Address rising costs of building materials – Nwachukwu tells Tinubu

Dr Ifeanyi Nwachukwu is a professional real estate broker and developer.

He is equally the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Richland Property and Homes Limited, a Lagos-based real estate development company.

He was able to deploy strategies from his company to assist Nigerians in their homeownership drive.

The government can offer tax breaks, subsidies, and other incentives to developers to encourage them to invest in affordable housing projects.

In this interview with the Vanguard, he spoke on challenges in the real estate business and urged the government to create an enabling environment by providing basic infrastructures, and rising costs of building materials among others.

What was growing up like? Were there any challenges or obstacles that helped shape you today as a person?

My name is Dr Ifeanyi Nwachukwu the MD/CEO of Richland Properties and Homes Limited. Growing up for me was quite eventful. My experience early in life was based on determination. As a human, I believed in achieving greatness and was never relegated to the background.

Considering the stress, struggles and frustrations faced by many people in the country, one would conclude that there are so many reasons to fail in this kind of country that we are. There are a thousand reasons to keep you in poverty but it’s a choice to change your situation. You cannot blame your parents if you remain poor

I came from a very humble background but it was my choice to improve the quality of life that I met. I couldn’t remain poor, so I made up my mind to work hard, and it was not just working hard but to work Smart building quality relationships with people and improving myself.

I was focused, I made my vision plain and became determined to succeed. I am just unfolding some of my visions and intend to bring them to the limelight. This unique vision would make us stand out through resilience and determination.

As the CEO, how do you relate with your staff? Do you think your relationship with them is cordial, can your staff have access to you for operational duties?

I created an enabling environment for everyone to thrive. I have a good work relationship with my staff and I am accessible. Most times they approach me when it is necessary. They have the opportunity to relate and equally relay information for the development of the company. I didn’t place obstacles or even create a gap between my staff and me.

I get information and suggestions from them and that equally is my strength. I allow my staff to share their ideas, especially those that can contribute to the development and growth of the company.

My strength is information, the key to many things in life is the right information. Based on my background I faced several challenges but I can’t treat my staff the way I was treated during my struggling days. I recognized the fact that most people in leadership do not care about how they treat people. Those in authority do not understand the frustrations and struggles of the poor masses, if only they do, I don’t think they would be able to ignore their sufferings. Only someone who has experienced it would know how to treat people right. As the CEO of my establishment, I cannot differentiate between my staff and myself because they are treated right.

I know it hurts and how painful it was getting to make ends meet before fortune smiled at me. God helped me to run my business and I was able to make some of the corrections. I worked in a place some time ago and I was given little support from the management.

it was tough because I had to beg to get support. When I started my business I ensured that those glitches were removed.

What are the challenges facing the real estate sector, and housing deficit and how the Nigerian government can solve it through partnership with the private sector?

Actually, I was worried by the huge housing deficit in the country, my company deployed strategies to assist Nigerians in their homeownership drive.

My company through our diverse networks in the industry, has been able to help Nigerians to discover and obtain affordable properties in fast-developing areas across the country.

One of the choice locations the company has estates for the benefit of housing-seeking Nigerians, is Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State. The location is good for house development and investment. Some of the challenges facing the real estate sector and housing deficit in Nigeria include: Limited access to financing. Many individuals and developers struggle to secure financing for real estate projects due to high interest rates, lack of collateral, and limited access to mortgage loans.
Also, the lack of basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and water supply in many areas makes it difficult for developers to invest in real estate projects. Land ownership is often a contentious issue in Nigeria, with issues such as multiple claims to ownership, lack of proper documentation, and land grabbing hindering real estate development.

Furthermore, the cost of construction materials and labour is high in Nigeria, making it expensive for developers to build affordable housing units. To solve these challenges and reduce the housing deficit in Nigeria, the government can partner with private developers by providing incentives for developers. The government can offer tax breaks, subsidies, and other incentives to developers to encourage them to invest in affordable housing projects.

Additionally, financial institutions should create more accessible mortgage loans and financing options for real estate developers and homebuyers. The government can invest in improving infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and water supply to attract developers to invest in underserved areas.

However, the government can create a transparent and efficient land registry system to ease the process of land acquisition for developers. They can collaborate with private developers to build affordable housing units through joint ventures and other partnership models.

By partnering with the private sector and implementing these strategies, the Nigerian government can help address the housing deficit and boost real estate development in the country.

Tell us about your vision for the Nigerian populace?

A lot but let me reveal some things our company has embarked on. One of our visions or core visions is to make homeownership a dream, a reality for Nigerians because we believe everybody deserves a home or a house because this is the basic need of a man.
Although land is God’s gift to mankind.

When God created man, he prepared the Earth he didn’t give man pounds and dollars, he gave them land.

Now that inflation is affecting businesses across the country drastically at the moment, we need to strategize. For instance, as a developer, if there is a particular property or estate you want to develop within the XYZ axis and 1 week, the cost of cement and building materials has skyrocketed how do you handle such?
Don’t forget that you have collected a certain amount of money at a particular interest rate and you need to pay back you have taken the money, so how do you pay it back? Even if you are returning it the next minute it has to be on the agreed interest rate so how do you explain if you take up the price to meet up with the demand? It becomes more difficult for an average Nigerian to access that kind of property. How many Nigerians can go to the bank to access a loan to get a property, it is not easy in Nigeria so you find out if the government can look into some of these issues like raw materials and find a way to support the real estate industry by partnering with some of the manufacturers and make these things more accessible and affordable to Nigerians.

When some of these needs are met you will find out that the cost of building materials will drop and sales of houses will increase which more Nigerians will have access to homes.

What motivated you to go into real estate, considering your background?

I came from a very humble background and have seen a lot of people talking about theirs, especially those who were born with a silver spoon. Actually, I was born without a silver spoon.I wasn’t born with any spoon whether rubber, iron or even a wooden spoon. If you see me with a spoon,it was the ones we created or maybe bought ourselves.

Moreso,I saw a lot in life growing up. Though it was
Roughly propelled me to go into real estate simply because I wanted to make an impact, considering where I came from. My background prepared me for the success I have achieved today.

As an adult, my parents don’t owe me anything at this point in my life. I needed to fend for myself.

Some people who have similar stories to mine, hold their uncles for their failures. They make excuses stating that it’s because their relations didn’t help them that’s why they have poor conditions and the level they are.
I see poverty as a mentality.
I believe in myself despite my background. I discovered the purpose of God for my life. There is a reason God brought me to this world is not making me to be an American or any other country or continent. He made me a Nigerian where we have over 200 million people. So there is a talent and gift he bestowed upon me to bring upon the Earth so I cannot leave this earth tomorrow without this earth knowing the purpose I was created.

I did a background check of several businesses and the one that was appealing to me was real estate. I discovered that it is one of the businesses that have financial security. That’s why I choose real estate because you can never go wrong investing in real estate when I look at it and study the market very well I think I made the right choice and this is where we are today.

How can more young persons be involved in the real estate sector, knowing fully well that it is capital intensive, and also looking at the level of unemployment in the society?

Young people often wait longer in the labour market queue, especially for their first jobs and lack of experience is a major reason for youth unemployment. Therefore, part-time employment while young people are at school or studying has a positive effect on their employment prospects. Too much empty talk with little actions.

Let me use this medium to encourage the youth like I said earlier, determination is the key to success. For one to succeed you must thrive regardless of your background.

I had nothing growing up my father was a wheelbarrow pusher, so you can have a clearer picture of being poor. But I never allowed my background to keep me poor.

I was able to change the narrative. I created another story for myself and my children. I didn’t wallow in the one I met. I took a step and ensured that I succeeded.
I started running a company, I left other little things I was doing to start selling for other people as a realtor. While I was selling as a realtor, some of my friends were busy buying designers, cars and other items to create an impression. But I was busy investing my little commission towards building my life.

Fortunately, some of those properties I bought appreciated and I sold them and started running my own business as well. Today I don’t work for anybody, as a realtor I own my own company. And this may surprise you to know that I didn’t take a dime as a loan from any bank to set up my company.

Rather it is the banks, that owe me. Apart from their unauthorized charges and debit, my cash is saved in the account provided by the banks.
I have told you my background nobody or relative gave me a dime but I started building my realtor business from scratch, coupled with the grace of God, gradually with my determination I was able to achieve it.

“Now there is nothing I lost then I cannot buy now because I was not in a hurry to create any impression for anyone to see. I was focused and determined but today’s youths do not have the patience. Only very few youths are interested in marketing real estate.

There are so many benefits because in this place we give cars and incentives, we also offer our staff all expenses paid trips to Dubai and places like Zanzibar for selling our property. There are some people we give free plots of land, last year we gave 30 plots of land for free, last two years we also gave 30 plots of land making it 60 plots, we have given to youths.

We are intentional about impacting the youths. If you take a good look at the company, you will discover that most of our realtors are young, because we leverage technology.

I just clocked forty a few days ago so as someone within the category of young persons, I intend to empower more youths, until we begin to empower Nigerian youths, we will not have the kind of Nigeria we desire.

I want to encourage more youth to come let’s work together as a team I will teach them and train them on real estate. A lot of people have made hundreds of millions in real estate as commission, while some have made up to 50 million and so on. It’s possible but you have to put in the hard work you have to be determined and gradually you will get there.

As the CEO/ MD of Richland Property and Homes Limited. What is your projection for the brand in terms of growth in the next seven years?

Well, some brands within Nigeria and outside Nigeria have become household name, anytime you think about such a brand, you see growth and innovation.
We are just 2 years old and we have more than 10 estates already, that should give you a clue of what we will become in the next five years so in the next five years we will be in many countries of the world.