BUSINESS

Our niche in property business—-Okoro

&NewLine;<p><em>MI Okoro and Associates&comma; in the estimation of industry analysts&comma; has emerged a frontline property business company with excellent track records trailing its trajectory&period; The group specializes in estate agency&comma; letting&comma; purchase&comma; sales&comma;  real estate consulting&comma; management of properties&comma; local and international valuation of properties&comma; feasibility &amp&semi; viability studies for real estate development&comma; fund syndication for real estate development&comma; real estate project management and assets valuation for decision making purposes&period;In this interview with<&sol;em><strong> Isaac Ngumah&comma;<&sol;strong><em> the principal partner&comma; Dr M&period; Okoro speaks on prospects and projections<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What motivated you&NewLine;into real estate business&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>First&comma; it is my choice&comma; my calling&period;&nbsp&semi; I studied it at the university&period; So&comma; it wasn’t&NewLine;by accident&period; I like estate management as a way of contributing my quota towards&NewLine;national economic development&period; When I left the university&comma; I worked with a professional&NewLine;firm and got professional experience&period; From there&comma;&nbsp&semi; I worked with a mortgage bank where I rose to&NewLine;the position of a manager&period;In 1994 I set up&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;M&period;I Okoro&nbsp&semi; Associates&period; The firm&NewLine;was involved in mayor valuation jobs in public and private sectors&period;&nbsp&semi;So I would say the&NewLine;beginning was very beautiful with high sounding technical assignments&period; Till&NewLine;date&comma; it is very smooth and fair also&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What is unique about real estate business&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It is a beautiful business&period; It is loving because it addressees and satisfies a major need of mankind which is housing&period;It is very important in the life of any human being&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Most of your&NewLine;business operations require bank financing&period; Are there challenges in that area&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>You cannot just run into the bank and request for loan&period; You must prepare yourself and have good banking records&NewLine;including but not limited to business plan&comma; statement of account&comma; audited&NewLine;account etc&period;With all this&comma; banks can support&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Tell us about your&NewLine;business goal&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Well&comma; the business goal is that I have been able to manage&nbsp&semi; &nbsp&semi;very&NewLine;high volume transactions with optimal professional integrity&period; To a large extent&comma;&NewLine;that has served all clients creditably well in the past 30 years&period; &nbsp&semi;I do not think I have ever had any reason to&NewLine;worry about any situation&period; I have not had any problem with any client from that&NewLine;time till date&period; For me&comma; that is a major achievement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>How were you able&NewLine;to break through stumbling blocks to achieve breakthrough&quest; <&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>There have been so many stumbling blocks&period; Finance is one&period;&NewLine;Access to land is another&period; You know the lands are not there because the&NewLine;governments are in charge of lands within every states of the federation by&NewLine;virtue of Land Use Act&period;&nbsp&semi;Other challenges include&NewLine;bad leadership which slows down economic activities&period; Once the economy is not&NewLine;performing people’s purchasing power will be low&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What kind of&NewLine;supports should government give to the industry&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Government should create primary mortgage banks and fund them&period; As I speak&comma; the banks are not funded&period; The mortgage banks that came into existence during Babangida’s administration have collapsed&period; That is a challenge&period;So&comma; the government should go a step further and fund the mortgage institutions&period; This will provoke organic construction enterprise in the system with its multiplier effects of job creation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What is your&NewLine;advice to those that want to go into real estate business&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>They should plan very well before venturing into real estate&NewLine;business&period; They have to be patient&period; It is not a business for those who are in a&NewLine;hurry to make money&period; Professionalism and quality service delivery are key&period;&NewLine;Clients must get satisfaction for jobs executed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Are there specific&NewLine;projects you have handled&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; we have been involved in some hitech projects&period; For&NewLine;instance&comma; I was involved in major valuation National Oil and Chemical all over&NewLine;the country&period; After that&comma; I was involved in the valuation of University of Lagos&NewLine;assets&period; I did jobs for government particularly in the area of valuation of&NewLine;federal government property within Ikoyi and other locations&period; There is also the&NewLine;relocation of over 40&comma;000 traders from Central Lagos to Trade Fair Complex&comma; now&NewLine;called Auto Spare Parts market and the plaza within the Trade Fair Complex&period;These are just few&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Openlife Reporter

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