Elder Dr. Samuel Amo Tobbin I is the Executive Chairman of Tobinco Group of Companies which has ample reach in areas of Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics, Banking, Health, Education, Construction, Events Centre, Insurance and Media. The serial entrepreneur’s thriving companies include Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited, Entrance Pharmaceuticals and Research Centre, Entrance University Hospital, Entrance University College of Health Sciences, Toblues properties, D’or Events and Beauty Complex, Atinka Media Village, ABii National Savings and Loans Ltd. and Priority Insurance Ltd.
Born into a family of eight children in Accra Newton where he had his elementary education, young Samuel furthered his education at Royal Academy of Accountancy in Newtown. However, he subsequently had to drop out of school in form two due to financial constraints. He started hawking to make ends meet at this stage and soon realized his entrepreneurial proclivities. Consequently, he traded in pharmaceutical products by supplying to chemical and pharmacy shops in villages, necessitating him to travel outside the country and upon his return, he established his own chemical shop. He later employed two persons and moved into plying a pharmacy retail shop.
Unearthing his purpose at such a young age, Mr. Tobbin fully launched into pharmaceutical trade and opened a chemical shop at Darkuman, a suburb of Accra in Ghana. In 1997, through diligence and commitment, he later opened his second retail pharmaceutical shop at Kotobabi. Craving for an expansion of his company and being privy to the importation of pharmaceuticals from India, the astute entrepreneur made his way to the Asian country to establish direct contact with a company there. With three shops then, he started direct importation of products from there. Coupled with cautious planning, these shops were later transformed to pharmacies to serve local communities and in January 2003, Mr. Tobbin fittingly registered Tobinco Pharmaceutical Limited.
Currently, Entrance Pharmaceuticals and research Centre has a staff strength of about 2,000 individuals and it’s one of the biggest pharmaceutical plants in West Africa at the moment. Being flaunted as one of the pharmaceutical companies with the biggest plant in the sub region is no mean feat, but the attendant pomp and pageantry only spiralled Mr. Tobbin into action by supplying his products to all the sub regional countries in West Africa except Nigeria. Central African countries like Cameroun and Chad were also blessed with the invasion of his products. The factory is self- sufficient in creating employment for the youth and not to spend so much money on importation of drugs especially on malaria.
These good intentions have made the local manufacturing of Lufart (malaria drug) very affordable and the number one killer of malaria for Ghanaians and for that matter West African at large.
Attributing his success primarily to the focal presence of God in his life, the ever-inspired businessman identified some key areas in the business environment he could take his sparkle of business-sense to and shine.
Atinka Media Village, one of the most innovative and forward-thinking media companies in the country was birthed as a result, with its headquarters in Accra. Atinka FM in Accra, Agyenkwa FM in Kumasi and Takoradi’s Ahotor FM are some of the operations by the media village with Atinkaonline being their web presence and Atinka TV representing the group’s national digital television broadcast station.
In 2011, ABii National was christened as a Savings and Loans Company, licensed under the Non- Bank Financial Institutions Law to provide financial services to the public. Close to ABii National’s trail was the establishment of Priority Insurance, also in 2011. Mr. Tobbin made quite an appearance on the medical and educational front with the establishment of Entrance hospital and Entrance University College– which prides itself in programmes such as Doctor of Pharmacy courses. Similarly, Tobinco’s Executive Chairman also has an International Trade Division company which supplies pharmaceutical products on behalf of its parent company, Tobinco pharmaceuticals, to the West Africa sub-regions.
Challenges we encounter in life forges greater tensile strengths in people who remain unforgiving to failures and being a businessman comes with its own tests and disappointments. In 2013, Mr. Tobbin woke up to a tussle with the Food and Drugs Authority over the peddling of counterfeit drugs by his company. The Authority seized hundreds of drugs from Tobinco Pharmaceuticals and that led to the placing of a ban on the importation of some identified drugs. Not one to easily cower under such attack, Mr. Tobbin hit back to discount those allegations from the regulatory body, plunging the company further into a law suit. This deteriorated into financial losses incurred by the company. As this nightmare unfolded, the sun broke through the dark clouds in 2014, as the case gradually fizzled out and Tobinco methodically made efforts to regain customer confidence, even as the business started taking shape.
In his words, focus on where to go and where he desires to get to in life has been his bedrock in surmounting those challenges. Belting some other challenges he faced in the two decades span as an entrepreneur, he recounts experiencing some short-landed goods from his imports and on worse days’ vessels containing his products sinking on high seas. This, coupled with loans from banks with high interest rates and payment of salaries to staff unfaithful in their work ethics tested the mettle of the unrelenting businessman.
Despite the odds stacked against him, Mr. Tobbin prides himself in being duly rewarded for his diligence with the numerous awards and recognition he has received over the years as a businessman. He emerged the ‘Marketing Man of the Year 2010’ as he equally bagged the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ by the Entrepreneurs Foundation in 2015. The Chamber Business Awards awarded him with the ‘Business Man of the Year’ in 2018. Mr. Tobbin also won the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2018 at the Ghana Manufacturing Awards. Correspondingly, he was awarded the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019’ at the Ghana Pharma Awards and ‘C.E.O of the Year’ at the Ghana Manufacturing Awards in 2020.
Philanthropy also characterizes the ethos of Mr. Tobbin with the establishment of the Samuel Amo Tobbin Foundation (SAT) in February 2015. This marked the beginning of formalizing operations of the foundation. The Foundation specifically supports the aged, widows, the sick, poor, needy and vulnerable. Prior to this, Mr. Tobbin directly and singlehandedly supported the poor and the vulnerable in diverse ways. He sought to address the throng of pleas and requests from needy folks queuing at the Church of Pentecost where he fellowships. Being a self-funded Foundation, Mr. Tobbin has generously contributed millions of cedis in support of the needy since its inception. He currently has a current number of over 400 widows and aged on monthly stipends.
Mr Tobbin has also built a three-storey facility for the PIPS division of the Ghana Police service which will be inaugurated in July, 2021. Also, he has put up nurses’ quarters in his hometown– Tarkwa Awudua.
Since its inception, the Samuel Amo Tobbin Foundation has been supporting individuals and groups in diverse ways under health, education, social safety, economic and livelihood empowerment. He has over the years paid for the medical bills of hundreds of people with complicated ailments in the Country and flown others outside the Country to seek medical care. Similarly, Mr. Tobbin has also established an informal scholarship scheme through which he sponsors the education of brilliant but needy children at all levels of their educational pursuit. In 2019, he donated relief items worth GH¢100,000.00 to refugees. During the lockdown period, Nana Amo Tobbin together with his members donated 2000 food items to the needy and vulnerable in the communities.
