega Odulate

He was born in 1884 in Ikorodu in Lagos State but later moved to the neighbouring Ogun State, Nigeria.

A determined man right from his young days, Odulate would embark on a three-month exploratory journey on foot to establish himself in Abeokuta, where he would build his modest laboratory in the Sapon area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, south-western Nigeria.

That laboratory, which also served as his consulting room, gave birth to the Alabukun brand that has lasted a century and currently competing with other brands, both local and foreign.

Odulate managed to create this indigenous pharmaceutical brand despite the obstacles that the British colonial authorities at the time placed in the path of most local businessmen and natives.

READ ALSO: Charlie Charlie Challenge: What You Should Know

Being a black man within the colonial times in the 1910s, many felt that it would have been difficult for him to succeed, but Odulate “penetrated the fortress of British-dominated commercial enterprise in nascent Nigeria, to become one of a very small group of Nigerian entrepreneurs in the colony”.

Alabukun Powder contains acetylsalicylic acid and caffeine as its active ingredients. A packet contains 760 mg of acetylsalicylic acid and 60 mg of caffeine making a total of 820 mg.

“The pharmacodynamics of Alabukun powder show that it functions by preventing the production of platelet aggregation and inhibits adenosine in the body. These functions reduce pain and allow the user to breathe better by stimulating the brain and the heart,” said SciTech Africa.

When Odulate started Alabukun powder, he produced other brands like Alabukun menthol and an annual journal called Alabukun Almanac which was widely distributed in Nigeria between the 1920s and 1950s.

As of 2017, the century-old Alabukun business has been passed down three generations. This has been described as a great achievement as there is hardly any Nigerian indigenous business with such a record.

Alabukun has also become one of the longest-running, indigenous pharmaceutical brands in Africa. The ‘magic powder’ remains in high demand even after over 100 years.

Jacob died in 1962 at age 78.