‘Entrepreneurship Is key to economic recovery’

7 years ago

‘Entrepreneurship Is key to economic recovery’

What influenced your choice of business?
MY foray into property development is deliberate because I discovered early in life the importance of housing to human existence. You could say real estate was a deviation from Psychology which was my course of study at the University of Ibadan, but I understood the place of housing in the hierarchy of human needs, so my focus is to contribute towards the alleviation of the housing needs of the average Nigerian. Nedcom Oaks was formed even while I was the strategy advisor of an oil and gas servicing company, providing real estate consultancy for a leading bank in Nigeria. In one of our strategy session, I lost a major business deal that would’ve brought in a huge chunk of money so, I decided it was time to leave the job and focus on building Nedcom Oaks as an organisation. To the glory of God, since I started the organisation, there has not been any regret whatsoever.

Assessment of the industry:
The industry is quite lucrative and evolving; don’t forget that Nigeria has a housing deficit of about 17million, if you translate that into value; it means we have a 360 million dollar business that is untapped. The industry will in the nearest future increase in GDP value of Nigeria. As at today the industry produces about 7.2 to 7.6% of the GDP of the country and if the industry is providing that percentage to the GDP, it means that if we have more support and funding from the government, the industry will do a lot better. If you check out the number of houses being churned out annually all over the country, it goes a long way to tell you the potential and the contribution of the industry to national economic development. I believe that as Nigeria begins to tilt towards over-dependence on oil, real estate will take its pride of place in the economic recovery of Nigeria.

Government can do:
The role of government is to provide easy access to funding as well as partner with genuine Nigerian property developers to grow the sector. They equally need to provide the infrastructures to open up new cities and towns. The land use act is a major impediment to the real estate industry but if the industry must grow, government needs to identify genuine developers and entrust them with land at subsidized rate for property development. They should be wary of fake developers who will acquire land for speculation purposes. Partnership with the private sector will help Nigeria achieve its vision of providing affordable housing for Nigerians.

Challenges:
If I did strategy for a couple of organizations, the least I could do for my organisation is strategy. I equally understand that as an entrepreneur, you don’t need to fly as you can start small and organically build the organisation. Challenging situations must occur in the life cycle of any entrepreneur but the ability to stay focused and persevere will definitely result in success. As an organisation, we know where we are going as we want to be the leading property development company in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

Unique factors that stand your organisation out of the competition:
Like I said, our goal is to be the leading property development company in the country and the West African sub region, in trying to reach our goal; we listen and understand the needs of the customer. We are poised to serve a diverse portfolio of clients. For example, if you earn money and you need a home anywhere in the country, “dream it and we will build it” as we serve the diverse needs of the low, medium and high networth individuals and organizations.
Projections:
Despite the current economic realities in the country, we are very bullish about the economy and the country and the moment the economy stabilizes, we hope to take our projects into major cities of the country. I believe the major reason for the high concentration of property development in Lagos is because it is private sector driven whereas Abuja is public sector driven. Currently, we are talking