‘We acknowledge importance of change and always strive to remain a step ahead’
Mixta Africa is a continental real estate firm with operations in six countries across Africa. In Nigeria, it is one of the few large scale developers, playing heavily in the affordable housing segment of the market. It currently has developments across three states with an eye to expand in the nearest future. In this interview, KOLA ASHIRU-BALOGUN, managing director of Mixta Nigeria, speaks on the company’s footprints on the Nigerian market, the economic recession in Nigeria; their strategies and product offering among many more issues. He speaks with CHUKA UROKO, Property Editor. Excerpts:
Mixta Nigeria has been around in the Nigerian real estate market for over a two decades and still counting. What story can you tell of Nigeria, its real estate market and the economy in general?
Amidst the many challenges that have plagued the nation for some years, Nigeria with her teeming population has remained a country with boundless opportunities across all sectors of the economy. The country has continued to attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPIs).
Considering the huge housing deficit in the country, the real estate market is as interesting as it is challenging. Interesting because of the immense socio-economic potential locked up in the sector but equally challenging due to the onerous tasks required to effectively exploit its huge economic potentials.
Generally, in recent years, growth in the economy has been significantly less than previous years. In particular, the decline in oil price has contributed to a slump in growth as Nigeria heavily depends on oil for both exports and government revenues.
What have been the gains of rebranding from ARM Properties to Mixta Nigeria? How has the new identity impacted your bottom-line?
ARM is a brand which Mixta is proud to associate with. It remains our parent company and we are continuously in strong association with the brand. Our new identity as Mixta Africa has provided a continental platform and made impact with a ripple effect on Mixta Africa bottom line given that ARM remains a conspicuous part of our brand identity till date.
Nigeria successfully exited a crippling 15-month recession. Our focus in this report is on those real estate firms, which you are one, that are still afloat despite the impact of the recession. Tell us your story in the circumstance.
During the recession, our key focus was on the completion and delivery of our projects. Consequent to our intensified marketing efforts, we achieved a 255 percent increase in sales. We continued to focus on building key strategic alliances and the partnerships required for business expansion and technical capacity building. As a result of this, we successfully executed a bilateral agreement with a Chinese company to provide contractor financing.
A major problem for developers like you during the recession was credit drought and hyperinflation that eroded consumers’ purchasing power. How did you source funding for your projects?
In addition to our aggressive marketing efforts which yielded over 75 percent of pre-sales across all our projects, we successfully raised some funds through Bond and commercial papers to finance the completion and delivery of our projects.
For you to have sustained your business till now means you are a resilient company and that, in our thinking, means you must have brought innovation and creativity into your operations. How did you do it?
As a business, we have stayed relevant through the changing economic terrain by simply first acknowledging the importance of change and always striving to remain a step ahead. This comes with a lot of deliberate effort in ensuring our strategic objectives capture all the realities of the economic environment while also accounting for potential disruptions. Our people are our greatest assets and this is evidenced in the quality of human capital we have at Mixta Africa. They constitute the bulk of bringing the strategic visions to operational reality.
The Lakowe Golf and Resort is an ambitious development that seems to be your flagship. What are the take aways for a potential investors, home-seekers and fun lovers in that development?
For potential investors, you only need to make a visit to the property to fully appreciate the amount of thought, best in class technology as well as planning that has contributed to making the development so unique. The story is however far from complete, Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate still has a whole scale of achievements left and the opportunities for returns are clear to any discerning investor.
For home- seekers, we provide a secure, tranquil and modern abode, serene environment to ensure good quality of life, a premium lifestyle for anyone that lives on the property. We have deployed state-of-the-art security systems and living facilities comparable to developments of its type worldwide.
We constantly benchmark our performance on best practice standards and ensure every home owner gets good value for his investment.
Life in Lakowe is serene and for that period when you are in the comfort of your home on the estate, you are oblivious to the swarming hustle and bustle of the city just a few minutes away.
Lastly, for fun lovers, we currently offer short-let apartments and serviced cottages for anyone looking for a getaway. We have plans to introduce some water sports activities on so many of the man-made lakes at the development.
Tell us about other developments where you have residential and investment opportunities, especially for young executives and Nigerians in Diaspora.
Mixta Africa has operations in six countries across Africa. In Nigeria, we currently have developments across three states with an eye to expand in the nearest future. We pride ourselves on the fact that we play heavily in the affordable housing segment of the market. This is where the bulk of the opportunities lie in the Nigerian industry.
Prospective clients have the option of Fara Park II if their priority is proximity to town as well as the added benefit of living within a secure estate with unique infrastructures such as a man-made recreational lake etc; RDP would excite clients looking for investment buys that have huge potential to increase in value.
The estate is in close proximity to Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate and enjoys the same quality of top notch infrastructures we deliver on within our facilities.
Adiva II offers the uniqueness of living close to nature albeit on a more affordable budget. Lastly, we have on offer, The Cove which is located within the prestigious Lakowe Golf and Country Estate and offers prospective investors the opportunity to be a part of the project.