Home Interviews The challenges Nigerians face are opportunities for Great Impact – Luqman Edu

The challenges Nigerians face are opportunities for Great Impact – Luqman Edu

by Blessing Ubani
The challenges Nigerians face are opportunities for Great Impact – Luqman Edu

Real Estate Personality, Luqman Edu shares his journey and experiences as CEO of Filmo Group.

Luqman Edu is the Chief Executive Officer of FilmoRealty, one of Nigeria’s largest property development and facility management company. He also founded PropLab Africa,  the first PropTech company in Africa developing technology exclusively for real estate companies. He has recorded great success in infusing youthfulness and innovation in driving positive changes in FilmoRealty.

In an exclusive interview with Radarr Africa, Luqman shares his remarkable experiences and successes managing a Real Estate empire and reshaping the Nigerian Real Estate Industry using Technology.

Please give us a brief background about yourself, age, educational and career history?

My name is Luqman Edu, I am 33 years old, and the CEO of FilmoRealty a leading real estate company with its subsidiaries as Filmo Facility management, Filmo Development and a PropTech company called PropLab Africa where we develop technology for the real estate industry in collaboration with Microsoft.

I did my First degree at Imperial College in London and my Second Degree at the London School of Economics. I worked in England for about 3-4 years then one day, thought of going back to Nigeria struck me and within 2 weeks I resigned, less than 2 weeks after my resignation I book a flight back to Nigeria which turned out to be the best move I ever made in the course of building my professional career. Before then I worked for an Oil & Gas company for about 2-3 years so rather than work and build someone else’s company I decided to put good use of my skills and experience into building the family business which is FilmoRealty.

What inspired the growth of your company? 

FilmoRealty is a 25-year-old company, and am the second-generation CEO to take over the affairs of the company 6 years ago. I grew up around the company and my mother started FilmoRealty. As one of the youngest CEO of a leading Real Estate company in Nigeria, my drive has always been to prove that young people can compete and succeed, by bringing their ideas and different ways of doing things to impact the real estate industry in Nigeria.

What three words would you use to best describe your company today?

Young, Professional and Efficient

Why your chosen career?

Nigeria has a lot of opportunities; the kind you can’t get anywhere. I chose this path because there is no way I could be running one of the largest real estate company if I stayed back in England. We are witnessing an era where young people are impacting in several industries such as banking, real estate, Travel & Tourism, etc this shows that the challenges people see in Nigeria are more of an opportunity where they can make a great impact.

Family has a huge influence on our lives, which member of your family has the biggest influence on your choice of career?

My mother has been a big influence in my life and being a leading figure in the Real estate industry in Nigeria when there were only a few players in this sector and I thrive to surpass what she achieved while running FilmoRealty.

Do you have mentors?

I would say am lucky to have a lot of industry leaders around me, they have been supportive and guided in so many ways. the likes of Deji Alli Executive Director of Mixta Real Estate, Brains and Hammers. I appreciate everyone in real estate that has trusted and given me the opportunity to partner with them.

Talk to us about your company, where is it now and is it in line with your vision?

We pride ourselves as evolutionist in Real estate and one of the competitive advantages we have is that we are still young and technology-driven company and we understand how we can utilize technology in real estate better than our competitors or I would say we are the generation of technology, we understand and have implemented technology to make our services more efficient, and being able to give more value to our clients more than the conventional real estate companies in Nigeria.

What is the company’s structure in terms of personal culture, competitive advantage, marketing strategy, and branding?

FilmoRealty is made up of young, talented and creative minds where most of the team leaders are less than 35 years of age. We see ourselves as a family and we are on a first-name basis. With over 150,000 employees in more than 13 states, we work together as a team where every team leader has the opportunity to show their values in leading. Our culture is that everyone is equal and we work together as a team, rub minds together as well. My team does not see their work as a 9- 6 job but one they have a stake in because they have invested their time and energy to see the company succeed.

Our focus is to make sure our existing clients are fully satisfied, and our best form of marketing is client’s referrals from our existing clients, with their satisfaction as regards our services to them they refer other people who are willing to do business with us.

Technology has taken over the world, tell us how you have leveraged technology in your company? 

ProLab started with the thought of how we can manage our client better, We quadrupled in size and we needed a way to make sure all our clients services are still able to meet our standard and the quality of services across board, Upon building our software we realized the opportunities we have created, that the software could not only manage FilmoRealty site but also help other real estate company manage the clients as well. With our control room, we can receive real-time data like client’s service performance, operating cost, tenant experience by using technology.

What’s your biggest challenge so far in running your company and how did you manage it?

My biggest challenge was my biggest opportunity, with no experience in real estate I became the CEO of one of the largest real estate company in Nigeria. People see how innovative we are and they say we are thinking outside the box. When I joined FilmoRealty we created our product with the resource around and made the best out of what was existing, though I have made some mistakes it didn’t cost me so much but taught me better ways to tackle things.

How have you been able to sustain your company in terms of financing? 

It has always been FilmoRealty. We are not over bloated but efficient in how we operate. Sometimes, having a lot of money could make you embark on a lot of wasted investment, and not having money makes you more efficient. We are still growing and open to closing more deals.

In the course of running your company are there decisions you would have made differently?

Well, I have made mistakes but none has cost me too much in the business.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? 

We take risks every day, being in FilmoRealty for 6 years has made me more informed and experienced to be able to test what risk will work and what wouldn’t.

What sets you apart from others?

Two things set us apart from others; FilmoRealty is in a unique position and being young and from a different generation compared to other CEOs who are much older and running a large real estate company like ours. I would say we have been able to incorporate the experience that FilmoRealty has gained in the last 25 years with youthfulness and innovation. What we are witnessing these days are Startups with innovation but lacks experience.

What’s your definition of success? 

Being able to leave somewhere better than how you found it

What are your biggest achievements so far?

Well, I haven’t made my achievement yet. The fact that the young Facility managers I started with are still in charge, means that people have grown in responsibility, experience and knowledge and I see that as a success, also the positive feedback from our clients is also an achievement to us

Looking forward, Do you intend growing a stronger brand name in your industry or diversifying into other industries? 

FilmoRealty will always remain a Real Estate Company and we are not diversifying.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

The problem with young entrepreneurs is that they don’t approach business the right way, they conceive an idea and try to sell it without finding out if there was a problem in the first place. I’d say entrepreneurs should study the market more, find their competitive advantage, identify if there is a problem and then proffer a solution.

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