Metro Homes leverages brand integrity to soar despite economic hurdles – MD

Adekunle Abdul, the managing director of Metro & Castle, says brand integrity and trusted referrals have helped the firm remain in business despite the economic hurdles that have limited enterprise expansion this year.

Abdul said the Lagos-based real estate firm has continued to evolve in the last six years, thanks to brand building and prompt delivery of promises even in the face of inflation that has kept prices high.

“Regardless of what the economic situation is, people will always need shelter. And when it gets tough, they will want to choose or go with the best in the market at that point,” Abdul said while speaking to journalists during the company’s third realtors’ hangout at the weekend in Lagos.

“So, I would say that we leveraged on our brand integrity. What you see is what you get. What we promise is what you get. People want to invest safely at this period. You can’t afford loss of funds in this economy. And people want to know that they’re working with a real estate company that can deliver,” he added.

Reacting to the economic downturn in the country, Abdul said the challenges are making the firm take things rather slowly as it is avoiding being too “exposed”.

He, however, noted that the current economic situation of the country is changing the dynamics of the real estate sector, saying that the company has adopted a new strategy to avoid being caught in the web of skyrocketing prices that may disrupt estimates.

“As regards impacting real estate, I’ll say that it changed the dynamics a lot. So, our new strategy is to take the houses up to 50 or 60 percent with internal funding. That way, we’re going to ascertain the cost. Then, we mark it off and then we sell it out; that way, we’re going to evade all those economic challenges,” Abdul said.

He also urged the government to prioritise real estate, stating that the sector has potential to keep the country’s economy growing as it creates thousands of jobs and generates more funds needed for development of key areas.

Abdul emphasised the need for more facilitation of mortgage buildings, asserting that regular construction work means increased labour which will keep factories and industries alive.

The CEO said the company is “big” on corporate social responsibility (CSR) as it believes strongly in giving back to the community. He announced the completion of a 150-capacity training hub which, according to him, would be used for training prospective realtors who intend to learn the ropes of real estate.

“It’s strictly for training youth in the community. We don’t believe we can build all the houses in Lagos or Nigeria. So, we have programmes for real estate. If you want to learn real estate, most of all these realtors you’re seeing have subscribed. And it’s free. It’s a CSR,” the MD explained.