Foluke Daramola is a big Nollywood star who has carved a big niche for herself in the make-believe sector.
Recently, the beautiful actress has delved into the real estate sector. Last year, she was appointed as an ambassador of a Lagos Property Company, Sterling Homes. She’s currently an ambassador for Suru Group and Eliezer Investment.
She is the face of Eliezer Investment Company, helping the company to market its units of shops, and she has done quite well since her appointment.
Two weeks back, the beautiful actress was at the 22nd City People Awards for Excellence in Lekki and she spoke on how she got to the industry (real estate). She narrated her love for real estate even before she was signed on as an ambassador.
She said she saw herself owning her own property company in future. Below are the excerpts of the interview she had with City People’s ISAAC ABIMBADE.
Can you tell us your involvement in real estate? You left Sterling Homes as a brand ambassador for Eliezer Investment and Suru Group. What prior knowledge did you have in the sector?
Basically, it is like a process for me in real estate. I worked with Sterling Homes for some months, but the agreement between us didn’t go as planned, so I had to back out.
But Suru Group is not restricted to real estate; Suru Group is into hospitality, we have a microfinance bank, and we have a real estate unit.
Suru Group has been like a family conglomerate, even before I became its brand ambassador. So, when I became its brand ambassador, it just added a new colour to the ‘flag’.
Now, Eliezer Investment brought me in on the market; the rural market. The reason they brought me in was that they needed a brand face that could interface both the Yoruba and Hausa; somebody who could mix and be relevant in the English, Hausa and Yoruba genres.
A lot of people know that I am very interested in real estate. I intend to go into it much later on my own, but I want to learn now. So, when they made me a brand ambassador, I tried to market their products in my own way. I tried to put in my effort so that at the end of the day my impact will be felt as an ambassador of such a brand.
How do you juggle being a brand ambassador at Suru Group and Eliezer?
Eliezer is a brand, all that we are doing now is the marketing of shops. I am not doing a brand ambassador’s work for Eliezer; what I am doing for them is to market their shops. Unlike Suru Group where I am a brand ambassador, which comprises Suru Hotel, Suru Microfinance, Suru Homes.
What experience did you have before venturing into the sector?
Not really, because I read International Relations in school and it doesn’t have anything to do with what I do now. But, I just like nice buildings; I like it when a structure is well built, and that was actually what triggered my curiosity and I have been a person who has always loved real estate business.
Where do you like to see yourself in the sector later in the future?
In the future, I see myself owning my real estate company, where I can buy land and develop properties. But I don’t want to reveal my ideas so that they won’t be stolen, but I have my ideas. I have the idea of how an estate should look like, and that is a dream I want to bring into reality later in life.
Are you saying you will abandon your acting job for real estate?
I have been acting for the past 26 years, if not more because I started acting since 1996. So, if you can’t utilise your fame to diversify into other things, frustration will set in. The beauty about life is to diversify and the only thing that’s constant in life is change and the only thing that is bound to happen is to change. So, the beauty about life is for you to be able to be dynamic in whatever you do. I have fame. I have been acting for a long time, even before I got to university. So, if I now do my real estate business, it shouldn’t affect anything. What gave you the impression that I won’t be able to handle the two?
Would you like to go fully into the sector if any opportunity presents itself today?
Yes, why not. As I said, the beauty of life is to be dynamic in whatever you do. With no recourse to anyone, in the showbiz industry, if you can’t think outside of the box, you get stuck. So, for you not to get stuck is to be dynamic in your thinking and keep a broad mind.
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