… celebrates 20years of delivering eco-friendly homes for sustainable future
Authorities of Nedcomoaks Group, a leading real estate investment and development company, say they will continue to champion sustainability initiatives in the housing sector, energy space as well as the transportation sector, believing that the planet earth needs to be protected and preserved.
Ned Okonkwo, the Group Managing Director, made this pledge in an interview with BusinessDay on the sideline of their 20th anniversary celebration in Lagos recently during which he went down memory lane, recalling how Nedcomoaks’ journey into real estate began with the development of one bungalow in the Oniru area of Lagos.
Today, Nedcomoaks has metamorphosed into more than 13 distinct but interrelated brand expressions and has continued to strive for excellence in delivering eco-friendly homes for a sustainable future and redefining real estate standards with new projects. It has grown to become a strong force in the real estate market and is at the forefront of transforming the sector with commitment to excellence, innovation and sustainability.
In line with the sustainability initiatives, three of the company’s latest projects, including the Citadel Views, are fully solar-powered. This represents a key milestone for the company’s sustainability goals, believing, however, that efforts towards a sustainable living in Nigeria that provides families with affordable, eco-friendly housing options are still at infancy stage.
“We have delivered over 6000 housing units and built communities that reflect our vision of redefining luxury and affordability. This anniversary is a celebration of our journey, achievements and the incredible support of our partners, stakeholders and the wider community,” Okonkwo said, adding that within this period, they have impacted many families having built over 6000 homes.
On daily basis, he said, Nedcomoaks employs over 2600 labourers directly and indirectly at their construction sites rIt also has corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives targeted at educational sponsorship and entrepreneurial empowerment as well as medical charity initiatives to support communities where they operate.
Like any other company operating in Nigeria’s harsh business environment, Nedcomoaks has its own share of challenges, but according to Ichechi Okonkwo, the group’s deputy managing director, “at Nedcomoaks, we see challenges as a call to action.
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“Everyone knows the dark side of doing business in our clime but a lot of times we all play it down to maintain our sanity. The infrastructure deficit in our country makes it difficult to do business. The economic impact of devaluation and ever rising inflation has made it extremely difficult to plan, especially for developers who have latched on the off-plan marketing model in their quest to raise quick funding for their business,” she pointed out.
With rising inflation, she said, cost of construction is also rising, but they have positioned themselves strategically as market leader and have decided to do things that will enable them to produce at reduced cost. “We must run efficiently and so we have gone into backward integration that has helped us to produce more homes at significantly reduced rate.”
On interest rate, she noted that today’s interest rate sits at nearly 36-40 percent per annum, wondering how many businesses can survive with such rate. “But despite all these, the job of every business is to create value to solve problems and make lasting societal impact; every Nigerian problem remains an opportunity for the eagle-eyed business man to be innovative and make money,” she said.
Looking into the future to the next 20 years of Nedcomoaks, Okonkwo hopes the company will be more bullish next year because, as she put it, “20 years of entrepreneurial excellence is not 20 days. We understand the Nigerian real estate consumers and solving the need of everyone who stops by at our door will always be our focus.”
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