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Call him a CEO of distinction and you won’t be wrong. Call him a super CEO and you won’t be wrong either. Dr Muibi Kehinde Hammed is the Chairman / CEO of MKH Group, comprising MKH Investment Ltd, MKH Supermarket Ltd, MKH Production and Destiny Crest Building Engineering Ltd.

With a robust educational background, it should not surprise anyone that Hammed is a huge success in business. He started off with an OND in Mathematics and Statistics before moving on to obtain a BSc degree in Business Administration and an MSc in Project Management. To cap it all, the CEO of MKH Group has an honorary doctorate in Estate Management and Property Development from the European-American University, Republic of Panama.

With certifications in real Estate Development, Sales and Facility Management from prestigious institutions, he is a passionate, dedicated and value-driven professional in the Nigerian real estate sector. Hammed, in this interview, tells his grass to grace story.

How MKH Group came about?

I started my career as a construction site man in 2002. I was very young then. I love construction, building and aesthetics. Even when I was in school, when I lost my dad, that was what kept me going and enabled me to take care of my mum and siblings. I spent two years working in the bank. When I realized that that was not where I was going, I conducted some research about construction which showed that I could not start a construction company immediately. I did another research and discussed with a colleague who was into real estate, but not to a large extent, and we started it together in 2016 and ran the company together for two years. After that I decided that with the little things I had gathered, I had to establish my own company and that was what gave birth to Destiny Crest Building Engineering Limited. It is a construction company that presently handles all MKH’s property and constructions. We have also handled different projects across the country. The word ‘Destiny’ is my nickname and that was how I brought out that brand. In 2018, I decided to establish myself more in real estate and founded Mustard Fortune Global Investments Limited. I had some Directors. But in 2020 some of the Directors resigned while another relocated (from Nigeria). So, I decided to rebrand to MKH Investment Limited. MKH is the acronym of my name, Muibi Kehinde Hammed. That was what gave birth to the company in 2020. We started from zero naira, but, today, our assets are worth over N10 billion. We are involved in small and large scale real estate. We are also a bridge between investors and the general market in real estate. The experiences I garnered in my days as a sales representative gave me the leverage to have the capacity to negotiate and to represent my clients well when it gets to the general market. That made people believe me more and that is the speed that was added to MKH that makes people to think MKH has existed for 10 to 20 years.

Factors that contributed to MKH’s growth

One of the factors contributing to this is good decision making. I don’t make decisions alone. I have two teams of management; one has five members and the other six, totalling 11. Some decisions are taken by the 11 which is the general management. I have never for once taken any decision alone. I bring it to the table, and we brainstorm. We have a financial controller; any money spent without his approval and cannot be explained is removed from my salary. That is the discipline I try to put in place that helps us to spend less, and unnecessarily. Similarly, our business is very transparent. Every spending passes six approval stages, beginning from the head of the department to the financial controller, before N1 can be spent. We don’t spend anyhow. Again, top to bottom discipline is there. I resume and close work at the same time with everyone else. I am part of every team. I am involved in many aspects of the business. It might not be in everything but my 1% is there. I am aware of everything going on. That helps me to sit down with them to take the right decision. I see them as colleagues and not staff members. We do things together. In our meetings, different ideas always come. Anything you see us do is a collective decision. Furthermore, we see our realtors as our small gods. We ‘worship’ and see them as people who must be there for our business to continue. We ensure that the services and opportunities we provide for them cannot be obtained anywhere else. Our realtors are there, promoting us. We have different incentives for our stakeholders. For instance, we gave out four brand new cars last year. This year we have given out another four and will still give six out before the end of the year. We took over 20 of our realtors outside the country this year for vacation and to learn more and will be taking others to the UK before the year ends.

We organize staff retreats. We encourage them. We sanction them the same way we appreciate them. We also try to remove burdens on our staff so they can focus more on their jobs. For instance, we start paying 50 per cent of staff house rent after any staff members has spent 18 months with us, and also, as a staff member, once you get to a certain level, the company will buy a car for you. This is in addition to their daily food and air time allowances. Briefly, the company takes care of those little things that deplete salaries, so, they are always ready to offer their best.

 Aspects of real estate MKH handles

Real estate is very big, 90% of our activities are land acquisition. We acquire property and sell. Mostly, we buy from government due to the different experiences I have had. Even the ones we buy from ‘omo onile’, we rectify with the government and the ones we buy from government, we call the family and compensate them based on agreement reached. We don’t use force because I don’t believe in the use of force. One of the children or grand children from such families can become the state governor tomorrow and revoke the C of O. This will not happen if there is a smooth transition of ownership. I have read a lot of books and know that real estate does not require force but dialogue. And the moment money exchanges hands, everything becomes easy. We have won many cases in courts in a way that it was even family members that appeared as witnesses. In one of our properties in Ibadan, I gave the family an acre for their house. I didn’t demolish their family house. Rather, I renovated it so that their history will always be there. I am happy and they are happy too. Any time I enter there, they see me as one of their children.

MKH top-notch projects

The Wealthy Place is our top notch project for now because it is within the commercial hub. The price is N22.5m for 500 square meters and 1, 000 square meters is N45 Million but this price (N22.5m for 500 square meters) will be going to N30 million by September 1st, because of the kind of work we are putting on ground. Its road will be rigid which has a minimum of 30 years lifespan. The estate has five big entrances, 8m each from the expressway with every business facing each other. I have been to Eko Atlantic and seen how quality and wide their roads are as well as their connectivity and that is what we are doing at Wealthy Place, It is the biggest project owned by a private company. The C of O is in our name. It is guaranteed for the next 99 years, beginning from next year. The property is facing the Dangote Refinery Road and the Lagos State Investment Office. Its width is 300m and the length is almost 1km.

Challenges

I see challenges as opportunities because they build my strength more and help in moving me forward. I have never thought of being down for long. I always use problems as opportunities to move forward. However, the first challenge we have is from government. There is no direct access to government when applying for assets. You have to go through many hands, and, before you know it, you enter the wrong ones and any money that enters a wrong hand is gone. Again, as an expert in real estate, I know properties that can rise from N1m to N40m within one year. I know what to do to make that happen. What we need is funds; if government can factor that by giving room for private development, it will help our economy. Developers have ideas that can transform Lagos to one of the best cities in the world, but this cannot be done without the enabling environment, especially availability of funds.

Turning Point

The turning point of my life started with my thinking. I always believe that everything is possible and I have never thought of being poor, maybe it is because I have been making money as a teenager. I started my career as a laborer in a construction firm where I was paid N150 daily and gradually I began to earn N500. My lunch was N20 maximum. I was making a daily contribution of N40. I was on top of the world the first day I was paid N500. Today, we pay a laborer N4, 000 per day though the naira has also depreciated.

My turning point was when a client asked us to secure a property for a petrol station in Mowe, Ogun State. He paid us on a Friday and, on getting to the site on Monday, ‘omo oniles’ had destroyed all the things we brought to the site on Saturday. The client, a serving senator, came with force that I must return the money. He dragged me around. I assured him of getting his refund but requested that he gives us some time which he did. I asked myself a question, “Why should I be allowing my clients to be dealing directly with omo onile? Let me go and buy this property”. I went and bought two plots and gave them to the senator but he rejected them, saying he was no longer interested in that place. I went back to the man who sold the land and said to him, “If you have more, sell to me on credit”. The man accepted and gave us a year to pay up. That was how we started selling and remitting the money to him.

Like how many acres?

10 acres. One day, government sent us a letter, asking us to come and perfect our business at Alausa if we wanted to do business there or leave within seven days. When we went, they gave us a bill of N800million. “Where can we see this kind of money?” I asked myself. But I told myself, “If I want, I can go for it”. So, we went and negotiated but asked for some time. I opened up to them on where we were and where we are going. I went and told the man the problem we were facing and asked for years to pay, so we could tackle government first and he agreed. We started talking to people that believed in us. Gradually, customers started coming and we kept pushing. At a point, we traded by barter and, within six months, everything changed. It was that land that gave birth to all MKH assets today. Today, we have 30 hectares  there.

Value Offerings

We build a very friendly environment and are easily accessed. We don’t discriminate and ensure the happiness of both our realtors and buyers in all our transactions. Our priority is our buyers because they are the ones keeping us in business. That’s why we have an upper hand that makes some of our colleagues wonder. I make my staff members to understand that my position in the company is an opportunity and as such not permanent.

Future Projections

MKH Investment presently has a group; super market, production and agro. We have acquired 500 acres of land for the agro project that we put on lease and we have engaged a company to run it starting from 2024. Our super markets have been built and will start operating next month. We will have branches in other businesses. This is part of the lessons we leant from the Covid-19 pandemic, we need something that will be bringing money every day. I don’t have any problem with our future because it is very bright. Our projection is N500billion worth of assets in Nigeria within the next five years, every other thing is within this projection. Every other thing comes under this our biggest dream.

Advice to upcoming professionals and young CEOs

I hate short cuts. Everybody should go through a process. There is a process to everything, don’t jump. Go through the normal process so that when you get there, you will know how to behave and manage resources. When you follow the process, you hardly make mistakes. Also, they should not take decisions alone. One or two people must always be involved on issues related to business. Someone should always be there to give you a second opinion.