GText Homes, a real estate firm says it has recorded a 500 per cent increase for year ended 2020, when compared to the corresponding year of 2019, in spite of the coronavirus pandemic disruptions.
Dr Stephen Akintayo, Group Managing Director, GText Homes, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.
Akintayo attributed the development to the need to tie down investments within the country by Nigerians particularly those in the diaspora.
He stated that the company leveraged on technology to ensure constant digital and online visibility to serve its teeming consumers, a development, he said, factored the company’s growth.
The housing guru, as a result said the company has decided to give back to citizens by providing financial support in the areas of agriculture and education.
He added that the financial support for beneficiaries this year would be in form of a “Green and Smart” competition, where the winners would get a Five Million Naira grant for horticulturist and interior decorators.
In line with the company’s vision to build 200 estates by 2035, Akintayo revealed plans to build 1000 Green and Smart housing units this year to bridge the housing deficit in the country.
“We all know that COVID-19 happened, however, it was a good and very productive year for us as the company grew by almost 500 per cent as people for whatever reason decided to invest more in real estate particularly Nigerians in the diaspora.
“One of the strengths for us was that when we started our company years ago, we were more focused on leveraging technology and making sure that we were often online to stream all our properties so costumers are able to see from any place in the world.
“Last year, we were able to give back to society, with some grant opportunities in education and agriculture because we understood how the year went and we wanted to support people in these sectors.
“Some got N500,000, others got N300,000 for their small business and we also had grant for the real estate sector and were also able to pay tuition for over 100 kids.
“A unique design as a horticulturist that would ensure beauty of scenery and as an interior decorator, the presentation of interior designs that are green-friendly, would get the winners a five million grant.
“That five million grant will be what they need to start the contract we are going to be giving them on our own properties, that way they have the much needed capital to start the job on our properties.
“The total grants and charity budget is about 50 million so it’s not just five million. Some of it is in grants, some of it we would be using it to pay tuition fee.
“We are also running a grant program this year which is a bit different from last year in the food processing sector so one of the things we want to do is to make sure that we look at the agricultural value chain, the processing sector is a key part we are looking at,” he said.
Akintayo also revealed the company’s plans to expand by delving into agriculture.
He noted that the company’s targets was about 10,000 acres of farmland in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun and another location in Osun to improve the nation’s food supply and boost the agricultural sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) output.
“I feel the impact of the herdsmen clash is going to affect the food security of this nation and what I see in the result of what has happened with this herdsmen issue is that bigger investors need to play in that sector,” he said.
“This year’s focus for the agriculture grant is on processing with processing machines, for cassava, for maize, for beans and on building a coconut oil refinery against going outside the country to buy these processing machines,” he said.
(NAN)
