It is no longer news that Nigerian women have shown their readiness to take over formerly male-dominated areas in entrepreneurship. These two women prove that they are not only ready, they are very resilient and fully equipped.

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Ichechi Okonkwo is the CEO of Victoria Crest Homes in Lagos, a going concern for over a decade. Okonkwo, who was a banker, has been in the business for eight years.

“Actually, it was my husband who founded the company. After a while, I left my banking job to set up my own business and because I needed more challenges, I decided to take over one aspect of the real estate company which was sales and marketing and then I started building on it, developing myself. It wasn’t easy because the real estate sector is male-dominated. So when you go to a site to ask questions, to want to learn, they are like ‘who is this one, what is she looking for?’ It is a male thing, the energy is not welcoming but because I know what I want and I was determined, I made sure to seek that knowledge that will take me to the next level and that has been  my journey so far.”

According to Okonkwo, innovation is key with real estate being a capital- intensive business. To make things easy for the company and for the clients, they sell most of their projects “off plan,” saying with off plan sales, “the company is able to get money and that helps us at every stage of the projects.

“We are able to raise money for projects and because we have built integrity over time as an organisation, we can also capitalise on that and go to the financial institutions even though it is not easy or favourable.

“To a layman, off plan sales simply means selling before we actually start construction and we have a payment schedule so every month or every quarter, you pay a particular amount.

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“Those funds are then ploughed back into the project. “More than half the time, we have been able to build capital and so we also put in our own part of it to sustain the business.”

Apart from doing repayment plans to make it easy for private home owners to be able to purchase homes within their budget, her company also partners with mortgage banks to help them pay a certain amount.

For Okonkwo, the journey has not been without challenges.

“Forex fluctuates and we don’t really produce anything in Nigeria especially when it comes to finishing. What we have in Nigeria is basically sand and wood and all that. From tiles to bathroom, to POP to anything, we buy from abroad and so we have to deal with forex and that is what has taken it up a bit but normally, our focus is affordable housing and because of that, we are beginning to move down to Ajah where we can get cheaper land.”

Another factor is the cost of land. When you buy land at a high cost, and you get foreign contractors to build and you finish at an expensive rate, you can’t really sell below cost price.”

Ichechi opines that real estate is not the only male- dominated sector and advises women coming into the field to come grounded and know their onion, adding that “you can’t push around someone who is confident and informed.

“You can’t come to a male- dominated industry and you are not educated enough, so women need to educate themselves more, do more to develop ourselves, do more to build our confidence.

“If you develop yourself well, you can walk into any room and hold your shoulders high and talk to anyone. You don’t need anyone to boss you around because you actually know what you are doing and what you are talking about.”

Vanguard News Nigeria