Stephen Akintayo: Mentoring Young Entrepreneurs

Stephen Akintayo: Mentoring Young Entrepreneurs

Chief Executive Officer, GtextHomes, Dr. Stephen Akintayo, is often described as a man with a heart of gold given that he has over the years empowered over 15,000 Nigerian youths. He is also very committed to charitable programs. In this interview with Ayodeji Ake, he revealed how he has been creating more jobs for young Nigerians and his mission to uplift the real estate business through the ‘Smart City’ initiative

What inspired your entrepreneurship journey?

I started a business on campus. My mother was a civil servant and my father’s business had crumbled before I was born. My mother was left alone to raise five children. Each time I was going to school, my mother would knock on doors for help. This is the reason why we invest a lot in kids’ tuition fees and so far, we have paid over 5,000 tuition for them. I grew up being pained and this was not normal. I was lucky I had a cousin who started a business immediately after I completed my secondary school education. That was how my entrepreneurship journey started.

Can you share a painful experience you have suffered as an entrepreneur?

The biggest single loss was N120 million in the real estate sector but that was the single loss that made me say in this business we will build billions. Land ownership is still a big problem in Nigeria. We purchased our land in bulk and the day we were to take possession of the land, the whole family came out and said who sold the land to you, we don’t know him, and that was how we lost the money. We have learned and made success in acquiring properties through the appropriate agencies.

What are the interventions by GTextHomes to reduce the burden of unemployment?

We are taking 100,000 and between last year and now we already have over 5,000 people in our programs. Recently, we had a broker’s conference where we empowered over 15,000 people through what we are doing so we are getting close because our goal is 100,000 for five years. We can say through our program, Nigerian youths have been empowered to become real estate brokers. In terms of unemployment that is why we made our event open so other companies can plug in the system so as to reduce unemployment. This definitely will force down the unemployment rate.

How can we address the issues of unemployment and insecurity?

Presently, insecurity is one of the major challenges we are facing in Nigeria. You can’t just tackle insecurity issues with bullets. I was in Maiduguri in 2019, I went to one of the IDP camps at Gubio IDP camp. I was born there so we went to do some charity work, the place that was supposed to take 3,500, we have 35,000 people there with no job, the health centre with no enough medicine there. So, tell me why if Boko haram is saying I can give you more money and all other promises to commit atrocities, they won’t fall for it? For us, if we don’t want security issues to continue to be a serious problem, particularly here in the south and it’s here in the south too right now, even as a private sector, we have to find a way to create jobs.

Some were here last year when we announced that we were creating a platform to help employ 100,000 people in the real estate sector and we are committing 15 per cent of our income into that and when we launched our programs, we invited the best in the world, Ryan Serhant is the number one property broker in the world, he is based in New York. He has done over four billion dollars in property sales, every year he sells more than one billion dollars worth of property. You do not need money to become a broker. All you need is your credibility, social media, your connections, your network and you don’t even need to quit your existing job to do that. If you look at one of the best things God has endowed us with, it’s real estate. We hope that this movement will help to reduce unemployment in this country, it will solve issues of security as more people can learn to know they can make it legitimately.

You plan to empower people in the next five years, do you have the buyers?

As much as people keep coming, reproduction keeps coming in. The land doesn’t finish. If you have to check, that’s one of the things you begin to wonder that just in case this horizon has been finished, you realise before you come back, the horizon is gone again, that it has expanded and if you keep watching, Ibeju lekki, before you know, it expands and expands, the land doesn’t finish in as much as reproduction keeps happening, the product keeps coming in the market keeps going. The market doesn’t finish nor does the product finish, it’s big enough for everybody.

Can you tell us about some of the work that Gtexhomes is doing in the Nigerian real estate industry?

Gtexhomes has been doing a lot in the country’s real estate industry. This year, we are building one thousand housing units and we have started already, a lot of contractors are already mobilised, and we are getting more on board, and also by the end of the year, we would be having more than 20 branches in the country. People have been asking why we are expanding despite the rising insecurity in Nigeria, but again the concept of entrepreneurship is solving problems. That is why we are investing a lot in conferences and training because we just need to start changing the mindset of Nigerians. There are applications that some of our brilliant young Nigerian can come up with that will solve these issues, that will give you satellite imagery where kidnappers are keeping people with the coordinates, you just need to tap into that youthful, young energy.

Tell us about the Smart City concept?

Right! The United Kingdom has said that it will reduce its CO2 emission by 78 per cent by 2035. So, we are having countries give 15years deadline, 20years deadline, so everything is becoming smart, green but Africa is not even having that conversation. I wanted to change the narrative, so I said to myself, we have to be ahead. So, we started this concept of green smart homes wherein our estate and in the houses, we have built, with your phone you can handle everything about the house. In fact, for some people from the wristwatch you can see what is going on in the house, you can even talk to those at home, so a lot of security gadget, a lot of smart gadget but more importantly green. So, we are not connecting any of our estates to the national grid, we are not interested, everything is renewable, we are doing a hybrid of solar and recycling on the waste we are producing in the environment, using hybrid biogas and solar.

Is this project going on right now or are you talking about projection?

We are already on site, buildings have commenced, we are just making sure that our estates are self-sustainable, it’s in line with the millennium development goals, and like I said, it’s just that Nigeria keeps shifting the goal post, all these things are the things that the world has agreed that we need to start moving in this direction but we know how we do our things.

Can the real estate industry diversify the Nigerian economy away from oil?

The answer is definitely yes. To achieve this is solely in the hands of the government. The Dubai government made an intentional decision by the sheikh to develop its real estate industry. The country was deliberate to diversify its economy from oil by going into real estate and tourism among others. To do this, they started building the right infrastructures to enable other industries to thrive. It was a decision the government chose to make. The Nigerian government can also decide to diversify the economy through the real estate sector. It will happen but I honestly see the private sector doing it and not the government. Do you know the most expensive land in the world is in Nigeria-Lagos; Banana Island, in New York, they sell floors they don’t sell land, I would have said maybe New York will top them, it is only in Lagos that you buy land 600 square metres for two million dollars. There is no place else in the world, that is why even the private sector has jumped in and they are making this thing mega, so all we just need is a little government support to make things easier. Look at what is happening with Ogun and Oyo State, investment is moving to those places because it is easy to get your Certificate of Occupancy, so those are little things the government can do to create the much-needed jobs for the economy. There is no other bigger employer of labour in any sector than real estate.

Don’t you think that the real estate policies of other governments are friendlier?

Before there was no government policy guiding them, just now they are trying to control the sector, take for instance the social media, when it started there was no policy, some people started it without law from scratch and built it to what it is today. We must sell the same narrative in Nigeria. Young people should go and pick a sector and hustle it out. I am not saying it easy. I also started small, I trekked Ikeja along to Sango for many days because I couldn’t afford N200 then to go back to Sango. I often slept in my office with mosquitoes. I use to paste postal, do photocopy and buy bulk SMS at 70 kobo per SMS. So, it wasn’t easy but we can do it.

What has been your comfort resolution strategy?

Elders! The wisdom of elders, my uncle sold most of the lands in Omole, Berger, you know I didn’t know him until I got into real estate, but later on, I went into real estate. These are the people you go to for advice, you are having these issues and how do we handle such, we have had to leverage not just him but several people.

What are the things that Gtexthomes is putting together aside this event to inspire the Nigerian youths?

One of the things we have started doing is to mentor intentionally; media men, celebrities, actors, and actresses. So what is missing is a role model, it is not that the Nigerian youth can’t be patient. They need to be inspired and supported to tap opportunities across industries.

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