Contributed photo: At Friday’s product launch for Abodo Business Solutions Limited, at Cospro Development Corp. in Reading are, from left to right: Emeka, Nigeria distributor; James Nwaba, founder and CEO of Abodo; State Sen. Judy Schwank; State Rep. Mark Rozzi; Reading Councilwoman Donna Reed.

Reading Company Launches International Beauty Product
By Jennifer Glose

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An international beauty product developed and manufactured in Reading has made its debut.

A research and development chemist from Nigeria, James Nwaba moved to the United States in 1995 and started Abodo Business Solutions Limited in 2011 in Reading. He developed a formula for lotion that would address the skin-care needs of the Nigerian people, particularly during the dry, dusty and windy winter season in West Africa.

After three years of formulating and testing, Nwaba contracted Cospro Development Corp. in Reading as his manufacturer, and the lotion now is being exported to Nigeria and its surrounding countries.

“I am beyond excited,” Nwaba said this morning. “The feedback was so positive, and we are looking into the possibility of a patent.”

With an industrial chemistry education from Nigeria, along with a master’s degree in information technology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Nwaba was prepared to endure the lengthy hours of formulating and testing his product.

“I knew it would be a long process,” Nwaba said. “But, I felt very positive about it, and I knew I was going to get it.”

To move the product forward to production, Nwaba worked with the Kutztown University Small Business Development Center and Greater Reading Economic Partnership, which directed him to Cospro. The product is being exported to the African nations of Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Togo and Cameroon. The company also is looking to sell the product in the U.S.

“Today is truly a representation of economic development partnerships working together,” Pamela Shupp, vice president of Greater Reading Economic Partnership, said at Friday’s product launch conference at Cospro. “And one entrepreneur’s willingness to help another entrepreneur.”

Nwaba is working on a soap and perfume to add to the African skin-care line, and hopes to develop them into a complete beauty kit, which will include the lotion.

As a niche-based company, Abodo will continue to create more products and services that are needed in Africa. Most of Nwaba’s customers include distributors, representatives, businesses, researchers, government agencies and nongovernment organizations.

“Any product that is nonexistent and people want, we will work to create,” Nwaba said.