Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone :: ‘Success that comes gradually has a solid base,’ says real estate entrepreneur

[Bulls n Bears]

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

 

 

Daniel Ojijo is the founder and chairman of Kenya-based Mentor Holdings, a
consortium of ten companies involved in construction, management, marketing,
advertising and publishing in the property market. The real estate
entrepreneur told How we made it in Africa’s Dinfin Mulupi more about his
business and shared some advice to other budding entrepreneurs.

Tell us about how you started Mentor Holdings.

Mentor Holdings is a real estate consortium that encompasses ten
subsidiaries that are all in one way related to real estate. This began as a
dream when I joined the market in 1995 as an estate agent. I noticed that
most estate agents had very small portfolios and hence sold very little.
Most of them were not thinking about how to satisfy their customers and
expand their portfolios. I wanted to do things differently; I invested
heavily in marketing, recruiting personnel, going out to identify people who
owned property and introduced professionalism. I noticed that when people
came to an estate agent it was like they came to a doctor. They required
advice; should they rent or buy, how do they get a mortgage, if they have
money should they buy land or a ready home? I discovered this was beyond
what typical estate agents did. The subsidiaries started growing
organically. Today we have businesses involved in construction, management,
marketing, advisory, event organising, advertising and publishing.

I graduated from university in 1995 and I was sure I wanted to go into
business. I did not want to be employed because I did not want to be
confined to a fixed amount of pay. I am a greedy person; I wanted more.
Either way I needed to earn a living, so I took the first job I was offered.
Eventually I needed a house to rent. I talked to estate agents and realised
there was an opportunity in the market.

You ventured into the industry 18 years ago. What are some of the trends
seen in the property market today?

The middle class effect is hard to miss. In 1995, [the only people] who
could afford to rent or buy a home in a prime estate was a UN employee,
diplomat, corrupt parastatal official or someone linked with a politician.
Today it is ordinary Kenyans who are buying. Some corporate firms here have
mortgage arrangements with banks or their own internal mortgage schemes. In
the last ten years there has been a lot of commerce going on.

The middle class has expanded and these people have money. Yesterday I met
a lady who visited one of our developments in a prime estate in Nairobi and
she wanted to buy a home going for US$294,000 and pay cash for it. People
are looking for well priced properties, well designed properties, well
located properties and well finished properties. If you are able to satisfy
that, you have a market. The increased competition in the industry is proof
of the immense opportunities here.

Describe some of the challenges you face in running this business.

We have a poor culture where the end justifies the means. Sometimes clients
go behind your back to collude with employees. There was one project we were
handling where the fees were running into millions and the client figured
out he would rather poach our employees instead of paying the company to do
the job.

In our society, people glorify achievements instead of hard work and
morality. Everyone wants to get rich quickly. It has taken me 20 years to
get where I am today. Somebody is graduating from school and wants to be
where I am in one year. It is all about hard work, commitment and honesty.
Human resources is also a challenge.

What is your advice to other entrepreneurs?

They ought to be persistent. It is a long journey and success does not come
overnight. Success that comes gradually has a solid base. A successful
business person has to be greedy. You need to have the appetite for more.
That hunger for more pushes your adrenaline levels. If it is not there then
everything becomes meaningless. If I make one billion today, I start looking
for two billion. There is no limit in what you can achieve. Your achievement
is limited by your imagination. I remember the first big project we did was
worth $2 million and it seemed too big for us to pull off. Today our
construction company is handling a project worth $12 million. I am sure when
we finish it we will feel like; that was an easy one.

Describe your future plans for Mentor Holdings.

There are immense opportunities in the business. We have expanded from
property management and marketing and created a platform that offers a wide
array of products and services. Our plan is to extend our competitive
strength and explore other avenues that our companies can invest in and
bring returns to the group. The reason we have not expanded to the East
African region is because the Kenyan market is yet to be fully exploited.
Why would I go to a foreign country [when] I can exploit my own backyard
where I have a competitive advantage?—Howwemadeitinafrica 


<https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Daniel_Ojijo
200x240.jpg> 

Daniel Ojijo

 

 

Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

Telephone:    <tel:%2B263%204%202927658> +263 4 2927658

Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 77 344 1674

Alt. Email:    <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw  

Website:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AF
QjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ> www.bulls.co.zw 

Blog:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1
&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw> www.bulls.co.zw/blog

Twitter:                  @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:               Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimba
bwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA>
www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 



 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 73907 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20180321/77b5217e/attachment-0001.bin>