I STARTED REAL ESTATE BUSINESS AS A DIGITAL MARKETER TO GET INSIGHT INTO REAL ESTATE MARKETS IN GENERAL, SAYS LANDWEY BOSS, OLAWALE AYILARA

Olawale Ayilara, CEO, Landwey Investment Limited

Virtually all Lagosians and real estate investors in Nigeria know that the corporate head office of a foremost real estate development firm, LandWey Investment Limited, at Sangotedo, along Lekki-Ajah-Epe Expressway in Lagos is an imposing complex. In case you have not seen it, you can check it out.

It is an imposing high-rise, shooting out, on that busy expressway, with the company name boldly etched on it. The inside is beautiful. The ambience is alluring and once you walk into the expansive reception area you will be lured into doing business with Landwey, run by Olawale Ayilara, one of the most brilliant and articulate players in the real estate sector today.

You will be shocked to know that Olawale Ayilara is still in his thirties. In fact, he is one of FORBES Africa’s under 30 Achievers. He has his office on the last floor of the building. It is a sprawling floor with a display of books and various award plaques.

Ayilara’s own office is not big, all you see is a young man with a lot of ideas in his head. His 148-page autobiography called HUSTLE is also inspiring. It is a book every young businessman must read. It reveals the story of how this ordinary boy from Abeokuta grew from nothing to become the CEO of a world-class real estate development company in Lagos. It is the story of a young boy who had done menial jobs for another company’s CEO in order to guarantee daily survival when he had just moved to Lagos.

It is the story of a young boy whose friends and family labeled a debtor and nicknamed “ideas only” because all he was capable of, was coming up with ideas, with no success whatsoever. In the book, he revealed his story which he says he is an unfolding one. “At the heart of it is a hustle, social good and Gods kindness,” he revealed. The autobiography he says is the story of his hustle.

Ayilara’e company is doing so well in that sector as it has developed so many estates and embarked on so many projects in the Lekki-Ajah axis of Lagos. He is a brilliant young executive who is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School and a Forbes Africa under 30 achiever of the Class of 2018. Below is the success story of Landwey.

There is something quite impressive about Landwey Investment Limited, from your building to the lovely ambiance, it’s not just another real estate company. Why did you position it that way?

We are positioned for the future, as much as we are also positioned for the present. If you are positioned for the future you have to always try to see what will likely come up in the future.

We all know that if you are running a business and you are not future concerned, it is only a  matter of time, that business will become obsolete. We are very strong on research, on current trends, new trends, and what the future holds generally for the sector that we are playing in.

For us in Landwey, we are always trying to research into issues about Land and Real Estate, to see if there is a better way, in the sector that we operate in. How can it be done better? What is the client’s problem currently and how do they want it to be done in a better way.

We have seen disruption happen in several industries and even in Real Estate itself. Gone are those days when you are traveling abroad and you are looking for accommodation. It’s all easy now. You can go online and get your bookings done on various platforms. It has disrupted the real estate market. We have online listing platforms now. Before you buy a property you can go to a listing site and see the various properties available with so many information.

So you can see that the real estate sector has witnessed tremendous disruptions. We are so much concerned about it. We want to be in the forefront of any disruptions in the real estate sector.

Why did you go into real estate? Why not something else?

I have always done something else. I started real estate when I was 17. I have always done several businesses. I have done so much of business. I did business as an undergraduate. I have done all kinds of business. At a point in time, it wasn’t too much of my passion.

It was more about what the sector needs and key business areas that I can play in. Whilst doing research, real estate was one of it, that was really, really strong in my heart at that time and I really ventured into it. But I didn’t start out just going into real estate.

I started as a Real Estate Digital Marketer. So, that gave me insight into real estate markets in general. So, I played with some of this information that I learnt during my research. That is what we have been playing with. (City People)