Osagie Imasogie

Who he is:

A Philly-based Nigerian-American business ace, Penn law professor and former chairman of the board of trustees at International House. As a deal-maker and venture capitalist in the pharmaceutical industry, Imasogie seeds new drug companies about as often as the rest of us seed the lawn — and way more successfully. He helped nurture one start-up, Endo Pharmaceuticals, into a $4 billion firm. He's a partner at Phoenix IP Ventures.

What he does for Africa:

As senior consultant last year to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Nigerian-born business guru gave the U.S. government some smart ideas for stretching the $15 billion in international aid — that's billion with a "b" — that President Bush has committed to combat the global epidemic. The PEPFAR money goes to 15 countries, 12 of which are in Africa.

Why it matters:

In one instance, Imasogie persuaded a multinational corporation that does business in Nigeria (he's not free to name names) to open its company health clinic to the community on weekends. If this model catches on elsewhere, HIV/AIDS programs could be administered at existing corporate clinics throughout Africa, and PEPFAR won't spend precious money erecting new buildings where good health facilities already exist.

Outside the public sphere:

Imasogie and his wife, Losenge, who is originally from Cameroon, also make private donations to health and education projects in their birth-countries. He generally likes to keep the details of their private charity work private, but he told the Daily News they recently bought books and supplies for a primary school in Cameroon. "The students are there, the desks are there, but they had old books," he says. "Fortunately we were in a position to provide support."

Africa cred:

While he spent his own school years in Louisville, Ky., "of all places," he says (his parents were both earning their doctorate degrees there), he returned to Nigeria for college and law school.

After that, he did post-graduate work at the London School of Economics, came to Penn for his doctorate in law, then worked in law and finance in the United States, the U.K. and Nigeria before settling down as an executive here.

Next career:

African tourism? "It's an extraordinarily diverse and vibrant continent," he says. "It is the cradle of humanity and therefore the cradle of civilization. It has more depth than the deeper pools you can imagine.

"If there's one thing you should go see, it's the people. They are the most amazing people you will meet. They see a continuum between the temporal and the spiritual. They see music in everything. They are warm — warm to a fault. And their food is amazing."

So who needs a rubber-tree plant?

In business, Imasogie specializes in buying the rights to small, nonblockbuster drugs from big pharmaceutical companies.

Then he builds small companies that focus all of their energy on the big guys' castoffs, managing to turn tidy profits.

As the proverb goes among his mother's people, the Yoruba, "The crumbs from an elephant are a feast for an ant," he says. *

— Becky Batcha