 Maya yeah, I know you should be panting cuz I'm literally panting bro, bro this right here my guy This is the view like I mean literally you can see the whole Lagos I we don't even need to hire a chopper bro, and this project is done by an African That is the most interesting part bro an African Nice to see you sir. You're doing an amazing walk over here. I just feel like leaving here already. Thank you I'll tell you thank you so much for introducing him to me man I mean I have to answer all my questions. You definitely Hello guys, so global is a one-stop shop for all property transactions We've got the biggest partnerships with the biggest law firms brokers and developers all over Nigeria So if you're looking to invest in Nigeria buying real estate, which are to say so click the link below Hello, my name is Juliet. I work for Cecil Global and Cecil Global Marketplace is actually a one-stop shop for all property Transactions we help buyers assess very good properties and give them professional services It's actually we help you with the experience and if you're a property developer You want to target the diaspora market or things you should contact Cecil See you too. I mean I just want to know who you are My name is Wada Maya from Ghana, but hey What is the idea behind this building because it's hard to get here, but the view is worth it First of all Wada, do you actually have to introduce yourself because everybody knows you you have so many fans You're known around the world. I think my mom even called me. I think she even say how fast she wants to come meet you So after we leave here, we'll go to the village and we'll come and hang out with her. How's that? How's that for a pleasure? That would be fantastic. Cool. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Joe Orji. I'm one of the two partners of Brookstone One of the two people who were crazy enough to try to do something like this And we're part of a small company and we're very proud to be associated with that company and all the people in that company who have worked very hard to Create what is our fourth project, which is the Overlook Condominiums. What was the first ever project? The first ever project we started very small. We had four bedroom townhouses in Elegushi literally a couple units that we started about Five years ago. We finished those went to a mixed-use commercial flex office industrial project in Shangotedo by Ligas Business School third project, which is the largest project We were development managers on a very large development called Landmark Village I'm going to take you there to meet the owner by the way we talked about that Who is also my former boss? and And then so we completed the first couple phases of that and then this is our fourth endeavor the Overlook Bro, I want to say you're amazing, but you said it five years ago. Yeah, almost six now Almost six years now six years ago. What were you six years ago? We launched the business and we were you know doing small small things just literally doing a little bit of this a little bit of that And just to try to build up the business try to build up the portfolio try to build up revenue Try to build up a name. So When it just looked like things were taking off I Went to I went to my former boss Paul and by the way, you know, you know, I Went to him and I said listen You know, that's right and I are you know thinking about starting this firm And you know, we think we're at the right place to do it now and you know and We'd like to launch it and he gave us his his green light He gave us his backing his support Paul's actually the chairman of Brooks on that tells you to have a relationship we've We we have so that's one side of story You over here What's up my big brother? How are you? Good to see you Great to meet you, great to see you He's telling me that his story won't be complete if I don't meet Paul I need it when my story be complete And certainly this story won't be complete if Joe is not here Whoa, hey man Teamwork makes a dream work Well, Joe is ground zero so I mean I remember Because Joe how long was this night eight eight seven years ago when you know it was longer than that when you came to land Oh, no, yeah, that was like 2012 2012 so exactly nine years ago Joe walked into landmark says look he wants an internship So he comes in with his American accent comes in with a whole wealth And I look him in the eyes and I say he wants an internship so you know we pay him an intern's salary and he gets to work He spent he spent he probably spent it before he got into the office So Joe comes and says it wasn't internship But you know that's just something about about about this young man So when he came in and started working he had ideas one same wavelength and I thought to myself You know what we're gonna build a proper business here and Joe is gonna be a fundamental part of it And you know nine years later that was it so you give us a good five years all this stuff was on Joe's drawing board So it's a good five years. So if there were three words I would use for Joe I'd say he comes with passion bundles of passion bundles of passion, right Pursuit of excellence, you know excellence is his key words. Whatever he does. He chooses to do well. Yeah The last one is endurance, you know, they say they say The you know one of the major virtues of what of a soldier is not courage. It's endurance This is the ability to stay the cost and Joe was that so those three things, you know passion excellence and endurance that Combination is success. It means a journey, but we're getting there Delighted and and delighted for the right reasons because you know You always say that if you want to be successful make sure people around you are successful, right? And I knew that Joe will go on and do something that would that's that will basically say more about us than anything else Then we can say about ourselves. So when Joe said he wanted to leave, you know, I supported it and Joe tell you I sit on his board anyway, so So Joe hasn't actually left We're still in the same industry. We're more or less still the same company and and Joe's still the same guy Yeah So then I also went to my wife and I thought I said listen, baby, you know 18 I want to fully launch right now You know want to do this thing, you know Full time everything, you know quit and every time full thing and she looked at me and she said listen I didn't eat you out She said it's it. Yeah, you okay. She said listen. We have you know, we're playing for a family How are we gonna feed ourselves? You know, this is how we gonna do this, you know, you know, this and that I said, baby Just trust me. I know what I'm doing, you know, you know, I have this innate ability to try to plan this is a plan plan What what do you talk about? So so my wife she thought I was she thought I was I was insane So, you know, I often bring up that story to her when I'm trying to think about something and and we're with this She's a bit doubtful. She's um She's a she's a bit more cautious in her in her scrutiny of me, but I'm really glad that we took that that shot. Honestly, we we knew we knew We we knew 100% we had no doubt that we were gonna be successful because we just we just brought together kind of our knowledge We brought together our experience local international And we just we were we were we were ambitious and stupid enough that we can build something great So the major keyword here is risk. Yes, you got it. Listen, you got to take risk to get You grew up in Nigeria. I was born here. I was born in Port Arquette We left when we're all quite young. We're actually left in 1989 My entire family right so we went to move to the US move to Maryland And my entire family right so there's there's There's four of us and my my two parents and So we yes, so we left I was eight years old at the time we left and So my I think my parents actually just saw what was happening in the country and they just saw things were Where we're coming? debilitating a bit so they they took a chance again ticker risk and they were very fortunate We we were very fortunate because we got a lottery we won I think my parents applied in one lorry and then we left to the to the US so I schooled And worked I lived and worked there for about 24 years Interesting enough. I'm the only one of my siblings to have come back now Only one. Yeah, my brothers are still there So you talk about risk, right? So two things right so my my my younger brother my immediate younger brother It was actually a professional boxer. So he was ranked. I think Around number 15 in the world at some point. It was very good and he worked gosh. It was in the gym every day for about Five years to get to where he got to or six years get the way you got to And so he was you know almost at the peak of his Kind of his his class box it and my sister You may not know Well, a lot of people know her. She's she's a very talented actress named Yvonne and she's very famous She's she's arguably one of the most famous Black actresses right now around the world and she had a massive special on HBO and she's She's also shooting her fourth season right now insecure of her HBO. So yeah, that's what I say so So she so it's cool to kind of talk about those accomplishments for you know Whether it's my brother with my sister whether it's us, but we've all taken risks. She worked for about 10 years making next nothing and Hustling to try it's from one addition to another trying to get one gig to another and literally and You know when she was literally at her lowest when she wanted to quit when she thought that God was betraying her It finally just clicked and she she booked insecure And she's a massive brand the rest is history you know very and you know my brother had a very similar story and For us it was also similar right because when We took a risk when we started this project We try to conceptualize something that would be different from everything else right because there are a lot of apartment buildings Developments in Lagos, but we said what's different? What's gonna spark an interest what's gonna? create demand So we looked around at what we noticed because as I said I worked with institutional developers in in the US for for many years and I knew what they built back in the US and I also lived there for a long time and I lived in these US style apartments With other Nigerians and they liked those apartments but you didn't and a many of those Nigerians came back here and To Lagos and to Nigeria to live we didn't have a representation of those kind of apartments here in Nigeria, so we said listen, let's we took a chance to say let's let's do condos Which are American style? Apartments here in Nigeria and and my guess what? Everybody tells we're idiots They said They say it wasn't gonna work. It isn't is it is this America is this America is it is this or is it Asia? They said listen if you want to build America come to go back to America. It's not going to work. So we said Yeah, we hear you. Thank you, you know, mr. Man or madam, but we think differently. So we rolled the dice. We took a chance And now, you know, we'll be completed in a in hope in a couple months and We have five units left out of out of 30. So commercially it's a success. I just want to know yeah Let me understand in the first place why you decided to leave America and return to Nigeria because you're telling me that you had only one of your first siblings that return Yeah, why would you do that because I'm an idiot No, no, I mean I think it starts with my parents, you know My mom worked incredibly hard. She worked very hard to get the way she is my dad is a is a really Kind of traditional business person. So they we were growing up. We learned a lot from them so as a young man Seeing my dad, you know, get up in the morning grab his briefcase go out to work trying to get Jobs trying to get deals trying to get contracts see my mom work and my mom was a nurse So yeah, they can work, you know, 24 hours in a hospital Or work in different hospitals So, you know, so seeing growing up in that kind of environment. I said to myself, listen for us for all of us work ethic was something that was embedded in us and Honestly There are many things in life that you cannot control one of the things in life that you can control is your work ethic. So for me Whether successful or or failure one thing that is within my power is my work ethic So I knew that I can work. I knew that I could work hard So I wanted to take more risk to earn more. So coming out of school You know, I had that same mentality and I didn't want to kind I didn't want to do the same thing as everyone else The same 95 I wanted to take more risk to get more reward. So I worked for an investment sales company a real estate investment sales company in DC and And believe it or so I worked there for six years and Guess how much in salary I earned in that time That would be tough to guess because I was American Okay, I'll help you up. So over a six-year period. I earned zero dollars in salary Why? Because the company didn't pay salary. So it was a hundred percent commission fee-based business and You you ate what you killed so to speak So if you're very good and you work very hard you ate a lot if you're bad You were you were you were broke you didn't make anything and I remember starting it was difficult You know just like when you start any business. Yeah, it's it's very difficult and So I remember I haven't I didn't close any transactions. So My I remember I was down to my last 12 dollars in my Bank of America bank account I remember this thing that goes yesterday. I was in I was so at this point. I was still living At home in my parents house. So I was in my room that I grew up in In Maryland and I do the lights were off. It was downstairs I remember I was just on my sofa. I was just cuddled like a baby like my knees were around my chest I was holding my legs and I had you know, I had no idea what I was gonna do I didn't ask my parents for money. So they had no idea. I was in this shape They saw me going to work and come and go in and come every day. So, you know, they mean they asked me How's everything when I say it's fine? But you're gonna mean I was about to be penniless And but I never gave up. I never quit. I never You know asked Asked my parents for help except for the help. They're they're already giving me which is living in their own houses so I just kept at it and One thing led to another and I crazes I close this crazy deal. What it was I did I Structured is very interesting transaction where I I close the transaction. So I held the fee on the transaction I also held equity stakes on the entry in the exit of this transaction. It was a kind of a like a multi party Multi-trans fee structure for me and I did really well and and boom That's how the whole thing started and that was probably about 2005 ish they're about and That's when you moved to Nigeria. No, so so I so I I worked in that job for about six years or so I went to Georgetown for business school and But between Working and business school there was the financial crisis and We all know about the for national crisis and if you're working in real estate in the US in the financial crisis You witnessed and you experienced Incredible highs and tremendous lows so I Experienced tremendous highs and incredible lows You know, I went from earning a lot of cash To losing everything Literally So and and that was around 2008 because the crash that things started changing in seven and by eight 2008 out again. I was penniless So I said to myself this was a thing It's too hard. It's too difficult, you know, and I try to figure out what I want to do next And I got I got to tell you this I give my parents a lot of credit because You know, we moved to the US when we're very long, but like Solid Nigerian parents, they never let us forget where we're from and they always told us listen you're Nigerian and They they beat that into our heads and they embedded that in our heads and they did and I give them a lot of credit for that with kind of that Sense of home in in in my background I was researching and trying to figure out what is I want to do and every time I read about Nigeria Later my heart my heart would skip a beat, you know, and that signal to me As you should to everyone that there's a there's a there's a keen interest there So I was doing some research and I was really fortunate because a family friend It was a higher up at Fidelity. So I got an internship there. This is before I started my MBA So I came did a pre-MV internship really liked the first time I worked in Nigeria So I learned a bit and when I did that I said to myself, you know That's when it that's when it hit me. I said Nigeria is a Developing country. So I have a chance to do development in a developing country So I would basically have a chance to you know, kind of ride the wave with Nigeria as it goes up. So So I So again, I took that decision. I took that decision. This is listen. I want to come back and I want to work in In Nigeria. So then first my first year MBA got an internship at Landmark Work there was really cool worked on some pretty cool projects You know met Paul met Deborah. I worked with a bunch of people. They had a great experience They're crazy enough to want me back. I was crazy enough to want to come back So so yeah, so they brought me back after my MBA I was 2013 and And yeah, so so back again to the risk there right because the truth of the matter is that America was kind of already It was already kind of know what would happen there I Knew to kind of income I would earn I knew it's a structured environment. So I knew how things worked Nigeria I didn't have as many friends didn't have as many contacts didn't know as much about the country I took a massive pay cut But I took a massive pay cut to come back to Nigeria, but I said I did it for really one one rationale I said I will take a few steps back and I believe that over a five-year timeline. I would have leapfrogged where I would have been in In America, so you basically again taking risk to take a return You live in in Nigeria right now. If you had the chance to change one thing in Nigeria, what would it be? good question so Like it wouldn't be one thing to be three things and it's the three E's that I call it. I'd be empowerment entitlements and in education and I think it was Clinton I'm not sure who said that if you want to change Africa and the developing world You give them education because I think that if we're more educated people I just think we'd I Think we'd be more empowered to do to make some changes, right? So to go to empowerment. So the two go hand-in-hand and I think that as an empowered people because a lot of folks complain a lot, you know about Nigeria I do Guilty to start that, you know, you probably complain a lot about Nigeria's why you're not even Nigerian Yes, we need a few things, you know, but But an empowered people don't just kind of sit down and complain about they get up and and they They do something about it And and frankly, I'm actually very proud that actually I think that's what we as the people have been doing over the last year And you know taking taking things into our own hands, so to speak and understanding that that one individual can make Significance and positive difference and the third thing is is entitlement. I Unfortunately, I think a lot of folks here feel that That it's their right to have certain things and I tell my folks all the time that You know things aren't given to you they're earned And I tell them that listen, you know You know nothing is given to us as a firm and that Brookstone earns this money the old-fashioned way we earn it So I say that listen don't don't be Don't don't don't Think that you won't get your fear due I say I tell them don't worry about politics in the office or anywhere I say just just Showcase your talent because the truth is that you you know, you can't deny talent So if you're good, it'll be recognized whether your current place or somewhere else, but you know, it'll be recognized I do think there are opportunities in Nigeria Yeah, I mean I think a hundred percent because again because it is a developing country their opportunities for Development across many different sectors or the challenges that you face the Nigeria or something Said it's not gonna be easy that difficulties. What are kind of challenges that you face when you go here? How much time in your show do you have because Major challenge that you face when you go back because people need to know I mean despite the fact that opportunities There should be challenges for the major challenge You have so much challenges than the opportunities. Yeah, so so listen As they say TIA, this is this is Africa man So so things it's things aren't as Efficient as there are in the developed world, right things on us organize things don't always work These things are relatively opaque There's oftentimes less Discipline and there's just less structure how much time when you're sure to have we can complain from now the kingdom come but or You can look at it from a slightly different perspective and say to yourself. Listen Based on these problems where the opportunities where the gaps and how can I create a solution to be able to To to plug those gaps for customers Or whoever and frankly, so that's how Brooks was born actually because we saw a Big gap massive gap in the market with regards to quality There's just there's just really poor quality Real estate being produced here and like I said, you know, we were we were foolish enough and ambitious enough to think that We could we could make a difference in that regard, but that's actually one of our three usp's And that's what customers have come through to appreciate which is quality trust and delivery and and those simple things are what we focus on and and and we literally We install those things in all of our projects. We live and breathe those things all of our projects So when people come to our products, they're they're blown away and they actually they ask us they say that we're overdoing it But to us, you know We feel that actually the customer actually deserve that. Yeah, and I think the market deserves it So we're actually very proud of those remarks when they said it's remaining five units. Yes, that's correct How can we buy that five minutes if we want to support you? Where do we find the link to buy those five units? Couple places first you can go to our website Brookstone hyphen property comm you can also check out partner assessor global as well. They have Our listings in a bunch of other listings They're very we're very happy and proud to be partner with them And 30 you can also go to what a Maya's website