Aare Adeleke Adebesin is the CEO of Kings Intercontinental Homes and Properties. The firm head office is on Awolowo Way, Ikeja-Lagos. He started the business 5 years ago, after his 21 years experience in Coca-Cola Bottling Company as an engineer, where he developed the love for real estate.
Presently, he has a lot of parcels of land all over Lagos and outside Lagos. In this interview with City People Movie Reporter, BIODUN ALAO, he talked about why he went into the business, the challenges, and how he has been able to take the business to the top within 5 years of its operation.
How long have you been in the business?
I have been in it for over 5 years now and we have been working so hard to be on top of our business, and God has been so faithful.
What is your educational background?
I had B.Sc in Engineering and before I went into real estate. I worked with Coca-Cola Bottling Company for 21 years. I also had my Master’s in Engineering from John Bosco University in England.
What made you go into real estate?
As an Engineer in Coca-Cola, I was in-charge of facilities. I was saddled with so much responsibility. We developed properties for people and that was where my interest in real estate developed. While I was with Coca-Cola, the urge kept growing. So, when I left Coca-Cola, I went into real estate.
How do you sell to people in diaspora and how do they pay?
We have lots of properties for people in diaspora who are interested, precisely people in America, UK, Canada and other Europian countries. We have roled out number of programmes in their interest. At every of our sites, we to dedicate 50 acres for people in diaspora. We are also bringing in their street names, where they reside over there. Take for example, if you stay in Darlington abroad, they can come and buy property in Darlington Street in Nigeria. Also, if you want to name any street in your honour, we will do that, all you need is to let us know what you want.
What is their payment plan like?
It is still the same procedure; full payment or spread scheme over 6 months or a year. The only challenge is that people in diaspora are payed weekly, unlike what is obtainable in Nigeria, which is monthly. So, they are finding it a bit difficult to meet up. That is why I have introduced suitable scheme that will suit them. They can pay every week they have money into the account. Subsequently, the weekly payment is make up the scheduled monthly pay.
What are the challenges you have faced so far?
Hmm! In the last 5 years, the business has been so wonderful. The patronage was very high, but the last 3 years has been so tough; the situation of the economy is not helping matters. People hardly feed not to, talk of buying lands, but our target now has shifted from individuals to investors, we have investors on board with us, they own their land through us.
Are you in partnership with anybody?
Yes, we are in partnership with Lagos State Government, especially in the area of sand-filling. We also have architects working with us.
In the last one year, what have you been doing?
We have been acquiring and selling land. We have also been building houses as well all over Lagos and outside Lagos.
Which areas in Lagos do you have property?
Kings Intercontinental Homes and Property have its corperate office in Ikeja, Awolowo Way. We have lots of properties in Lagos; we have in Lekki, Ibeju Lekki, Agric Ikorodu. We have over 8,000 acres in Ikorodu, and over 2,000 acres at Satellite Town, and also at Navy Town.
What does it require to get a property from your company?
Simply come to our office at Awolowo Way, Ikeja, pick a form, fill it and signify the area you want; the type of property you desire to acquire.
What are the prices of your property?
The prices are very affordable. Presently we have promo running, and there is 25 percent discount on properties ranging from 15 million, 12 million, 8 and 6 million respectively. We have full time payment or spread scheme of over 6 months and a year. It all depends on what our customer wants.
Do you only build houses and sell to people?
What makes us different from other real estate players is that, we have estate within estates. What I mean is that, within our estates, we also sell land to people to build whatever they desire or wish to build. We also have exclusive ones that are prototype and that is how we run our estates.
What makes Kings Intercontinental Homes stands out among others?
Yes, that is a very good question. What makes us unique from others is that we are very real. We are sincere. We don’t deceive people. Without mincing words, our pieces of land are certified. We don’t own any land without government’s consent. So, if you are buying from us, you can have your peace of mind that nothing will go wrong. We have plots of land in Ibadan, Abeokuta, Agbara. What also makes us different is that, we also have farm settlement.
You know the economy seems to be looking towards that way now, so we equally want to partner with the government to encourage farming. We have over 1,000 acres for farmers alone, livestock and the rest. If you are going into farming, you will buy from 5 acres. Also, if you are going into livestock, you can buy one acre.
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