 The real estate market in Nigeria has been growing at an exponential rate. In the year 2017, the Nigerian economy grew by 3.2%, which was far higher than the average 2% growth rate of other African countries. But this is expected to continue over the next 10 years, as well with projections showing that Nigeria will be among the top 10 economies by 2030. How possible is that? While these growths can be attributed to many factors such as real estate development across the country, innovations and increased demand for housing due to population growth among others. But one thing remains shocking. There are more people looking at buying homes or landed property than ever before, therefore causing the prices of properties to continue to rise exponentially as well. We will be looking at the ways the real estate market will change in 2023 and the opportunities dare of. Welcome to Business Insight and Plus TV Africa. I am Justin Acadone. Welcome back. To tackle the spate of youth unemployment, a group Enterprise Growth and Opportunities, EGO Foundation has trained university students on requisite skills that need to be employable. Rising from its project works skills at the University of Lagos, the organizer Tuluwashi Olamian says the program will prepare participants for the world of entrepreneurship. Details in this report. Nigerian higher educational institutions equate graduate with hard skills while neglecting the development of employability skills which are core for the transition into the labor market as well as for workplace productivity. The lack of these skills in the profile of graduates keeps them in the pool of the unemployed, no matter the degree of certification. You go into the reality of the market. You can't just keep calling numbers. These students of the University of Lagos have converged on this whole to get well equipped. Tuluwashi Olamian is a convener of this work skill project. He speaks more on the essence alongside others. Work skill is a project that tends to bridge the gap, the labor market and the academic space. Long young people lack the ability, basic ability, basic knowledge on what the industry or what the market wants. We then set up work skill to be able to help bridge that gap and help create an enabling environment for people to transition easily into the work space. In a changing world, we really do not need to come to a university environment and start talking to them about how to get jobs. That will interpret to be that universities are being proposed to produce people to work. And if you look at the Nigeria economy currently, we have 53.4% of you that are unemployed and out of that number, 34% have got advanced degree. That is a minimum of bachelor's degree. That means something is wrong. Another way to address the challenge of employability skill in these graduate employment is to incorporate the learning of these skills in the curriculum of higher education. The excited students are enlightened on several sessions, including problem solving and critical thinking. One thing employers want. We need to introduce more entrepreneurship classes, more employability classes into the curriculum. Because a lot of times, you know, they don't even know the business aspect of what it is they are studying. Maybe on to final year and then you start rushing it up. And that is really important because if you are studying something and you can monetize it or you can make a living out of it, then I think the aim has been defeated. The ability of employees to actually solve problems in organization is of great importance and great need. And many employers of labor, we agree that sometimes it's culturally becoming a scarce commodity. I think it has also helped me to shape the mentality that I shouldn't just keep my ideas to myself. I need to share it to people that can help me. Yes, actualize it. I will try because innovation is what changes everything. So I will try to innovate if I can innovate and people see what I have and they see what I can do. I think I will be employed. The unemployment trend among youth in Nigeria is tumbling and the trajectory is not likely to change soon unless a drastic and holistic approach is adopted. My guest is Simon Adoze of Adozelean Homes. He is a highly skilled real estate investment coach, trainer, investor and a marketing and sales strategist. He is passionate about making every Nigerian a home owner without stress and employing the best possible flexible payment option available. Simon is known in the real estate industry for his integrity and excellence in service delivery. He has over the years earned reputation of being someone in whom his clientele can put their trust on because of his customer oriented approach to business and superb service delivery. My thanks for joining us Simon on Business Insight on PLOS TV Africa. It is a pleasure. Let's start this way. 2023, the first quarter just went by. This is the start of the second quarter. So how would you say, let's start with the first quarter, how did it really do in Nigeria? Considering the fact that we had elections and issues before the election after the election, how did the first quarter thrive in the real estate business? Just like every other sector, the real estate sector had its own downs. Let me use that word because tension was high. Investors were not willing to drop money. Everybody wanted to be liquid. You know, cash crunch, everything affected the real estate industry. The cash crunch was a big challenge because you pay people their daily wages and you don't have cash to pay them their daily wages. So everything was on the low, I must tell you. That's what happened in the first quarter. But just after the election, things are beginning to peak up and we're grateful for that. Okay, so fine. Let's slide onto Q2 2023. The elections are over and there are prospects for this year. So let's just try to extrapolate and see how the year 2023 would be for the real estate sector. Do you see great opportunities? Do you see a boom? How exactly do you think the rest of the quarters would actually be like? Real estate is one thing. Housing demand is on the high. So what we expect or what we project in 2023 is that some new owners are going to come into the industry, which is making the market more, expanding the market more. The economy of Lagos on its own, as long as it is growing, the real estate demand is also going to be growing. So we are envisaging that the real estate market would actually grow. There are a lot of investors that are now willing to come in because if you have stability in government, you will have more foreign direct investment than you have more people. People are prosperous. Shelter is a basic necessity of life, so they would naturally or literally go for it. So good projection for the rest of the year. Okay, experts are saying that in Lagos, between 2021 to 2023, there are supposed to be like 50% in sales of commercial and residential real estate in this state. How true is that? Yeah, because every day in Lagos, you see people trooping in. Now, because Lagos is a more secured and more stable economy, so you expect that people would literally migrate into this urban lifestyle. So people migrate to Lagos on a daily basis, so the demand for accommodation is going high. Now for commercial properties, because people actually don't just want to live in their houses for 24 hours. They need to go, they need to work somewhere, they need to have fun somewhere, they need to unwind and do all that. So it is actually increasing the cost of commercial property. And when people are prosperous, they start businesses. So it has given a 50% increase on commercial and residential properties since Lagos has a stable economy, I just keep using that word. Okay, Lagos economy is stable. And last year, the Lagos State Government talked about its economic outlook for the next 30 years with the prospect of an international airport at the Lakey Zone, and of course the fourth mainland bridge and all of that. So what are the opportunities there of when all of these projects are coming forward? Okay, I'll give you a practical example. Before the signed off on the international airport, the fourth mainland bridge, a plot of land around that area was selling for way below 5 millionaires. But as we speak, it's going for between 25 to 35 to 40 millionaires. That's what... That's over 500%? That's over 500%. That's how to bring economic gain to the people. So that's why most times, you see, if you want to advise someone to invest in real estate, you say, invest when nobody's going there, because when they start coming there, they're already there ripping the fruit. In short, if you are the one welcoming people to that place, you become the landlord of that certain area. So that's what we have advised people. I've been in real estate for over nine years now, and I've been doing that advice. Hey, come and buy this area, because we envisaged that proper economic planning had been done for Lagos State, looking at the Lagos State Master Plan. And we know that something good, something huge like this, is going to come here. And I want to commend the effort of the government for seeing it true, because that is another thing. It is good to promise, and you need a government that is courageous enough to now see the plan true. That is what this administration has been able to do. And they have brought wealth to people that are actually invested in that part of town. So that is what the Fort Mellon Bridge and the International Airport have done to people that own property there. And they are also moving a lot of people to getting commercial and residential properties over those places. Let's talk about residential properties or maybe just rentals and everything, because it seems to be skyrocketing by the day, because a lot of people tell me that they are looking for just maybe a small apartment, and it goes as much as the least they could get is about over 600, depends on the location in Lagos. So what could be attributed for the rising cost of rented apartments? So I mean, I'm on the field. So I literally understand what you're talking about. So I have a project in Ekbe, which I had to now get accommodation for my staffs, and it would be surprising to know that the two-bedroom flat in Ekbe, that it's just average, we got it for 700,000, for the two-bedroom flat in Ekbe, Lagos State. So this is it. When I try to talk to the landlord and say, why is this expensive? The landlord asks me, is bag of cement, bag of cement is even more expensive in Ekbe than it is in main Lagos, because it might give you up to a 100 or 200-hour difference because they'll tell you it's cost of transportation. So everything in the economy is connected. So it is not even about location right now. It's about everybody is buying beauty material at an expensive rate. Now, and you do not expect me not to get at least between 8% to 10% of the value of my house, per annum. Yeah, that's how it's calculated. For me to know that I have done a good real estate investment, so if I buy a house for 60 million, I should be able to rent it out for at least 4 million, if not 6 million. You understand? So that's basic mathematics. Cost of beauty materials are increasing, rent most definitely would increase. Cost of land is increasing too. Rent most definitely would increase. So that's how it works in the economics of things. So it is not until government steps in with a form of regulation, but before government can regulate, they will have to regulate what the cost of beauty material is. But hey, as long as the people are prosperous, I don't think paying rent is the issue. It's me getting where to put in my time and energy, work, get that money to pay my rent. So everybody in the economy prosperous. That's how to build an economy. Okay, so let's talk about affordable houses in Nigeria because over time different administrations have come and they talk about building houses that will cater to the needs of those who don't really earn well. By the end of the day, these people cannot even afford them over time. But back in the day, there were mortgage banks and mortgage financing, and people actually had their own houses. But it has taken a back seat. In the country, there's no one talks about mortgage financing, even when you tell people about mortgage, they seem to get discouraged when they talk about the cost of it and everything. So why can't we look in that direction, maybe fronting or founding mortgage banks in the country so that people can actually apply as long as they meet the conditions they can actually own their own houses and pay over time? It's interesting to know that real estate as itself or providing housing is actually a product of the bank. That's where it started. The bank actually brought out this product called housing or real estate to cater to individuals that work while they are working. They take a certain percentage of their money for a long period of time and everybody is good. So that's how real estate actually is. Real estate is a banking product. But we do not operate it like that here. I'll put it this way. So I as a real estate developer, I'm supposed to be a contractor to the banks, which means if I have a project, I'm supposed to get funding from the banks, put that project in place. The bank goes to sell to clients that project and the bank arranges with them to say, okay, pay within 12, within 13 years, within 14 years as long as they have done due diligence on them and all that. I do not even have a business as a real estate construction person or as a real estate developer dealing with clients. I'm supposed to deal directly with banks and focus on pure construction. But that's not how we do it here. So I'm the one chasing my market. I'm the one funding myself. I'm the one looking for money. I'm the one doing literally everything for myself. So it makes housing expensive. It makes the end product expensive. But how it works in other crimes is that I want a house. I look for an initial deposit. I approach a bank. The bank gives me this house and says, okay, you pay within 15 years. That's how it's supposed to work. You, as someone employed, you are not supposed to worry yourself too much about how you can save up to 60 million to buy a house. You do not have a business with that kind of amount. What you just need is, okay, I have saved up or I have done business and I have saved up 6 million as an initial deposit, 10%. And the bank gives you a house. So everything, they put it in a mortgage plan. So you are like paying the bank rent for a period of time. That's how a financial institution is supposed to work. So I was talking to my friends and I said, real estate is purely a financial product. Not even... So we are focusing on construction. No, no, no. We do pure finance in real estate. So we have products at my company. We give people up to 18 months to spread payment if they are subscribing to a unit. But I literally do not have a business doing that. Just because we are not doing the right thing we are just putting them square holes. Exactly. Square holes are not working. All right. If it is still business insight and plus TV Africa, we still have a sign on a doze. With us we take a quick break and there are more to expect when we return to join us again. Welcome back to business insight and plus TV Africa as we look at the opportunities in real estate and how we can make them housing better in Lagos and Nigeria in general. My guest is Simon Adosi. Simon, there's been this talk about smart homes and lots of Nigerians are really trying to appreciate it. Can you really explain it to us and if it's something that can be affordable by a regular white collar worker? So let me start from this stage when any country that does not embrace technology would soon be obsolete. So we use smartphones. We use smart devices. Why can't our houses be smart? It's over. And it's just a subject of putting smart devices in the house that as I'm here that will make life convenient for me and for anyone that decides to buy into it. I want to be here just stepping out of my office and no one is at home. I want to be able to come from my device and I'm able to switch on my conditioners because I don't want to get sweaty when I enter the house. I should be able to control my space and say light goes off and it goes off, cutting parts. Those are the kind of things that come with smart houses but is it cheap? Is it affordable? For now, no. Because those things we are still struggling with we are still struggling with internet spread we are still struggling with how to use smart devices that's the educational part of it and all that. So smart devices, all our houses are the one I developed they are semi-smart. Semi-smart is that you can operate basic facilities from the comfort of your office anywhere but they come as a luxury part of the real estate development but we will get there, absolutely because we would embrace this technology and we will get there. Aside from the issue of mortgage and technology and all of that what are some other critical areas that need to be addressed so that we can reposition the housing and real estate sector? We need to define our urban spaces we need to open up more urban places so that the concentration won't be in a certain city called Lagos or won't be in a certain location called Ajah or won't be in a certain location called Leki or something like that that is when you gather people in a lot of place there's a lot of competition and listen, Nigeria is blessed with a vast amount of land so create cities out of the cities create cities that are a bit far from the cities I want to walk, live and play somewhere else I do not even want the noise and everything that comes with the legal stress so live me in a place, develop a place as a city but you even need to develop a city give us good roads, give us access to good electricity and I think we are done we would literally do the whole thing about ourselves so open up new places for people to be able to go open up Badagri, there's a train there's a blue line that runs there now so it's easy for me to commute so open up Badagri, open up Ikorodu open up new places so you can be able to that's the problem urbanization is the problem everybody wants to live in Leki so what you are saying is that as Lagos is also going on states like Kebe, Adamawa should also be moving in that direction so it should not be too concentrated in one sport straight up now, Ogun State, Abiyokuta, Ibadan they are benefiting from this already but they are close to Lagos yes, they are plugging into the master plan what's Lagos master plan? let's do the same, let's replicate you can replicate this all over the country and I don't need to live in Lagos before I can earn a decent living people just feel that Lagos people in Lagos, they pay them higher than they pay them in those states so everybody wants to move to Lagos I mean, you want to move to where they pay you higher so that's one thing we need to address urbanization, openness let's develop at a good level but still talking about this urbanization is it just the role of the government that is needed or what about the place of private public partnership? so private partnership works when government provides infrastructure like ports so if the port is concentrated only in Lagos I can't locate my business headquarters in those states because that would be extra cost moving from Lagos to Lagos but if I have a truck if I have a port in Worry it's just an hour instead of coming to Lagos that is about 5 hours to get to be there so those are the things for urbanization government needs to provide the basic infrastructure and most of these infrastructures they are mostly in the hands of the federal government they are in the exclusive list provide ports, provide good cargo airports provide this provider but that is changing right now distribution and generation it has actually been devolved so that state government can actually generate and distribute yes but there are no controls that's a topic for another day as we round off now Simon let's talk about people who would actually want to be home owners but they feel that because of what they do it could be like a Herculean tasker to get that done they are looking at what they earn but is it possible for the average Nigerian to be a home owner and if it is possible how can he go about that in closing good so my people will say who doesn't ask a question that gets missing if you do not ask questions you always get lost so there are ways that people have been able to own homes without doling out 50, 60 million at once so you can do some form of initial deposit now people actually want to start from owning a house in probably Central Leci which is way above your league so look for where there are houses that are I know some bungalows that still sell for between 25 to 30 million and you can pay that within 18 months you can have 18 months spread that's if you want to buy a house outrightly some people will start from buying plot of land so plot of land ranges from 2.5 million and you do not even have to pay once so it is when you ask questions when you ask the expert that you now know the step by step measures that you can get to own ownership for all that the zillion home which I represent we have certain landed properties that people can invest in within 12 to 18 months you know before was that taking part oh Simon we must say a very big thank you to you for all of the useful insight that you have shared and to know that actually these things are possible it's just like you said asking the right questions getting knowledge and before you know it with proper planning you can actually be a landlord of your own alright thank you so much Simon Adozi of Adozi Leone Homes and he is also a certified writer thanks for joining us thank you so much for having me I appreciate that alright that's the size of the show for this week I am Justin let's do it again next time bye for now