Why Stakeholders Lose Confidence in the Profession- Adewoye
Mrs Abiola Adewoye is the Executive Director of Havilah Properties and Consultant, a company that deals with real estate agency, property management, property consultant and property development, situated in Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa and second-largest in Africa. In this interview with DEBORAH OMOARE, she speaks on how she handled challenges in the business including how she copes in the competitive atmosphere of the business in Ibadan
Deborah Omoare
How did you get into this business?
By the Grace of God, my husband had this vision for this business and at that time I was working with an insurance broker company. When he told me about the business, I was not willing to support it at that time but later he made me realise that God was leading him to the business, so I had to support him.
What were the challenges you saw when getting started?
There were a lot of issues faced when starting, it ranges from issues of transportation, we did not have vehicles that were transporting blocks to the customer's site. Later, God sorted it out and we got a truck. We also had issues with operators, those that are producing the blocks, because they are not permanent staff, they can decide not to come in a particular day without informing us. And at the beginning, we were like, how could people behave like this, not being consistent but later when we realized how many of them were there, we managed the situation and it's not a problem now and the workers we have presently are kind of stable.
What do you do at Havilah Properties and Consultant?
Havilah properties and consultant is a real estate business that deals with buying, selling, management, marketing and investing in land and properties.
What is your general view of real estate?
To me, real estate is a good investment that offers more profits. However, there should be adequate knowledge of what one is venturing into.
What are the challenges you have encountered so far?
We are faced with outrageous value placed on properties by the owner either sales or letting, we are often at the receiving end because we are middlemen. The prospect usually feels that the property manager placed too much value on a property whereas it's the owner that determines value. The property owner should endeavour to value their property before fixing the price.
Another challenge faced is some bad eggs who go about giving a bad image of the good property manager and thereby making stakeholders lose confidence in the profession. There should be a measure to curtail these excesses.
What do you do differently in the moist real estate space?
Marketing lands and properties at swampy areas are not usually the same as properties on plain land. Properties on plain land move faster than in swampy areas but then there are few prospects whose choice or specification are swampy areas.
Right now the business atmosphere is highly competitive in Ibadan, how do you cope?
Though the atmosphere is competitive, we found grace and we are excelling. Genuine is our priority and so far so good. We deal only with genuine businesses and that has made us enjoy referrals. God has been the main plug and our strength.
As a woman, how has it been working in this field, getting jobs and managing your workers?
Being a woman working amidst men has been tasking because, from the moment I decided to work in this field, I knew I must be ready to pay the price. On the other hand, my workers are God-sent. They are cooperative and supportive. In all God is the correct reason why we got good stories to tell.
