Authorities of Landmark Group, which prides itself as one stop-shop for business, leisure and lifestyle, say they are raising $20 million, equivalent of over N30 billion, through private placement, to develop and promote tourism business across eight West African cities, including Nigeria.
This action is part of the group’s response to the demolition of their multi-million-dollar Beach Resort in Lagos by the federal government to pave the way for the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway construction.
“We are geographically diversifying to lessen our reliance on any one economy and this is taking us to eight West African cities. We are taking to those cities two parts of our business that are most efficient, cash-generating and most impactful,” Paul Onwuanibe, group CEO, told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview.
Onwuanibe named the two parts of their business as event business and leisure and hospitality business, stressing that they would be combining and rolling them out across West Africa.
To do that effectively, he said, “We’re raising funds; we’re right in the middle of a private placement; we still have businesses that are generating cash, but we are partnering with Afrexim Bank as well to provide debt funding to help with the Africa roll out.”
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Onwuanibe disclosed that over the next three months or first quarter of this year, the group will be in those eight cities. He noted that the group has had opportunities for about 15 cities, having had calls from presidents in many countries that want them to come over but it has chosen eight and out of the eight, which include The Gambia, Enugu and Port Harcourt.
“We are going to Gambia and this is the first time I am saying it officially. We’ve signed an agreement with them; we’ve agreed on a 20-hectare waterfront site, 10 years tax breaks, and there are other enabling environments,” he said.
He said he was excited with the prospects in The Gambia, noting that when he visited the country, he was impressed by the hospitality of the Gambian people, the president, the ministers, and the investment promotion council which, he said, were unmatched.
“It’s a tourism country that understands tourism. So, we really look forward to what we’re going to do in Gambia,” he enthused.
The business mogul said he was also excited about Enugu where the group has signed a joint venture agreement with the state government to take over the 150-hectare Nike Lake Resort, noting that the possibilities in Enugu are limitless.
“This will become the tourism platform of the South East. Enugu has an international Airport; it has an exceptionally motivated governor, Peter Mbah. Just two years into office and he has done so much already. So, you can only imagine what he’ll do in the next two years and, if God permits another four years, it will be marvellous. So, we’re excited at the possibilities,” he said.
Landmark will be going to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to take over an old Tourist Beach sitting on eight hectares of land in the Garden City. Expectation is that, in the next few months, work will start on phase one of the resort.
“Right now, we’re dealing with site preparation and the hope is that, by Easter, we will have at least part of our phase one up. Obviously, it’ll take a year to get it in the sort of shape we want it before we start building big structures like hotels. By then, we’ll be ready for Detty December 2025,” Onwuanibe assured.
Like other locations, he is also excited and motivated about that opportunity, pointing out that the piece of land that has been offered by the beach side is surrounded by water.
He recalled that the time it took to agree on this with the government was very short because they knew what they wanted. The government already had a master plan as to how they wanted to develop tourism in the state because it’s a state that has water all over and has a lot to offer.
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