…Offers N16m grants to family businesses
The chairman of Gtext Holdings, Stephen Akintayo, has disclosed that Nigeria needs to ease access to single digit interest loans to allow real estate developers deliver low-cost housing in the country.
Akintayo was speaking at a recent world press conference to celebrate the 16th anniversary of the company in Lagos.
He disclosed that funding is still a huge challenge for developers in the Nigerian built industry, and called on the president Tinubu led administration to initiate projects that would make low-cost housing a reality for many Nigerians. “We realize that it’s easier to access funding in America than in Nigeria,” Akintayo said.
According to him, the company recently got a $9 million approval for its Houston project, which was launched about two weeks ago. “In Houston, we launched last two Saturdays a 21-acre of land where we’re going to be building 60 units of single-family homes, ranging from $600,000 to $1 million each.”
According to Akintayo, the United States Corporation of Gtext Holdings will be able to lend its Nigerian business some loans. “But over time, we’re able to then use some of our profit, bring it back to Nigeria, and then accelerate the construction of our houses.”
He said that this initiative will help the Group to deliver on its 2035 goal of attracting $20 billion into the real estate sector in Africa to deliver on his vision of building 25,000 houses and 200 estates projects.
“Our vision is that we want to aggressively expand in the U.S. and in Canada in the next five to 10 years and then be able to repatriate some of our profits back to Nigeria, to be able to accelerate building more houses,” he said.
On how the government can bridge the deficit in the housing sector, Akintayo said that the government can guarantee private developers by providing some measure of off-taking that automatically halves the cost.
He said further that the government can also provide free land and some level of funding in a joint venture (JV) model or public-private partnership (PPP) initiative to beat down the cost of building.
“The government will give a private developer land, and so that already reduced the cost of building the house,” Akintayo said.
Barry Obiomah, CEO, Stephen Akintayo Foundation (SAF), said the foundation will offer N16 million grants to 16 family businesses to celebrate the company’s 16th anniversary.
“Our mission is to uplift one million Africans out of poverty. We achieve this ambitious goal through our comprehensive support programs and scholarship initiatives,” Obiomah said.
