Created by Obi Cubana, Nigeria’s King of night life and foremost hospitality and entertainment entrepreneur, Odogwu Bitters, a uniquely blended Nigerian herbal spirit is set to become the country’s next biggest export product that will serve the world a taste of the indomitable Nigerian creative ingenuity. Most significantly, the patronage of Odogwu Bitters is not limited to the Nigerian community in the diaspora, as is usually the case with most made in Nigeria goods and services. Whereas Amusan and other Nigerian sporting exports brought home laurels and honour, Obi Cubana’s Odogwu Bitters is bringing home money and jobs. Derived from an ancient Igbo eponym for the contemporary “Alpha Male” (Odogwu), Odogwu Bitters, a wholly indigenous Nigerian alcoholic beverage, that is sweetened with pure honey and spiced with organically grown ginger, has found its way into the cuisine of the homes, hotels and parties of people from all races of the world.
From the days of his little beginnings at public gardens in the suburbs of Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital city, to open spaces in its city centre, Obi Cubana, whose real name is Obinna Iyiegbu, has grown his business in just under two decades into a leading Nigerian hospitality and entertainment brand, with multiple branches in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Asaba, Owerri and other Nigerian cities. His Ibiza restaurant (named after the Spanish Island of Ibiza) and his Cubana chain of hotels and night clubs (named after Cubana of South Africa) has successfully provided a substitute to overseas tourism for Nigerians at home, with its world class services. The son of a teacher and Political Science graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Obi Cubana had his eyes set on the global stage right from the beginning, as he revealed in a recent interview in ThisDay newspapers. According to the 46 years old Nigerian businessman, “my dream is to make my businesses global brands.” But in a twist of faith, it will not be his flagship Ibiza restaurant or Cubana hotels and night clubs that will launch the Cubana brand into the global stage. It will be Obi Cubana’s Odogwu Bitters; a fast moving consumer good whose dream came out of the nightmare of the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
