Kennedy Okonkwo: Providing Shelter for Nigerians

Recently, Forbes Africa featured one of the leading property entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Nedcomoaks, Mr. Kennedy Okonkwo. Anayo Okolie who was among the journalists that visited most of the massive projects executed by the developer, reports

Though, this is not the first time the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Nedcomoaks, Mr. Kennedy Okonkwo, is dominating the pages of newspapers. Apart from Forbes Africa, he has appeared in several newspapers following his contribution to the development of the economy by providing employment and shelter to Nigerians.

His company, Nedcomoaks, today is one of the leading real estate companies engaged in the acquisition, development and management of properties across Nigeria with its properties highly diversified with respect to design and styles.
From inception, Nedcomoaks made it a policy and priority to build the best properties at affordable prices. This strategy elevated his company to be one of the best property developing companies in Nigeria.

But despite his achievements, his wealth does not get to his head. He is humble, intelligent and smart young man. He is one successful man whom many would want to work and identify with, not particularly because of what he has accomplished because you must learn something once you meet with him. Some of his close associates even thought he would become a lecturer after school but little did they know God had another plans for him.

Okonkwo is a devote Christian and a great philanthropist who is presently developing a community hall and an ultramodern sports complex in his home town in Ojoto Anambra State.

Okonkwo just like Conor Mc Gregor, who believes in taking inspiration from everyone and everything, gets inspired by current champions, former champions, true competitors, people dedicated to their dream, hard workers, dreamers, believers, achievers and that has helped in elevating him today.

Listening, he believes gives one the opportunity to learn more because of course, “nobody has monopoly of knowledge.” You cannot pretend to have all the knowledge in the world because nobody knows everything, and nobody knows anything.

He is a highly motivated and innovative entrepreneur who has attended diverse management courses in Mauritius, USA and the United Kingdom in order to improve himself. His experience spans information technology, human resource management, manufacturing and most importantly process and systems driven construction management.

Okonkwo is a customer centric entrepreneur because he consistently talks about how client must have value for money anytime they key into any of his projects and he believes so much in his human resource as he claims that only a motivated work force can propel any organisation to greatness.

Okonkwo, however, started like many other Nigerian businessmen. At first, it was as if the business won’t succeed but with hard work, determination and commitment, Okonkwo was able to conquer that stage.

He was working as a strategic adviser for a company and his part time job in real estate had a deal that was worth N18 million ($90,000). He was going to provide accommodation for expatriates and the company issuing the contract was waiting for him to come and see them but he was busy doing a strategy session and he lost the deal to a competitor and that when he said to himself “it’s time to focus on the property business,” and he resigned his white-collar job.

Since he ventured into the property business, Okonkwo has been able to successfully put up several massive projects such as Kiryan Court, Dream Court IV, Crystal Dreams Apartment, Crystal Court, Sandton Court and most recently he just delivered Victoria Crest I, while work has fully commenced on the Victoria Crest II which is presently on sale.

Victoria Crest II, he said, is an estate of 76 units of 3 and 4 bedroom homes and it’s located by the secondd Lekki toll gate on Buena Vista Road and situated adjacent to the Buena Vista Estate and estates. In its proximity includes, Lake View II, Essential Homes, Ocean Bay Estate, Bricks and Brains Estate, Golden Leaf Estate,and the Shell Cooplag Estate.

However, Victoria Crest I, is a collection of 92 units of 3 and 4 bedroom terrace duplexes, all rooms ensuite built for first time home owners or smart investors. It is fully serviced residential community. Victoria Crest offers a unique opportunity to acquire and invest in a property within a private gated community which is located in the reserved and much sought after area of Lekki, Lafiaji.
Victoria Crest, according to Okonkwo is now selling at rate N30m for 3bedroom terrace homes and 34.7m for the 4bedrooms with flexible payment plan.

The project features, according Mr. Vincent David, who is one of the residents include fitted wardrobe and cabinets, stainless steel staircases and balconies, Turkish security doors, quality tile finishing, generous living areas, spacious main plus family lounge, gate house, fitted kitchen with cabinets, kitchen sink and tap, beautiful ambience and great neighbourhood, street lights, excellent drainage infrastructure, central water treatment plant, ample parking space and many more.

Dream Court IV located near the Pinnock beach estate developed by UPDC is another gigantic project being developed by the company. The project which comprises 30 luxury flats with an attached Boys quarter, according to the company will be a contemporary luxurious design hoping to surpass the expectations of subscribers who have commenced buying into the project on an offplan basis stemming from the huge return on investment of its previous project and the company’s remarkable project delivery track record riding on the success of Kiryan Court, Dream Court I-III, Crystal Dreams apartment and the Victoria Crest apartments.

The project features, Okonkwo said include large en-suite bedrooms with wardrobes fully fitted kitchen, independent alternative power supply provided via power generating sets guaranteeing uninterrupted power supply, elevator, fitted air-conditioning system, electronic controlled vehicle entry system, electronic, perimeter fence, contemporary bathroom fittings, fibre to home system provided by a telecom partner, integrated home PABX system, state-of-the-art fully integrated home audio system contemporary light fittings, fire hose reel and water hydrant system.

It is luxuriously finished with guaranteed annual rental returns estimated to be about at N3million makes this property a must have for the smartest of investors and for those looking for a great environment to reside. In the serenity of this estate is second to none as this estate has a children’s playground, swimming pool, gymn and lounge and parking spaces have been carefully laid out to ensure that you have an minimum of two car park slots per apartment. Investing in Dream Court II is currently rated by pundits as one of the premium developments around Lekki. Some of the prestigious neighbourhoods around the development includes: Northern Foreshore Estate, Friends Colony, and the new Lekki Circle Mall.

Facilities provided also include all rooms en-suite, fitted kitchen with oven, cooker and heat extractors, central PABX system, balcony, Turkish security doors, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, 3D walls in main lounge, excellent drainage facility, Italian tiles, beautiful road networks constructed by HFP, interlocking paving stones, electric fence, adequate parking space, gate house and central water treatment plant.

The industry despite all Okonkwo’s achievement still has a long way to go to satisfy the growing demand of Lagos residents in providing sufficient housing for them. According to him, the country is lacking about 17 million houses with about 60-70 per cent living in slums and informal settlements. The Centre for Affordable Housing and Finance in Africa, estimates that 700,000 more homes are needed each year to keep pace with the population explosion.

“I went into the property business because I felt there is a real need for it. For everybody, when you look at your needs, it’s probably food first and then you think of shelter. So there is no way anybody that is providing shelter will get it wrong. I think there are enormous opportunities to tap into in the Nigerian property market today and the reputation of the developer matters a whole lot.

“In the operational aspect of construction, it has a tendency to drive up the cost of the construction because most of the finishing materials are imported and so the restrictions of FX make it difficult to import these goods which drive up the price. On the other hand, a property that was selling at $150,000 can now go for $100,000 if the person has FX, so for these people, there is a higher advantage,” Okonkwo said.

The vision Nedcomoaks is to become a leading real estate management and development company in West Africa and with the success recorded by the company in a decade, it’s indeed edging close to its dream.

Nedcomoaks today without any iota of doubt emerged one of the most highly rated and respected building construction companies in the property development business. The company and its workers are dedicated to providing custom-tailored solutions and high standards of advice.

Okonkwo, who is a Psychology graduate from the University of Ibadan (UI), also holds an MBA in Marketing from the Lagos State University. He confessed that it was juicy when he first ventured in the property business.

Every business, he said comes with challenges but with determination and commitment, he was able to progress. “Initially, we would look for money to develop one property and once we sold that, we would build three more properties because we would market and get other people to buy more.”