CONQUERING the Real Estate Sector

With an industry saturated with the male counterpart, a woman out of diligence and true passion took the giant stride to be a true definition of a successful woman in the Nigerian real estate sector – worthy to be celebrated. Erejuwa Gbadebo shares with us what it feels like to be a woman taking a lead in the Nigerian real estate market.

Who Is Erejuwa?

I am a mother of three and an architect by training. I graduated from the University of Jos in 1986. I have worked as an architect for 22 years before coming back to Nigeria to go into property services which I have been doing for the past 10 years now. I am quite an accomplished swimmer, I used to swim for Lagos a long time ago but I cycle now. I have a hobby that I find restful: that is icing cakes. I do not bake them but I love icing them. But if you ask me what I would love to do at any given day; I would love to be on a boat with some iced cold drink and novels chilling.

Tell Us Your Story

Thinking about what led me to architecture, I had an uncle who was an architect and I remember he came with my dad to pick my older sister and I from school. I was in form 3 then at Holy Child College and I just started my biology class. So, that day, I got into the car and I said, “daddy I am so sorry, I am not going to do medicine because I can’t stand the things I am looking at in biology.” Then my uncle said to me, “have you thought about architecture?” And I said, “what’s that?” He further explained that it is the design of buildings and asked if I loved arts, maths and physics and I said yes. So that was what set me on thrill to study architecture. I finished secondary school at Holy Child College, had my A levels at Queen’s College International School, Ibadan and university education at UNIJOS where I studied for 6 years. The first 4 years studying for my Bachelors in architecture and 2 years studying for Masters in architecture. I really like everything about architecture. I like the thought of trying to interpret someone else’s dream. I particularly like to work on the initial concept into something a contractor can take and build on-site. I love starting with a virgin site and then seeing a building come to the end and stepping away to say yeah! I interpreted this dream. I did that for three to four years in Lagos with Femi Majekodunmi Associate and I spent another 19 years working in the UK in various sectors. But, I realised afterwards that architects are not considered to have any idea of finance.

So, because I am quite prudent with money, I decided to go off and do my MBA where I majored in strategic financing so that I would understand the money aspect of any project I was doing. After that, I continued working as an architect but I moved from designing to the management of teams and management of budget. One day, I got a phone call from a gentleman in Nigeria who asked if I could come for an interview in Nigeria and I said “alright.” So I returned and that started my journey here in Nigeria as the second CEO of Broll Nigeria. I consulted for
the English firm – Cluttons LLP – to bring Cluttons into Nigeria. They came in at the start of 2015 but unfortunately, in 2017 the parent company went into receivership in the UK and we rebranded as International Real Estate Partners (IREP) to maintain ties with our ex-Cluttons colleagues, and became 100% owned by Alpha Mead. What that did for me was to bring me to the other sides of the building story. So, at the moment, I head a small real estate company called IREP, the real estate section of the wider Alphamead Group.

What Are Your Proudest Personal Achievements?

Well, I have many because they come in different categories. Personally, my proudest achievement is my children, they are as different as you can imagine. When I was in school as a young architect, my proudest moment was when a group of 4 of us took part in an architecture competition and we won a prize to go to Japan. So I took off to Japan in 1985 to represent UNIJOS in a worldwide competition and we were one of the winners. I also worked at Femi Majekodunmi Associates where we partook in a lot of competition and I won a couple of them for the firm. I can also remember when I was in England, I had a passion for social housing and at that time, the government decided to renovate social houses in London especially the kitchens and bathrooms. I was asked to head the first team that would earn the company right to do it and I wrote the specifications for kitchens, bathrooms and it was really good. We got an award for that and the management organisation doing this job got a 3-Star status on the specifications I wrote and the first couple of projects I managed. They got the funding to carry out this. Broll is one of my proud achievement because I had helped to set the process and procedures that Broll in Nigeria continues to work with.

What Do You Think about The Nigerian Real Estate Sector at The Moment?

Well, we all know about the Land Use Act and we all wish it will change. I must say the problem is, the things put in place to work with this system do not work because people do not let them work. Certain aspect of our national characters like corruption and mismanagement has become endemic in the way we do things. We cannot even get things working quickly to return money to investors. The continuous change in government policies is also what is affecting the real estate sector at the moment. It makes the capital market jittery and with that, real estate market flounders. The government needs to provide us with stability when it comes to policies. The government should look into making it easy to get the permit to build and create an enabling environment to build.

How Challenging Has The Nigerian Real Estate Sector Been As A Woman?

It can be quite difficult for certain areas of real estate. As a country, I feel Nigeria is still a little bit misogynistic as most people prefer to deal with the men. It has been a little challenging in that regard. I do see it getting better though as more women come into the real estate sector and I am rather grateful for some of my female colleagues who are making major strides in their own position.

What Advice Will You Give Young Ladies Trying To Venture into Real Estate?

They should root their peace in something that is unchangeable. So as a Christian, I will say you should root your peace and joy in Christ so you are not discouraged by your environment. Another one is, do not lose your enthusiasm for life, manage your expectations so you are not disillusioned by the realities. Start as you mean to continue, don’t get too compromising. Be flexible but don’t compromise. Just start with integrity, it might mean you might not get rich quick. Start as you mean to do and do not lose your zest for life.

Featured in Prestige Nigeria Issue 1. Vol. 4