Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on Aug 10, 2016 19:37:02 GMT 1
Alhaji Abdulazeez, Managing Director/CEO THE THY REAL ESTATE LIMITED
One of the first things that strike you about Alhaji Ismail Abdulazeez, the Managing Director of The Thy Real Estate Ltd, is his humble yet very confident personal. On first encounter, Alhaji Abdulazeez seems like a charming young man but after an hour with him, you soon realize that he is more than an intelligent business man. He is also very passionate about real estate sector which he became part of few years back. He is quietly making his mark in the industry. The accountant turned business man spoke with FADARE ADEKANMI in his Ewupe, Sango Ota, Ogun State office.
What is your vision for The Thy Real Estate?
The vision is to add quality to whatever it is that we are doing and to be different. Our flagships which are also initial and biggest projects includes snail, grasscutter farming, beekeeping and exportation of various exportable commodities. When you see the layout, it stands out. It is also superb. There are so many things I would do with the estate. What we’ve learnt over the years, we are transferring it to the project. We are improving without losing focus, delivering fantastic services to our clients with all the added qualities.
How long have you been into business put together?
All together, we have put in about fifteen (15) years in business.
Would you like to briefly tell us what you know about the man Abdulazeez Ismail?
I studied accountancy and worked briefly in Micom Engineering Company and Agro Allied Enterprises then as an account clerk and account officer respectively. Later, I moved to an oil mill company, they are also into petro-chemical businesses. So combined together, I actually worked for people for just three (3) years, and since then I have been on my own, doing one business or the other.
Can you shed more lights on ‘The Thy Real Estate Ltd’, that is, the new business environment where you’re now in love with. What are those things that motivated you into this property issue? For every successful business, there should be a way of sustaining the wealth that was being generated from the other businesses. It is a way of throwing back our profits and income from other sources in such a way that we will be able to have a kind of unearned income, so that the money that we have created can actually be working for us. One of the easiest ways to be able to do that is by empowering people in terms of helping them to get safe lands and assisting them to also build their houses. That is why we are in property business.
The evolution of the real estate sector in Nigeria has had different eras. Could you differentiate these eras and their distinguish factors?
My understanding of the different eras and their distinguishing factors can be gleaned from what I have noticed in the evolution of the business in south west of Nigeria to a large extent. The 60’s and 70’s were largely dominated by government presence that has facilitated the building of large estates with their infrastructural layouts e.g. Festac 77’ Estate, 1004 Estate Victoria Island, Lagos, Odu’a Group Estates etc. By the late 90’s, the numbers of private developers entered with the emergence of mortgage banks, the UACN properties, C and C, HFP, etc. But largely most of these estates were for high income earners within the society.
Which landed property are you currently working on, and how do you intend acquire and protect these landed properties against intruders?
Actually, we always have the concept of starting with whatever we have, not minding how small it is. The idea is to go to places where land is relatively cheap, or we get it through the land owners (omo onile), do all the paper documentation through our lawyer and other property consultants. Thereafter, we start to push the lands into the market through the platform of the real estate company that we have commenced. Presently, we have about 10 (ten) acres of land lying after Ilaro, around Ishaga – orile, in Ogun State. We are also working relentlessly with some Omo – onile, around Papa-Alanto and Atan area of Ogun State to secure more acres of land, in order for us to start selling. Again, the idea is to perfect the papers, develop the site to real estate, have a very good marketing concept, and of course start with what we have on ground, building on the trust that people have gotten in us while we were running some other businesses.
What would you say are the challenges of the real estate sector in Nigeria?
One is the Land Use Act. It is taking almost forever for the perfection of the Land title. The second challenge is the banks. As long as the banks continue charging two –digit interest on loans, houses will continue to be expensive. People may have houses, but with what infrastructure? Another is the competent hands, the issue about land speculators, (Omo-Onile), I thing government is dong something about the issue of omo-onile in Lagos State. Federal government should in their part create an enabling source of accessing loan facilities in other for us to be able to develop more accessible homes for the people.
During the cause of doing some other businesses, has there been a time you were challenged and wished like jumping-out from the scene?
Yes, there was a time in 2013 that we did some exports to Greece and our foreign buyer refused to pay for many of the exported containers. It was like may be we should stop the business because then it made us to run into huge financial losses. After a while, things began to turn around. As at now, I don’t think there would be anything that will push me away from doing business.
What are the things you want our readers to know about you?
I love God because God took me to where I am today. Without Him, I am nobody. I love to acquire knowledge. I am not a perfect man, but I try to improve on the things I do. I keep educating myself and I love good morals and Godly values. I love reading books on successful people like this book written by Roberts Khiyosaki, ‘rich dad, poor dad’. So I am very conscious of training my own children in such that they will be future leaders or future managers, so that whatever I am creating today, I will be able to pass it unto them, and they can also be able to pass same to another generation. I make sure that I involved them in whatever that is necessary at the level of their age, so that they will know and understand what I am doing. I always explain to them whatever I am doing and the reason why I am doing certain things.
What is the numerical strength of your workforce put together?
We have about fifty (50) staffs altogether.
As a player in the housing industry, kindly review the sector in the last one year or so.
The real estate business to me in the last one year has been both sweet and sour. The stride has slimed because of the political and economic situation in the country. More and more of the high-end houses are unsold because the purchasing power is gradually reducing. Focuses are now more on the site and services, low income houses, rent-to-own schemes. The bit single unit houses are becoming smaller and developers are also maximizing the available land into terraced unit.
Despite the sustained rise in the number of entrants into the real estate sector, there still exists a huge gap to be filled in the housing delivery. What can government do to arrest the situation?
My own view is that we are all entrants into the industry – government and private participants. Here at The Thy Real Estate, the projects we are doing is mainly for both low-income and the higher earners, but the truth is that, there is presently no state in Nigeria that can afford to take care of the housing needs of its residents without the input of the real estate managers.
Source: THE OCTAGON Vol.3 No.8 2016. Page 30.
One of the first things that strike you about Alhaji Ismail Abdulazeez, the Managing Director of The Thy Real Estate Ltd, is his humble yet very confident personal. On first encounter, Alhaji Abdulazeez seems like a charming young man but after an hour with him, you soon realize that he is more than an intelligent business man. He is also very passionate about real estate sector which he became part of few years back. He is quietly making his mark in the industry. The accountant turned business man spoke with FADARE ADEKANMI in his Ewupe, Sango Ota, Ogun State office.
What is your vision for The Thy Real Estate?
The vision is to add quality to whatever it is that we are doing and to be different. Our flagships which are also initial and biggest projects includes snail, grasscutter farming, beekeeping and exportation of various exportable commodities. When you see the layout, it stands out. It is also superb. There are so many things I would do with the estate. What we’ve learnt over the years, we are transferring it to the project. We are improving without losing focus, delivering fantastic services to our clients with all the added qualities.
How long have you been into business put together?
All together, we have put in about fifteen (15) years in business.
Would you like to briefly tell us what you know about the man Abdulazeez Ismail?
I studied accountancy and worked briefly in Micom Engineering Company and Agro Allied Enterprises then as an account clerk and account officer respectively. Later, I moved to an oil mill company, they are also into petro-chemical businesses. So combined together, I actually worked for people for just three (3) years, and since then I have been on my own, doing one business or the other.
Can you shed more lights on ‘The Thy Real Estate Ltd’, that is, the new business environment where you’re now in love with. What are those things that motivated you into this property issue? For every successful business, there should be a way of sustaining the wealth that was being generated from the other businesses. It is a way of throwing back our profits and income from other sources in such a way that we will be able to have a kind of unearned income, so that the money that we have created can actually be working for us. One of the easiest ways to be able to do that is by empowering people in terms of helping them to get safe lands and assisting them to also build their houses. That is why we are in property business.
The evolution of the real estate sector in Nigeria has had different eras. Could you differentiate these eras and their distinguish factors?
My understanding of the different eras and their distinguishing factors can be gleaned from what I have noticed in the evolution of the business in south west of Nigeria to a large extent. The 60’s and 70’s were largely dominated by government presence that has facilitated the building of large estates with their infrastructural layouts e.g. Festac 77’ Estate, 1004 Estate Victoria Island, Lagos, Odu’a Group Estates etc. By the late 90’s, the numbers of private developers entered with the emergence of mortgage banks, the UACN properties, C and C, HFP, etc. But largely most of these estates were for high income earners within the society.
Which landed property are you currently working on, and how do you intend acquire and protect these landed properties against intruders?
Actually, we always have the concept of starting with whatever we have, not minding how small it is. The idea is to go to places where land is relatively cheap, or we get it through the land owners (omo onile), do all the paper documentation through our lawyer and other property consultants. Thereafter, we start to push the lands into the market through the platform of the real estate company that we have commenced. Presently, we have about 10 (ten) acres of land lying after Ilaro, around Ishaga – orile, in Ogun State. We are also working relentlessly with some Omo – onile, around Papa-Alanto and Atan area of Ogun State to secure more acres of land, in order for us to start selling. Again, the idea is to perfect the papers, develop the site to real estate, have a very good marketing concept, and of course start with what we have on ground, building on the trust that people have gotten in us while we were running some other businesses.
What would you say are the challenges of the real estate sector in Nigeria?
One is the Land Use Act. It is taking almost forever for the perfection of the Land title. The second challenge is the banks. As long as the banks continue charging two –digit interest on loans, houses will continue to be expensive. People may have houses, but with what infrastructure? Another is the competent hands, the issue about land speculators, (Omo-Onile), I thing government is dong something about the issue of omo-onile in Lagos State. Federal government should in their part create an enabling source of accessing loan facilities in other for us to be able to develop more accessible homes for the people.
During the cause of doing some other businesses, has there been a time you were challenged and wished like jumping-out from the scene?
Yes, there was a time in 2013 that we did some exports to Greece and our foreign buyer refused to pay for many of the exported containers. It was like may be we should stop the business because then it made us to run into huge financial losses. After a while, things began to turn around. As at now, I don’t think there would be anything that will push me away from doing business.
What are the things you want our readers to know about you?
I love God because God took me to where I am today. Without Him, I am nobody. I love to acquire knowledge. I am not a perfect man, but I try to improve on the things I do. I keep educating myself and I love good morals and Godly values. I love reading books on successful people like this book written by Roberts Khiyosaki, ‘rich dad, poor dad’. So I am very conscious of training my own children in such that they will be future leaders or future managers, so that whatever I am creating today, I will be able to pass it unto them, and they can also be able to pass same to another generation. I make sure that I involved them in whatever that is necessary at the level of their age, so that they will know and understand what I am doing. I always explain to them whatever I am doing and the reason why I am doing certain things.
What is the numerical strength of your workforce put together?
We have about fifty (50) staffs altogether.
As a player in the housing industry, kindly review the sector in the last one year or so.
The real estate business to me in the last one year has been both sweet and sour. The stride has slimed because of the political and economic situation in the country. More and more of the high-end houses are unsold because the purchasing power is gradually reducing. Focuses are now more on the site and services, low income houses, rent-to-own schemes. The bit single unit houses are becoming smaller and developers are also maximizing the available land into terraced unit.
Despite the sustained rise in the number of entrants into the real estate sector, there still exists a huge gap to be filled in the housing delivery. What can government do to arrest the situation?
My own view is that we are all entrants into the industry – government and private participants. Here at The Thy Real Estate, the projects we are doing is mainly for both low-income and the higher earners, but the truth is that, there is presently no state in Nigeria that can afford to take care of the housing needs of its residents without the input of the real estate managers.
Source: THE OCTAGON Vol.3 No.8 2016. Page 30.