Sijibomi Ogundele is a smart business executive and one can never be in doubt of his intelligence and understanding of the local and international property market even on a first time meeting.
Popularly called “Sujimoto” he is the founder and lead partner of Sujimoto Group of Companies, which comprises of real-estate, finance and energy divisions. As the chief executive officer of Sujimoto Construction, he tells me he has a mandate to revolutionise Nigeria’s prime real estate. He says he wants to bridge the gap in the provision of quality, affordable, and luxury buildings, that are analogous to modern cities and towns like Cape town, Monte Carlo, and Miami, has over the years proven its mantle in this highly competitive field.
According to him, Sujimoto’s unique selling point is quality. “I have a penchant for quality,” he tells me confidently. “One of the reasons I went into property development is to distinguish ours from the “sham buildings” often portrayed as luxury buildings so many developers have introduced into the system. The notion of selling nonsense as luxury is very appalling. We resist this idea.”
He believes what is currently obtainable in local property market as luxury apartments are not world class hence they should not be tolerated. “We live in the 21century, and the Nigerian people have gotten smarter and more savvy. They are no longer interested in buying N100 naira for N1000. Sujimoto’s dedication and motivation is the ability to provide you the highest quality money can buy, cheaper than the competitors. Customer satisfaction is our obsession; we guarantee you that if our door, plumbing, lighting or any technical part of our buildings default, we will replace it and ensure a money back guarantee if we fail to live up to our promises.”
An astute businessman, Ogundele’s vast wealth of experience as a venture capitalist and investment strategist has provided a solid background in ensuring Sujimoto Construction achieves its mission in the establishment of upscale housing in Nigeria that can compete with its counterparts all around the world. Deeply embedded in the company’s core values, are Ogundele’s vision of transforming one of man’s basic requisites – being sheltered – into the magnificent properties that his company constructs for both individuals and organizations.
In addition he says the Sujimoto Group has continued to blaze trails with an international network of partners – like the Fortune 100 company Alhaji Group – which is known to be the wealthiest non-royal family in the Middle East. The group has helped both the Alrhaji Group and its other partners, locate and analyze business opportunities in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. With this kind of business associates Ogundele explains his target market are people who love luxury.
“I have a dual market system,” he explains, “where our core focus is on multi-unit constructions. On one half of the divide is the truly luxurious dwellings comparable to their global counterparts and on the other hand people in the middle class would take hold of their own destiny by affording a home for their families. Sujimoto is devoted to quality and perfection, and in this arena, we must dance by the music of luxury! … To answer your question precisely, 70 percent of our target is high net worth personalities and 30 percent goes to middle income individuals.”
Being a Nigerian with little educational backing – Ogundele was famously underestimated until he met a university professor who changed his life. Dr Hiroyi Kawasagi, installed in Siji the confidence to believe in himself, reminding him that his past has very little to do with his future: “Sijibomi, don’t never beat yourself any more [than you have to]. Your educational difficulty has nothing to do with your future success. Look at Bill Gates, Lin Ka Shing and their like…” These simple words of encouragement served as the catalyst for Siji, and since then, he has been the best of himself – even being the head of a workforce of about 32 degree holders, among them 3 MBA holders from Esade Business School and AUP. Because of his radical desire to grow his business, he has further enrolled in the Anglia Ruskin University Law program – after being absent from the educational scene for over 14 years.
While he started his career in risk assessment in 2004, he moved up to lending to SMEs. He later started Moto Finance in Madrid, with a branch in Accra Ghana, where he achieved significant industry milestones – helping more than 170 different businesses. A very famous story is where Moto Finance helped a bread corner-shop owner, develop her business from being a simple corner-shop that sold bread, into owning a bakery that now serves 27 percent of Accra bakery market.
Despite being born and raised within a middle income family, Siji has never allowed that to reduce his confidence. At the age of 9, every Saturday, Siji travelled from Agege to Ikoyi poloclub, sitting down on the fence of the club, watching and training his mind in the visualization of his future. Today, Sijibomi is a member of Ikoyi Landlords Association – with about seven properties listed as his.
“Albeit we are somewhat new in the industry,” he adds we have two developments to our credit amongst which are the “Sujimoto Luxury Terraces” in Ikoyi. Besides we have remarkable upcoming projects set to materialize very soon. We are in talks with renowned architect Phillipe Starck one of the best architects in this 21st century. Likewise the Legacy group Johannesburg and Trump organization for managerial status in order to deliver an edifice that will become a cynosure to all. No building in South Africa, Morocco or Nigeria would have the capacity to compete with its quality and beauty.”
Sijimoto’s strategy for survival he says: “People love quality, and our focus is to provide the highest quality, so high that our competitors would find it extremely strenuous to replicate. In retrospect, I had a teacher called Mr Apoesho, who continuously reminded me that I would never amount to nothing, and this propelled my quest for excellence; and to achieve greatness same thing goes in the real estate market, when I tell people my intentions and how I’ll accomplish them their response is “Ah! It is impossible!” Thus my strategy is to aspire to reach the sky, if I don’t get there, I would touch the moon.”
FUNKE OSAE-BROWN
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