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Executive Director, Mrs. TOLULOPE ONALAJA
Tolulope Onalaja is the absolutely pretty woman who has become one of the mot powerful female forces in the real estate industry today. She has been described by many as a truly gorgeous woman. And she has got everything a sensible man would wish to have in a woman. She is tenacious, hardworking and very, very down to earth. But most importantly, she has got brains, tons and tons of it. The only problem is, the very adorable looking mother of three amazing kids is already taken! Her name is Mrs. Tolulope Onalaja, she is the wife of the Real Estate industry’s brightest mind, Mr. Bamidele Onalaja, and together, they both run Revolutionplus, one of Nigeria’s most flourishing Real Estate companies. If you ask the ever smart and cool looking Bamidele Onalaja, who also doubles as the chairman of REDAN, Lagos chapter, he will tell you that his wife is the engine room of the company. He has entrusted into her care the entire finances of the company by making her the Executive Director, Finance. And from what we see, they are both doing incredibly well elevating the company every year, possibly far beyond their own expectations.
Two weeks ago, the City People group held it’s annual City People Real Estate awards and Revolutionplus was one of the giants of the Real Estate sector recognised on the night. Tolulope spoke with City People Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) about what the awards represents to Revolutionplus and the challenges faced by Revolutionplus and the entire real etate sector under the current economic crisis.
It’s always a pleasure speaking with you, madam. You have just picked up yet another City People Real Estate award, how excited are you about this?
I feel very excited. I think for every year, this is about the 8th award we will be receiving, we have always been recognised and honoured by City People. Why I particularly like City People, this is a brand that has been built over decades and it’s an award that we appreciate specially. I know a lot of other awards that we have turned severally this year, but not City People. When City People say they are recognising you, you know it’s a worthy recognition.
Tell us, ma, a lot of entrepreneurs have described the year 2023 as being very challenging. It’s a year that has seen many privbate businesses collapse, how challenging has the year been for Revolutionplus?
It has been really, really chalenging, I must be honest with you. The sector has been badly hit and affected. I won’t even say it’s only the Real Estate sector because when I talk to my friends who are in other sectors they say the same thing. So, I think the economy is in a mess. But why I think it’s a big hit on the Real Estate sector is because a lot of us actually build with imported materials. We rely a lot on importation. Evern the ones that are not imported like cement, the prices keep changing. The prices are unreliable, so its really telling on a lot on us. Then, secondly, people feel that, ah, I want to eat first before I start buying property. Property has become too much of a luxury now. So, it’s when you’ve eaten, and you have survived that you now have eccess that you can think of buying property. That’s why I think the sector is affected. Sales have dropped. People now see property purchase as something for the very, very rich. Unlike before, it wasn’t this bad. So, I think people are struggling for survival. The people that are probably still doing well are the people selling food because you must eat. But for things like clothings, now people will say just wear the one you have. Or you want to buy house, they will say, look, just maintain the one you have. Same thing with cars. A friend of mine who sells car said to me, we are noit bringing in cars again. Duties have gone up. People are complaining they can’t buy the car. Dollar has gone up to over a thousand naira. By the time I bring it in, it’s over priced to people and they don’t understand and it’s telling on my own profit, what am I now buying?
So, something has to be done drastically to this whole sector. Now, we have to pause off plan sales, we can’t do off plan sales because the economy is so unpredicatable. For instance, if you say you’re going to sell a house at a hundred million, how are you sure the hundred million will not finish before you complete the project? Because you need a minimum of a year or a year and half before you can be able to finish, get approval and every other thing, so you cannot even say what will happen between that period. You cannot say how much the dollar will go for before the end of tht year, so how do you begin to tell someone the house is hundred million? By the time you tell them you can’t deliver, they go online and start saying, Revolutionplus does not want to deliver and all manner of things. So, people don’t want to face reality and it’s really affecting the real estate sector. If you talk to developers, it’s the same thing.
But I must say that. Somehow, despite all of these challenges, Revolutionplus has managed to stay afloat and keep intact it’s integrity and prompt delivery, how have you been able to navigate round all of these overwhelming challenges?
Oh, my brother, it’s been tough, but we give glory to God. We have been around for quite a bit. Next year, now will be a decade old in business. And before we started Revolutionplus, my husband, the MD, was into Mortgage industry where he was selling home through mortgages and all, so he’s been around for quite a while. And we just told ourselves that there’s no business that won’t have it’s own challenges. If you look at businesses that have been operating in Nigeria for 20 to 25 years, they will tell you their story. There will always be ditches and obstacles but you must know how to navigate. And we didn’t start this business to come and run away or to come and give up. So, you see the challernges, you face it, conquer it and move on. That’s how we have been able to survive. We have accepted the challenges will come and we have accepted that we will face it and with God, we will conquer. I know a lot of other companies that we started together but more than half of them, we don’t hear of them any longer. Many that we started in that 2014 together, a lot of them in Ikorodu, Mowe, a lot of them are nowhere to be found today, probably they saw the challenges and they couldn’t stand the heat and they took off. But one thing my husband says alot the time is, where am I taking off to? He says Nigeria is too sweet now, all of us must enjoy the sweetness together. I won’t run away because of anybody. So, that’s where our integrity will stand strong. There may be challenges. Nobody is perfect. But if there are challenges, we will face it and we will surely conquer.
With the situation looking as gloomy as it is right now, what would you like the government to do to make things begin to move not just for your serctor but the economy as a whole? What immediate change are you looking to see?
Oh, I’m looking to see immediate change with the dollar. The dollar should first of all drop because it has a rippling effect on everything. Everybody is now lying on dollar. Even the people that have nothing to do with dollar will tell you it’s dollar that has shot up the prices of their goods. So, if the dollar drops at least, then we can begin to know which other areas we want to talk about. So, government should help us tackle this dollar first. Itr’s telling on a lot of things. Let it drop so that it will affect every other thing and people’s tenbsion and frustration will come down small. When that happens, then, we too we can plan. Secondly, governmewnt should stop frustrating the private sector becquse any country that does not support it’s private sector is not ready to move. I always use US as an example because I have a branch of Revolutionplus in the US. We build houses in the US. How many people work for the government in the US? Ninety percent work for private individuals because they created an environment for private sectors to thrive. But Nigeria is the opposite. The will do policies that will kill businesses and we keep saying unemployment. I know how many of my friends have closed down businesses this year. Even one of my own businesses I closed it down this year because I cannot deal with the headache. I used to run a fast food joint, I closed it. I gave it to another person who will have the time. I couldn’t continue to carry that pressure along with real estate, so I gave it to somebody to take that headache off me. I know a lot of people who have packed up their businesses and left the country but I always say to people, you know what, I have business structures within and outside the country and leaving the country is not an option for me, because I love this country and I believe in this country. But it’s always so painful when you see what is going on. In all of these, they still do multiple taxes.
My Accountant has all manner of taxes waiting for me in the office. Lagos State will come todsay, federal will come tomorrow. I have told the Accountant to tell them to go and clear whatever is left in my account because, at this point, I’m struggling to pay salaries and you’re telling me to come and pay series of taxes? So, they should do something and leave us alone. We want policies that will make the business environment sustainable. Let us be able to run business so we keep staff and we keep employment. Don’t do policies that are insensitive and killing businesses, that’s why you see people leaving the country in droves. Do you know how many business owners that have JAPA? If business owners are ‘JAPAing’, what happens to the staff? It’s because they are frustrated. Not everybody has our energy. So, let the dollar drop and create the right environment that will enable privte businesses to thrive, those two are my own greatest pain right now. Do those two and we will start seeing improvements.
Final words, madam, what should we expect from Revolutionplus now that 2024 is just around the corner?
Revolutionplus is coming out with a bang in 2024 and its called the New Revolution. We will be ten years old next year so we are totally rebranding. We have done affordable housing for a decade in Nigeria and we are going to showcase the things we have done and what to expect in the next ten years. We know that considering some things, there are some things that are not sustainable anymore. For instance, affordable housing, how affordable can affordable housing work in Nigeria of today? And that’s the truth because where do you get land of N1million again in Nigeria. So, if you say you’re going to do affordable housing, are you not going to deceive yourself, because how affordable is the affordable? So, yes, we are still going to do our affordablle next year and then we will see how we can navigate. But in that New Revolution, a lot of things will change because of the reality that’s on ground. We are still working with the mindset that the company was founded to make house oiwnership easy for people. So, we still have that mindset but some things will no longer apply in that New Revolution, so they should watch out for the New Revolution from Revolutionplus in the coming year.
