•Dr. MABEL MAGBULU MONINA, MD/CEO, EAGLES Height
Dr. Mabel Magbulu Monina is an amazing woman. Spending just a few minutes with this accomplished woman, you will realise in no time that she is a fiercely focused personality who does not believe in the word ‘impossibility’. She never gives up on whatever she has set her mind on. Dr. Mabel is an incredibly resilient woman who knew what she wanted and was determined to succeed no matter the obstacles thrown her way. She is the MD/CEO of Eagles Height Properties and Investments Limited, a real estate compoany she built from the very scratch. Having been a former banker with no experience in real estate and property development, this tenacious woman has taken Eagles Height to an unprecedented height in less than five years, with many magnificent estates spread across Lagos and beyond. Indeed, this very brilliant woman has done very well for herself and for her real estate firm.
Few weeks ago, at the recently held City People Real Estate Awards, Eagles Height was honoured and celebrated at the event. It was an ecstatic Dr. Mabel Magbulu Monina, the dynamic CEO of the company that spoke with City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) and shared with us the story of her extremely humble beginning in the real estate buiness and Eagles Height inspiring success story.
We are delighted to be speaking with you ma. First let’s have your full names
My names is Dr. Mabel Magbulu Monina, I’m the MD/CEO Eagles Height Properties and Investments Limited.
Tell us, how has the journey been so far for Eagles Height?
Alright, Eagles Heights was established about five years ago. Though, personally, I have been in the Real estate business for about eight years now but Eagles Height was established about five years ago. I must admit that the journey has not been rosy all through but I can also gladly say that the journey has been good. We have had our own tough moments but we thank God we surmounted every tough moment and today, Eagles Height is standing tall.
Speaking to you now, I am thinking, a female competing in a male dominated sector, how challenging has that been for you?
Well, I actually believe that what a man can do a woman can do it even much better than the man. I strongly believe, and I say this without bias, that women are stronger than men because we can actually multi-task. We have the ability to do different things at the same time and excel in each of those tasks. For instance, I don’t only run Eagles Height, I have other companies I run as well. I am a pastor, a wife and a mother, coupled with running these businesses. So, you can see what I mean by women actually being better at handling different things at the same time. It’s just like doing a job you get paid for. I was working in a bank before. When you resume work in the morning, you do your job from morning till evening, whether it’s male or female, it’s still the same brain we have to use. So, once you develop yourself, I don’t think there is anything one cannot do.
Which of the banks did you work with?
I worked with Finland bank.
So, what was the attraction for you to go into real estate?
Okay, when I was actually working in the bank, I was earning between N67,000 to N87,000. And I was staying at Ikotun as at that time and my branch was at Awolowo Road, Ikoyi. When I gave birth, I had to stop because the stress was really too much. Every day, I had to wake up by 4am in the morning and hit the road. So, later on, when I gave birth, I wasn’t working again. I was just trying to offer some little consulting services to people. One day, somebody called me and introduced me to real estate and said I should attend their seminar, it was a training seminar to market real estate. And I joined them. The guy told me that all you need is that we add you to the Whatsapp group, we will be sending out information, just be doing whatever you have been asked to do and that’s all. So, I started posting whatever they send to me on social media. Exactly two weeks after I started, somebody called me and said, “I saw your post, and I have been following all that you have been posting all this while. Yesterday night, my wife and I agreed that we should deal and I noticed that the promo you guys are running ends today, (which was that Monday that he was calling me) so how do we go about it?” At that time, I didn’t know that much about the business so I called the guy that introduced me and said to him, “boss, how do I handle this one o?’ And he said, don’t worry, first, ask him to make some deposit.’ I called the man and said my Oga said you should make some deposit if you want us to keep the land for you till Thursday that you plan to pay. He said, okay, send me the account number. It was like a dream. I called again and they forwarded the account number of the company to me. Shortly after, the guy called me that he has paid three million naira, I was shocked. To cut the long story short, the guy bought the land and my commission was N640,000. So, if you now calculate my salary and how much I spent going to the office and compare it to what I just made, you can then understand how shocked I was. I didn’t even leave my house to make the money. The guy was in Abuja, he didn’t even come down to Lagos. So, when they paid me my first commission, I said, ‘we die here!’ So, that was basically what motivated me and from that moment, there has been no looking back for me.
That’s such an inspiring story. So, how was it starting your own company, more so when you have had no prior experience running an organization on your own?
That’s why I always tell people, whatever you determine within you that you want you do, you will do. When I was marketing for that company, I later discovered that most of the promises the company was giving to us to offer our clients they don’t deliver after selling. Being a Chartered Marketer, its wrong and I also know that people were buying because they love me and trust me. I was really making money. But at a time, I was no longer comfortable with all the fake promises, so I started thinking, how do I go about it for me to be in total control, so that when I tell my clients A, it is A, not that I promise them A and tomorrow I give them B. I think that was what motivated me. God directed my steps and I was able to start. And from that small level that we started, we are large today by the grace of God.
Tell us, what inspired the name, Eagles Height? How did you come about it?
The name was given to me by the Holy Spirit. It was an inspiration from the Holy Spirit. And when I got the name, I was like would such a simple name be available for registration, or maybe I difdn’t hear well? But on a second thought, I decided to search the name at CAC. And to my surprise, no one had registered the name. I was surprised when it was approved without query.
Take us through some of your estates, please..
Okay, thank you. In Lagos, our first estate is Eagle’s Court at Shiriwon, Igbekodo, Ibeju-Lekki, just adjacent Dangote Jetty. Then, we have our Eagle’s Park at Sapati. We also have our Eagle’s Palms immediately after La Cmpaigne Tropicana. Then, we have Eagle’s Ville Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 also in Ashagun, Ibeju-Lekki. We have our Eagle’s Cottage, then, we have Eagle’s Springs and Chesterfield Court at Ajah. Then in Delta State where we have two offices, that’s in Asaba and Sapele, we have Jasmine Court in Sapele and in Asaba we have Eagle’s Gardens Estate, Paragon Estate and Century Estate.
Impressive I must say, that you have been able to achieve all of these in just five years…
Yes, we will be five years old in May 2nd next year. I will invite you to our anniversary.
Will be looking forward to it. That’s really incredible progress you have made within such a short while. How do you feel when you look back and see all you have accompl8shed in less than five year?
I really thank God because, honestly, I have always craved for success, not just to make money for myself but to see other people making money as well. Our company has given at least a minimum of five cars to different realtors who never knew they could achieve this. So, through us, they have been able to live a comfortable life and acquired their own personal cars as well through their own hard work. Whenever we pay commission, especially to the first timers, I’m always so proud to see them happy because we are also making other people to be a blessing unto others.
What should we expect from Eagles Height in another five years?
Eagles Height will be going into full development of affordable housing because that is our target. We want to build affordable houses in serene environment.
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