Enigmatic, charismatic and pragmatic, Dideolu Falobi is the current Managing Director of Kresta Laurel Limited, the first ever indigenous elevator and cranes company in Nigeria.
Kresta Laurel has taken giant strides in the real estate and construction industry in the country. It is the first Nigerian Engineering & Elevator Organisation that has duly met the criteria of International Standard Organisation and it has been certified accordingly.
Unknown to many, Kresta Laurel not only specialises in elevators and cranes, it deals in generators, electrical appliances and power systems and it has been proved to be a credible operator in all of these areas.
A few days ago, Engineer Dideolu Falobi granted City People’s Reporter, FEMI FABUNMI, an exclusive interview and he spoke extensively on the operations of Kresta Laurel and its quest to put Nigeria on the world map by producing first home-made elevator and crane in the country. Enjoy it.
Please introduce yourself?
My names are Engineer Dideolu Falobi. I am the Managing Director of Kresta Laurel Limited.
Your company, Kresta Laurel, has been honored with special recognition awards at the City People Real Estate Awards. How does that make you feel?
We are very grateful to God. Who has made this day a reality. We are grateful to our clients for their patronage, also we are, indeed, appreciative of City People that has recognised our modest contribution to the development of elevator and crane in the construction industry in Nigeria.
Can you categorize what Kresta Laurel contribute to real estate industry?
Of course, that is quite obvious, you cannot separate elevators and cranes from Construction. The law in Nigeria states that any high rise building, i.e. any building above 4 floors should have an Elevator, by virtue of this, I can authoritatively tell you that Kresta Laurel is also part of the real estate industry. You should also have this in mind that we are engineers and the core part of construction is engineering.
Tell us what Kresta Laurel is into?
It is an indigenous Engineering Company, it started operations in 1990. It was established by the former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. He was the first Managing Director, he only left that position when he emerged Governor of Ogun State.
Our areas of operations are elevators, cranes, generators and power systems and many electro- magnetic engineering equipment. We train many engineers and they are the ones who install our equipment in and outside Lagos.
Let me also categorically state that Kresta Laurel is the only International Standard Organisation (ISO)-Certified Engineering Company in Nigeria.
Our equipment, tools and services are of the (ISO) standards. We have rendered services to many companies in Nigeria. They include Shell, Total, UPS, NICON Hilton and many more.
What distinguishes Kresta Laurel from other elevator companies?
As I said before, we are the only elevator company to have met the (ISO) standards, bearing in mind that we are completely indigenous.
You said your company also deals in generators, UPS and power systems?
Yes, we specialise in all of these too and I can tell you that our services are second to none.
What did you do to tackle recession in Nigeria?
Anybody doing business in Nigeria would feel the impact of it. The recession is a general thing, but we tried our best to manage the situation very well. What we have done is to reduce its effect by cutting down cost of operation on our systems and improve efficiency. We also cut cost for the system, we try as much as possible to ensure that delivery from our personnel is high.
We have really deployed all necessary tactics and measures to see that Kresta Laurel remains in business whether there is recession or not.
Lagos is the home of skyscrapers, and high-rising buildings in this country, there are quite a few outside the state too, has Kresta Laurel delivered its services outside Lagos?
Oh! Sure, arguably, we are number one in Niger Delta, our presence has been felt in Port Harcourt and Calabar. We have supplied elevators to many shopping malls in those places. In Akwa Ibom State, we fixed the elevators at Ibom Tropicana Hotel. It is the tallest hotel in Ikot-Epenne. We also rendered our services in the Nest of Champion (Uyo Stadium), you will agree with me that it is one of the very best on the continent. We also delivered our services at the governor’s lodge too in that state. We have also installed elevators in 60% of CBN buildings nationwide. We have installed many elevators and cranes outside Lagos not forgeting the FCT also.
We installed elevators at CBN headquarters in Abuja, Silverbird Galleria and even in Julius Berger too.
What new ideas and innovations should Nigerians expect from Kresta Laurel?
They should expect continuous improvement in our services nationwide; increase number of local input in our elevators. We want to continue to deliver very well up till that very moment when we will produce the first Nigerian locally made elevator. We wouldn’t rest until that is achieved.
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