Nikky Ufondu: I’m Still Very Much into Acting

Tosin Clegg

Having made a name for herself in Nollywood, with exceptional role interpretation in blockbuster movies like ‘Excess Luggage’ and ‘Banana Island Ghost’, actress/producer, Nikky Ufondu decided to test the real estate waters with the establishment of Gemini Luxury Homes. Since then, the business woman has stopped at nothing in adding laudable feathers to her cap.

Speaking on her foray into the real estate enterprise while still in the make-belief craft, she said: “It all started when I was working on a talk show titled ‘24/7 with the stars,’ it only survived a few episodes. I had a lot of challenges and was ready to quit filming the show when I met Saheed Apampa, a Nollywood director. He spoke to me about making movies and my Nollywood journey began. I made my first movie, ‘What if’ in 2015 and then my journey as a movie producer and actor began. I acted in quite a few productions before I executively produced ‘Excess Luggage’ in 2017, then made a couple of movies like, ‘Lurk’, ‘Shower Games’, ‘All For The Money’ and others. While at it, I thought of a side hustle, then the real estate idea kicked in, but I wanted to learn the business properly, so I started first as an agent.

“Seeing that the returns from movie making takes a while I wanted multiple streams of income and giving that I have always had a passion for real estate, I said to myself, ‘go into the business, learn all about it’ and the rest like they say is history.”

Asked which is more lucrative of movie production and real estate business, she was quick to note that the real estate business pays more. “Every business has its ups and downs but in real estate, it’s more like a win-win, because your investments tend to appreciate, though, it is capital intensive, you can never go wrong.”

She corrected the impression that she had quit acting/movie production for real estate. “You sound like I left one industry for another. I’m still very involved in both industries. As a matter of fact, I’m working on releasing two amazing films this year; and as for real estate, more projects are coming up in different locations in Lagos, bigger and better. Real estate is the real deal for me though, because as a Nigerian lady, I love making lots of profits.”