By CHARLES  KUMOLU

Dr. Kennedy Okonkwo is one of the leading property entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Okonkwo is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Nedcomoaks. He tells us his remarkable rise to the top in this interview.

WHAT will you consider your greatest achievement in life?

It depends on how you see achievements. I have had many great achievements in life. Some, some people may consider great and some they may not consider great. I think one of the most important achievements I have in life is having a family I can call my own. Aside having that, I also enjoy building a young and formidable team – bringing together people with diverse religion, cultural background, ethnicity and educational background comprising all young people. I am happy seeing them succeed and doing what they are doing in life.

Dr. Kennedy Okonkwo

From the look at your office statement plaque, how would you describe your family life and what are those things you never talk anyone as you are growing up in life.

Growing up was not rosy though, I am married to a lady called Uchechukwu which is my friend, confident and my partner who has helped compliment me in what I have been in life. They say – behind every successful man, there is a woman.  But I would also want to add that behind every successful man, there’s a woman who stands like a pillar. When she is not supporting, she is busy praying for you. That’s the kind of woman I married. I enjoy spending time with my family.

I lost my father at an early age, like I keep telling people, it has shaped my life because I grew up knowing full well that there’s nobody who can wake up and say your dad didn’t do this or that for you because I wake to realise that there’s certain responsibilities that I thought my dad was suppose to do and the man was gone.

So I was left in the waters. The most important thing I have come to learn in life is that God brings along so many people you will look up to as part of help in your life. It is left for you to recognize them and appreciate them. They may be generally not the people that will give you money but they may be people that will give you words of encouragement, advice and direct you when you have not asked. That’s what fathers do. So, I miss my dad.

What are the landmark experiences that contributed in making you what you are today?

One of the major turning points in my life is losing my dad. When I lost him, sooner I realise that I was close to my dad. My dad use to look at my home works. And my mum, a caterer runs a restaurant, you could imagine how many hours she has to look into my academics or contribute. My dad died in 1993, about 24 years ago and April 4 will make it 24 years I lost my dad. I was barely 16 years plus when I lost my dad and my mum was very busy but my dad will always want to know what you are doing in school. I can’t recall a day my mother came to my school, but my dad will always come and check what I was doing in school.

When I look at life today, it is in a reverse other. You will find out that mothers are the ones that go to school to check what the children are doing but In my own case, I have a dad who believes so much in academics that he wasn’t going to leave with anything, so that when he is gone, you fall back on.

He believes that what he can leave for you is providing the education which is will live with. My dad saw it that education is the only critical thing for survivability. Intuitively, his passion was looking at what we are doing in school. He uses to say that this is the only thing you can do for yourself.

He believes he can pay school fees and nobody will force you to read. Studying is the only thing you could do for yourself and like I said, the major turning point after I lost my dad was when my mum was kicked out our apartment, she and my siblings moved to her shop and lived there for a while before one pastor David came for a rescue by providing a temporary space at the Obafemi Awolowo Glass house where a boys quarter of the church was given to her to manage before anything else. These were before I could finish my school and I see it as a major turning point in my life.

Never too late to be happy?

So many and things that surround me and what I want to reflect that surrounds me to take as lessons is that I believe that when you wake up in the morning, you are responsible for your happiness. What you do is a function of where you want to be. So, if you wake in the morning and think that somebody has put you in the bad mood and end up been sad all day, then you are hurting yourself. To me, its never too late – when you wake up in the morning, that becomes your morning. I can’t waste my time doing things that are not necessary all day, then wake up in the evening to say that I have lose so much, then it will turn out the way you want it to be. If you didn’t get the opportunity of going to school very early in life and then decides to make it up with evening classes, that’s your success story.

What would you consider as the happiest moment in your life?

Well, there are too many happy moments in life. The notable ones are when I got married to my wife. When I graduated from the university, I can also recall when I had my first daughter. With every one of my kids, they bring a happy moment. Even with my last son. So the happy moments are endless and to large extents, I still look on for more happy moments.

And what are the regretting moments having had what you can call an endless happy moment. Perhaps, all moments cannot be good all time.

I would say this; I rarely do have regrets because when things happen, I think of new ideas. I have learnt not to probe over issues for long time. But at times, when I look at life, because I studied psychology in school and right now I am doing construction and I have an MBA in marketing, I would have queried why I should spend time to study the psychology instead of studying the real thing I am doing now.

Role model in the industry

My role model in the industry is Yomi Idowu who is the owner of Welcome industry. I admire his humble demeanor. He is too humble to a fault. He has built a reputable company. It is one thing to be in business and it is another thing to have a reputable name. When I look at my company, I always believe I can always reach out to him. That’s in the industry, apart from him, another person I look up to as a mentor is Chief Sylvester Okonkwo. He saw me through school. He has a great giving habit and about the time I said he saw me through school, he was training about 14 students under scholarship in the 90s. he is somebody that could give all he has to make other people happy. He is not all that rich in a sense, but he gives out with all his heart.

How did you get to your peak?

We have done lots of project along the side of our growing up in the industry, but I will say one of the great one that announced us out is the Victoria Crest Project. It is a brand because we wanted to get out of the middle class. We didn’t just want to get house for them but what we tagged as ‘affordable luxury’. It is not just to own a house but people have a taste of how they want to live.

When we talk about Victoria Crest, we talk ‘believe your dream’. The project marked the turning point for us in the industry, because we built nearly 168 units at one plot and to God be the glory, that project is already delivered. Subscribers are already living there and facilities are top class, with quality infrastructure and water. In addition to that, we have children’s play ground for kids.

Quality infrastructure

Before Victoria Crest, we go to the street, buy land and build ten houses or more and at one point we are building numerous houses. After Victoria Crest 1 and 2, now we have flagged off Victoria Crest 3 with 93 units and we are anticipating that subscribers will have the keys to their apartments from October this year. One unique thing about Victoria crest is that we started the project when many developers are doing carcass homes.

For us, we feel there is no need to do a house and leave it to some unqualified people to get into the project for finishing that might be shoddy in nature and will not depict or represents the affordable luxury we want to give or promised. We decided to go all the way out and build to finish and that makes Victoria Crest to stand out. It is been sustainable because we have done the first set, second and on the third set now. And it is our hope that between now and end of the year, we should be able to start the next Victoria crest.

Lessons you have learned in the industry and what people should learn from you as well

The lessons I have learnt in this industry is never to give up. Your dream may seem highly unrealistic at times but with God on your side and prayer to back it up.