May & Baker Nigeria Plc was founded on September 4, 1944 as Nigeria's first pharmaceutical company.
It has its origin in England, the United Kingdom in 1834 where three chemists founded Grimwade, May & Pickett, a firm for manufacturing chemicals for pharmaceutical products.
In 1839, Grimwade, May & Pickett transformed into May& Baker United Kingdom Limited following some changes in the ownership.
May & Baker UK Limited later transformed into a mega European conglomerate through a web of mergers and acquisitions over years. Consequently the name of the company has changed at different times and today, only the Nigerian offshoot is known by the original name.
In Nigeria the company started as May & Baker (West Africa) Limited at 17A Tinubu Street, Lagos in 1944, a trading outpost to serve the West Coast of Africa.
The company relocated to its present site at Ikeja, Lagos state during the Nigerian civil war.