In 1930, a young Uche Okafor, in a small town of Unubi in Nnewi South L.G.A, ventured into the field of commerce with an initial capital of 18 shillings, 4 pence or N1.84k. His initial line of business was palm oil and later groceries. As his business horizon progressed, he diverted to the bigger markets like Onitsha in 1932.

The first trip was on foot, a distance of close to 40 kilo meters from Unubi. On arrival to his destination the following day, he had blisters and swollen legs. To facilitate his movement and wares later, he was able to buy a push-bike cycle in 1936.

By 1939, trade began to fail and profit dwindled as a result of Second World War. However, the young Uche did not wallow in self pity over his commercial fate; rather, he headed southwards to Aba in search of greener pastures. The young Uche tried his hands on different product lines before settling in Textile Business.

He acquired his first shop at No 9 Asa road Aba and stocked it with quality textile materials to the delight of prospective customers under the name- DUO Alwool Stores ( Daniel Uche Okafor All Wool Stores).While growing in his business he had two trusted apprentices whom he trained for 15 years and 13 years, respectively.

Chief Uche Okafor absolved them as partners in the company after they were compensated for their service on the 8th day of January, 1956. To this, the company changed from DUO Alwool Stores to UOO Alwool Stores. The company changed from UOO Alwool stores to UOO Trading Company in 1958 when they moved to Lagos and another partner joined the company same year. The growth of the company was so astronomical from 1958 to 1967 with branches in Lagos, Ibadan, Aba and Port-Harcourt.

The company had a tremendous set back because of the civil war of 1967 to 1970. At the end of the war, they re-established their presence in Lagos in 1970 and made great strides in textiles, drugs and building materials. By 1975, the company was incorporated as U.O.O Trading company Limited and later U.O.O Nigeria Limited.

In 2001, the company metamorphosed into U.O.O Nigeria Plc (unquoted), to accommodate the numerous shareholders in order to meet the requirements of the law governing the company. U.O.O Nigeria Plc has been a household name in Nigeria, having presence in Abuja, Lagos, Aba, Ibadan, Onitsha and Port-Harcourt with the notion to reach all parts of Nigeria in the future. Over the years, U.O.O Nigeria Plc has dealt in importation of textiles, rice, tomato pastes, flour, stock fish, stock fish heads, milk, sugar and building materials.

For over 60 years, U.O.O Nigeria Plc has provided superior products and services as a means of ensuring effective competition to justify the shareholders investment and also, sustain its staff development. U.O.O Nigeria Plc has recently restructured and re-engineered its operations to meet the challenges of the state-of-the-art business practices in the area of its business interest.

Chief Nzediorama Uche Okafor was the founder, first Chairman and Managing Director of U.O.O Nigeria Plc from 1956 to 2004, when he retired and was succeeded by Chief Edozie Okafor who took over the helm of affairs after the shareholders meeting of 2004.