Azubuike and Esther Ekeoma Ezeibe represent a very good example of a couple leveraging their similar family, professional and career backgrounds to build a flourishing business partnership for themselves. Both Azubuike and Ekeoma were born into royal families and both are lawyers who pursued independent careers in the insurance industry before getting married. The product of the fusion of their family values, perspectives, professional expertise, and career experiences is what you see and know today as Crystal Trust Group of Companies, with investments in insurance, real estate, oil and gas, fast food chain, etc.
Born to the royal family of Nze na Ozo Cyril Eromnini Obi of Emekuku, Owerri, Imo State, Ekeoma studied law (LL. B) at Imo State University (now Abia State University) and University of Lagos (LL. M) and was called to the Nigerian Bar 32 years ago. She started her insurance career during her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1988 with the Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation (Nigeria Re) and got retained as a full-time staff thereafter. She worked there for several years, acquiring a lot of training and experience until she left in August 1991.
The following month, she joined Liberty Assurance Company Limited as their Company Secretary/Legal Adviser and also the Head of Claims Department. She later joined Industrial & General Insurance Company Limited (IGI) in September of 1992 as their pioneer Company Secretary/Legal Adviser until December 1995 when she resigned to start Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers Limited (CTIB) along with her husband and other distinguished Nigerians. She was the founding Managing Director/CEO, a position she occupies till date.
Mr. Ezeibe, like his wife, was born into a royal family and also qualified as a lawyer. And just like Ekeoma’s entry into insurance business was not pre-planned (it happened through her chance NYSC posting to an insurance company), her husband’s journey into the insurance world was also providential. During a visit to the United States of America, Mr. Ezeibe met General David Jemibewon (rtd) whom he used to call his father, a mentor and a friend. At that time Ekeoma, his prospective wife, had joined Industrial and General Insurance Company as the pioneer Company Secretary and Legal Adviser. But it was General Jemibewon (rtd) who introduced Mr. Ezeibe to a company called Asset and Liability Insurance Company and persuaded him to buy some of their shares.
When Barr. Ezeibe returned to Nigeria around 1992 and it was discovered that Asset and Liability Insurance Company in which he invested was not doing well, General Jemibewon drafted him to go and do the magic of turning the company around and that was how he joined the insurance industry. He became the Company Secretary/Head of Human Resources and Legal Adviser. Azubuike under-studied the then Managing Director, Mr. Joe Marienah for about 11 to 12 months before the mantle fell on him as the Acting Managing Director. By then he had re-linked with Ekeoma who was then his friend and school mate. “So, most technical issues that cropped up l will refer them to my wife even though we had not gotten married then but were courting,” Barr. Ezeibe recollects.
He was there for 18 months, during which he stabilized Asset and Liability Insurance Company and got married to Barr. Ekeoma. He resigned and moved on to establish a law firm; Ezeibe and Ezeibe (Legal Practitioners and Consultants). “I subsequently told her that we have seen the prospects in insurance business and should establish our own organization. A short while after, Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers was born. Mrs. Ezeibe, by then already a thorough-bred and dedicated insurance professional, became the Managing Director/CEO of Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers Limited,” Barr. Azubuike explained. “So, when you talk about how we moved from one level to another level, MrsEkeomaEzeibe was very instrumental to this. So, as I was running our chambers as a legal practitioner and consultant, as a Director, I was equally working as the chief marketing officer of Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers and luckily, the network that I had built over the years helped our growth. So, I tell young people today; please maximize your contacts. This same General Jemibewon that I talked about; we met at the Nigerian Law School as classmates and we became friends at my very tender age and I have continued to tap from such high network till today.”
Commenting on his business partnership with his wife, Barr. Ezeibe said: “I have a wife who I have known for about 40 years, married to for about 30 years and has been my business partner for 27 years. She has been very instrumental to many of the successes that the group of companies have recorded so far. My job as the Chairman is basically that of policy formulation and the hiring of good hands.”
Mrs. Ezeibe who is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (AIIN) has become a towering figure as leader, resource person and administrator in Nigeria’s insurance industry and beyond. She is a Governing Board member for the eighth year running of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), the 57-year-old umbrella body of all registered insurance brokers in Nigeria set up by an Act of parliament. She has equally served over the years in different Committees of the Council, some of which she has chaired, including the Legal and Help Desk Committees which she currently chairs. She has served two times as the NCRIB nominee to the National Insurance Conference Planning Committee of the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC) and was in the 2019 Committee as one of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN)’s nominee. She was the Honorary Treasurer of the NCRIB for two consecutive terms. She is also one of the recipients of the recognition of Female Trailblazer in the African Insurance Industry at the 46th Conference of the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) in Johannesburg, South Africa in June, 2019.
For so many years Mrs. Ezeibe has been one of the Facilitators at the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS) where she lectures executives on different topics in Marine Insurance. She equally facilitates courses and seminars for the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) and the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC). She is a Partner and Consultant to the law firm of Ezeibe&Ezeibe.
On the social scene, Mrs. Ezeibe who is widely traveled has been a source of strength, inspiration and blessing to almost all the individuals that have come in contact with her.
The Ezeibes attribute their success to God’s benevolence. According to Mr. Ezeibe, it was an act of God for him to be born into a privileged royal family and that’s why serving and giving to humanity means everything to him. “When I reflect during my quiet moments and I note that the same God who put me in a royal household of Ezeibe could have put me in another family where I will be begging for food.Any time that I stop doing good, it means that the humanity in me has gone. l will not stop the work of philanthropy. I will not stop helping the less privileged. I will not stop paying the school fees on behalf of those who I know could not pay the school fees of their children. I will not stop playing my role in the (Anglican) church. Anytime that I stop doing the good things that l does, it means that I have become poor.”
One thing that gives Mr. Ezeibe joy is to put smiles on the faces of people that he comes in contact with. “There is nothing that God gave you that is for only you. God gave you so that you can in turn give to so many other people.”
Mr. Azubuike and Esther Ekeoma have been accorded the honour as the Top10 Magazine’s 10 Most Impactful Power Couples in Nigeria in recognition of their outstanding contributions to Nigeria’s economic development as they serve as inspiration to upcoming couples.
