The Chief Executive Officer of Lekki Gardens, Richard Nyong, a real estate development company, has said private developers have a huge role to play in bridging the housing gap in the country.
He said he was able to build over 15,000 houses in 10 years of his operation spread across Lagos, Abuja, Ogun and Port Harcourt.
He spoke in Lagos with The Nation on the sidelines of his marking his 40th birthday with friends, associates and workers in Lagos.
Stakeholders, who spoke on the occasion, said Nyong has disrupted the nation’s real estate industry in such a short time, developing the largest number of housing units and helping to reduce the massive housing deficit in the country.
Nyong said he was driven by the need to cater and shore up from his perspective the shortage of infrastructural development to cater for the nation’s over 200 million population, including the housing deficit.
On how he came into real estate he said it rested on his conviction that government alone cannot do it. He said the belief stimulated by the challenges he witnessed around while growing up in Lagos gave him the impetus.
He said: “From consulting for land owners and helping them find buyers, to buying my own land with commissions gathered and then to eventually move into development, my trajectory was one of incremental growth, clarity of purpose and sheer consistency”.
Nyong said he took the plunge in the real estate industry acquiring and selling lands which eventually metamorphosed into property development and launching his premiere project in Ajah, a fast rising area in Lagos.
“With captivating marketing campaigns, bold statements and crystal clear results, and a perfect blend of luxury and affordability I made a bold statement in the sector. l carved a popular brand mantra “affordable luxury” and built over 5,000 housing units of varying house-types (apartments, maisonettes and terraces) within the first few years thereby making homeownership easy and delightful. These immediate successes not only made my organisation famous but also opened the floodgate of real estate investment in Lagos Island as well as in other areas of the country”.
Talking about the rough times, he spoke on how he engaged relevant stakeholders, to being straight about the situation at hand and re-strategising in line with new learning, adding that the strategy did not only help the company reinvent itself but also enabled all affected stakeholders to rebuild and in the event of it created over 10,000 jobs.
On his success story, he attributed it to his growing up days in Lagos where he chose a clear cut part not to compromise on his dream but rather use them as a catalyst for what will later be the foundation of his success.
In recognition of his strides in the real estate industry, he was bestowed a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) in Real Estate from the European American University in Ghana. He is an expert in real estate consulting, advisory, property development and sales.
He sits on the board of several leading companies including Lekki Gardens.
In 2016, he was named amongst Top 100 Most Influential Young Nigerians by Avance Media. He was awarded Real Estate Entrepreneur of the Year at 2020 Real Estate Excellence Awards.
