February 25, (THEWILL) – In this no holds barred interview, Bamidele and Tolu Onalaja speak with IVORY UKONU about the issues they have had to deal with in recent times in their real estate company, RevolutionPlus, their 20-year-old love story and the dynamics, intricacies of running a business as a couple. Excerpts:
RevolutionPlus has been in the news more times than necessary for allegedly failing to fulfill your part of contractual obligations on the issue of land sale. Why is this so?
TO: The only reason why it seems that RevolutionPlus is always in the news for one negative thing or the other is because we embarked on a vision for affordable housing. We are perhaps the only real estate company that sells land to people who don’t have anything to lose. Most real estate companies don’t operate in the space we operate in and as such they are not susceptible to drama.
Till date, the people who paid the developer of the house that collapsed about two years ago in Ikoyi, Lagos, in thousands of dollars, are yet to go online to shout that they paid the man and now their money has been lost. None of them want any form of exposure.
We bought a property in 2016 for N40 million, till today, they have still not given us the house. They sold the house to us for N30 million and later asked us to pay more. I did not go online to start shouting that I have not been given the property that I paid for.
I am not the only one affected. None of us that paid that company has been given our property, but no one has come online to start shouting. The nature and the calibre of the clients one deals with in this industry goes a long way to determine how things play out, should there be an issue. We dealt with the lowest of the lowest both within and outside Nigeria and when you deal with such people, one should expect all kinds of shenanigans.
We were once advised to exit the affordable market we play in. People were of the opinion that our company had grown bigger than what we were doing and its attendant troubles. But we felt that we needed to fulfill our vision of affordable homes rather than the high-end market. If everyone sells to the rich, who will help the poor? We did not know that we signed up for our brand to be dragged mercilessly.
Some years later, I began to regret why we didn’t take that advice. But I am happy we achieved our aim and people who could ordinarily not have been able to afford their own property are now property owners. These people bought land for less than a million and they were given installment payment plans spreading across two or three years. We gave them allocation papers without them paying fully. If you call them now to complete payment, they will ignore you because they have the upper hand.
We have not been able to recover millions of naira spent doing ‘goodwill’ for giving allocation papers without them completing payment. The funny thing is that RevolutionPlus isn’t the only company going through this. What we are allegedly being accused of is nothing compared to what other real estate firms are going through. But you do not get to hear about their own issues because those firms do not deal with the lowest of the lowest, they deal with clients who have reputations to protect.
BO: Many of our clients do not understand the process of land purchase. After you pay for land, you have to do survey yourself. Otherwise, you are as good as not having purchased any land. So, they make an initial deposit of N250,000 and do not pay for the survey, which is N350,000. There are other fees to be paid like developmental fees and the rest. They are very much aware of this, but they will deposit the N250,000 and then disappear only to reappear in five years and be asking for the same land. We used our money to do surveys for them all in the name of ‘let’s help the poor to become landlords.’
Are these processes not stated in the contract documents they sign at the initial stage of payment?
BO: Of course, these things are stated there. We give them receipts, contract of sales, etc. But these people don’t read and because these fees were not included with the cost of the land that created the issue we started facing.
So why not change your tactics and avoid these issues in its entirety?
TO: We changed tactics twice when we noticed this. We changed our terms and conditions and even added a penalty for default in payment. The new contract document has very stringent conditions. All the people accusing us unjustly are the ones who bought lands in 2017. None of those who bought land from us in 2021/2022 has any issue with us because the fees for survey, development, etc, are now added to the initial money you pay. So you are paying for land and paying the fees for other things. If you are doing an installment payment plan, we are following you bumper to bumper. If you default in payment, you are surcharged, that is if the land is still available. Otherwise, you will be moved to another location where land is still available.
BO: Today, you can no longer get a plot of land from us at N1 million. It is either N4 million or N5 million. Other fees that we had allowed clients to handle in the past, which they defaulted on, are now inclusive. And you must pay fully to the last kobo before we give you allocation papers.
In real estate, there is no master of all. Despite having over 500 active members under me as the Chairman of the Real Estate Developers Association in Lagos, I do not know it all. The dynamics is such that one keeps learning every day and we keep working on our structure.
You fell out with one of your ambassadors, Toyin Abraham, after she called you out on social media for allegedly failing to fulfill your side of a contract. What is the true situation of things?
TO: We do not have any problems with our ambassadors. In fact, RevolutionPlus started the ambassadorship thing in the real estate industry. We have a cordial relationship with our former and current ambassadors. Our first ambassador was the late Madam Rachael Oniga. We played a very significant role in her life and even during her burial activities, one would think she was a family member. After that, we signed on singer Adekunle Kosoko, aka Adekunle Gold. Thereafter we signed on Nollywood actor, Odunlade Adekola; skit maker, Samuel Perry, aka Broda Shaggy and Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli.
Actress Toyin Abraham allowed herself to be used against the company. Ironically, of all the ambassadors we signed on, Toyin was the closest to us. We try to keep things with our ambassadors professional, but with her, we broke protocol and took her in like a sister. No ambassador, present or past, knows where we live, but she knew our home and had free access to it. So, when she began that drama on social media that people were calling her out over RevolutionPlus not meeting their obligations allegedly, I said to her, you cannot be a people pleaser and want to go far. And that is what she is.
You have to be known for what you stand for. So, if someone calls your father a thief, are you going to be doubting if your father is actually a thief or not? Despite knowing me to my house, I expected her to have a level of trust in me, my husband and the company she was representing. If perhaps, there was a miscommunication somewhere as an ambassador and she wasn’t clear about some things, all she needed to do was to ask for clarifications, but she didn’t. I think she has realised her mistakes.
How did both of you start working together?
BO: I was working with a telephone company which I later left and then joined a mortgage bank where I worked for 13 years, while she was working with a multinational company. When I wanted to resign to set up RevolutionPlus, I was scared but my wife encouraged me to go ahead and pursue my dreams. We prayed over the decision and I went ahead to resign. The rest, as they say, is history. Two years after RevolutionPlus started, she resigned from her job and joined me.
TO: The business was already getting big. It started in a small place before we moved to a two-bedroom office space and now our current location. So seeing how it was growing in leaps and bounds, he felt my input would be needed to make the business take proper shape.
At that time, I had grown in the organisation I was working with to become the chief operating officer. So, I was very well versed in how to properly run an organization. I was on the management team of the firm at a very young age. He felt my wealth of experience would be better appreciated when I help him grow the business. The business could not pay me at that time, but he saw the great potential of the company and the prospective future of what is ours. I had no choice but to resign and join him. I handled the operations and administrative arm of the company, while he took charge of the projects arm. While he is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, I am the Group Executive Director.
How do you both manage office dynamics as a couple?
BO: I give the order around the office, but she is the boss. She sometimes encroaches on my department. She is the one in charge of operations, but sometimes she likes to do things her own way. Like if I want things done in a certain way, she may disagree and do it her own way, but, in the end, it always turns out well. That is why I say that I give the orders, but she is the boss. She would rather come to my office if she doesn’t agree with anything I say than to challenge me openly.
TO: There is no need to challenge him openly. I have studied my husband very well and know the right time to approach him if I am not comfortable with his decision and to get what I want. That is why as women, we must learn the art of emotional intelligence. I am more detailed, but the staff can take things to him, and it will easily fly because he won’t pay as much attention to details as I would.
I am wired to see the errors in a document brought before me, first. That is how I have been trained over time. And so, in that regard, he defers to me. Even if I am not in the country, he would insist that documents be sent to me by mail to look over first before any action is taken. I never used to interfere in projects which he used to handle alone, but because of his soft nature coupled with how busy he got over time, I had to start keeping an eye on that department, so we don’t have lapses.
I am a better money manager which he knows, so he allows me to handle the finances of the office. Because he has tested me over time, he is comfortable leaving any amount of money with me because I am not the typical woman who will spend all her money buying irrelevant things because her husband is comfortable. I am a contented woman. I am not lousy with money. I don’t impress anyone; I just do me. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we balance it out. This has worked for us.
Did you at any time have doubts about the business succeeding at the initial stage?
BO: Yes, I did because we started the company with zero kobo. I resigned from the bank, broke. At the initial stage, we would wake up in the middle of the night to pray and cry because there was no money to even feed the children. I remember vividly that even my pastors at some point helped to pay my children’s school fees. But that is where resilience and consistency is very important. We didn’t give up.
We started our first project at Mowe/Ofada in Ogun State, in a very thick forest. But today, it is a beautiful and sprawling estate. When we started the estate, there was no money to pay the people who claim ownership of land (omo oniles), to even do surveys of the land, the basic things required to start marketing the project. But we had an arrangement with them, to erect our signboard when they sight a prospective client. One day, the Holy Spirit ministered to me to approach an uncle in-law who was the provost of the Federal College of Education, Akoka, Lagos. He followed us to the bushy land which had only a footpath. He ended up buying an acre of land for about N3.5 million. That was what gave birth to RevolutionPlus.
Apart from prayers, what other thing would you say has kept RevolutionPlus going?
TO: Like he said, consistency in the midst of daunting challenges. There was a particular year we wanted to start a project in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State. We needed about N25 million, but had only N5 million which the omo oniles were not ready to collect. They were requesting a minimum of N20 million. We tried to collect a loan of N10 million, but the banks refused to give us.
I approached a friend who introduced us to a money lender. We had to drop our cars as collateral. This was in 2016. There was no uber at that time. So, public transportation was the way to go. We used the money to start the project. That was when we hit our major breakthrough. It was from that project that we began to make mega deals.
Another thing that has taken us this far is discipline. We do not live beyond our means; we live per time. Apart from the time we wanted to take a loan of N10 million, we never attempted it again. Instead, we kept ploughing back profits into the business. We learnt how to live by delayed gratification. I remember that people would mock us to change our cars and we would tell them there was nothing wrong with the cars as long as they were able to carry us from point A to point B. We had our priorities and we waited till the appropriate time to change our cars. We were also focused and never gave up even when we had great challenges and kept on surmounting them.
What would you say has been your greatest achievement since founding RevolutionPlus?
BO: The fact that we have successfully run the company for 10 years. We plan to keep running the company for another 10 years. I tell everyone that in as much as God gave me the opportunity to found this company, I do not want it to be a one-man business. RevolutionPlus has evolved into a group of companies spanning hospitality, confectionery, etc. The real estate arm expanded into the United States, Dallas, Texas specifically. We are planning to move to Atlanta now.
TO: This company started with a vision, which is ‘Affordable Housing’ and this is because according to my husband, he sees low-income people work so hard for so many years but are unable to own their own homes. He wanted people who never dreamt of owning a home to own one. So, the target market for RevolutionPlus’ from day one was the low-income earners, market men and women. He has been able to achieve that vision because today, over 11,000 people, both home and abroad, have at least a plot of land bought from RevolutionPlus. I am talking about people who have been allocated lands in our various estates. Most of them bought the land for less than a million naira and some have built on it and currently live in their own homes.
How long have you both been married?
TO: It will be 20 years in October.
How did you both meet, what is your love story?
TO: We met at Ikeja, Lagos. I had just completed National Youth Service in 2003. While waiting to get employed, I was helping out my aunty in her shop, which was situated at the market around the vicinity of Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State. She was the Iya Oloja of the market and requested I help her man the shop as she had to embark on a pilgrimage with the Lagos State government. That was where I met my husband.
He was the marketing director of a telephone company located in Ikeja. My aunty was his prospective client and he had approached her shop to do a follow up when he saw me there. I was reading a book, ‘Join the Chariot’ by Reverend Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy and that got him interested as he was a member of the Ikeja branch of the church while I was a member at the Onike, Yaba, Lagos branch. So, we got talking and one thing led to another. He would later get me a job in his company. When the relationship blossomed and he got promoted, I left to work elsewhere and shortly after, we got married.
What was the attraction that got you both to settle for each other?
TO: I didn’t go by looks or what he had at that time. I chose him because he knew where he was headed in life. He was focused and selfless. He is still selfless. Until I met him, I had never met anyone as selfless as he was. I noticed that he wasn’t selfless to me alone; it was a part of him as he was also selfless to the people around him. So it wasn’t like he was trying to impress me at the early stage while trying to woo me. So, I thought, if someone can be this selfless, loves God and is focused, then this is someone I should settle down with. A lot of my friends and even my younger male siblings thought he wasn’t rich, didn’t have a car, couldn’t possibly take care of me and therefore could not understand why it had to be him. Ironically, I had a lot of admirers that wanted me at the time he was wooing me. They had cars. As a matter of fact, he met one of my admirers when he came to visit me at work. The admirer was to take me home and my husband had to tag along and was dropped off at his bus stop while I was driven home. The same admirer couldn’t understand why I didn’t end up with him.
BO: I was attracted to her because of her love for God. She loves God and is passionate about the things of God. She was not just a bench warmer, she was also at that time, a senior leader in the church. Apart from being a beautiful woman, she is a very smart person, very calculated. She is as selfless as I am, she cooks well too and to top it all, she is a lover girl. She loves love and she tries to choke me with love. She had all the traits I wanted in a woman. That is not to say I didn’t have other girlfriends at the time we met, I had. But she trumped them in several departments.
How do you both handle challenges when they arise in your marriage?
BO: In so many ways. We pray a lot because we are a Christian family. We pray together every morning. Also, if I offend my wife, I do not allow it.
What challenge comes to mind that really tested your marriage and in what ways did you overcome it?
TO: Most of the challenges we have had have been from women or attacks on our company. Nothing moves me. And I have also come to realise that when you are married to a successful man, you must be ready because it comes with a price.
If you marry a man that is poor, you really have no issues to contend with but once the man is in the limelight, even people that were not looking in his direction before would focus their attention on him. Your prayer points then increases.
Of course, you will pray for your man to be successful but when he becomes successful, you have to double your prayer points because the man will become exposed to so many things, so many distractions. So I know this, and I am ever ready.
Some people come to gossip about my husband to me, about someone he is allegedly dating or where he has been they think he shouldn’t be or that he has a baby mama somewhere, or that he allegedly bought a car for a girl etc. There is nothing I have not heard. In fact, one lady came to tell me about a supposed friend of mine pimping girls for my husband and I said, “congratulations to the pimp and the ‘pimpee”’. The one who came with the tale was shocked and disappointed, that was all I had to say.
She was upset at my response and demeanour when I should be the one getting upset. I have developed thick skin; I do not listen to side talks. Maybe if I did, that could have affected our marriage. I know my husband doesn’t joke with me. I am practically in charge of my home and everything we own as a couple. So, what else would I now be bothering myself for, over some tale about some lady? As far as I am concerned, such ladies just come to waste their time. When they are done, they will vanish.
I always tell women that the success of their home lies in their hands, if they want to be listening to side talks, the ball lies in their court. So on that note, there is no challenge big enough that has tested our marriage.
What are your love languages?
TB: In many ways. I am a lover girl, I do the loving without even knowing. I buy him gifts, I give him tons of attention, I am always very supportive, 100 per cent. I always have my husband’s back. I am daring and bold, he is easy going and so I am always there like a rock of Gibraltar to prevent anyone from taking advantage of his softness. I am his number one cheerleader.
BO: Taking her out, buying her gifts. Although my wife loves gifts, she is not the typical wife of a successful man who likes to buy expensive gifts. She is not demanding. Most of the designer accessories she has, I buy them for her. She would never use that kind of money to buy such things for herself despite having the money. She loves attention which I give her lavishly. I can’t be too busy for my wife and children. Every landmark event in their lives, I am always present to celebrate it with them.
How are you able to strike a balance as a mother, co-founder and wife?
TO: It is not easy but I do my best. The children are in Ame to linger till the next day. I ensure we thrash it out on the bed. Sometimes I have to throw in a few gifts to assuage her feelings. She hardly offends me, I am the one who offends her the most. The only way she offends me is when she tries to go against my orders in the office. For instance, if she doesn’t agree with what I say and she tries to argue it, I tell her to just sit still.rica, so I always shuttle between Nigeria and the US to give them the needed attention. At the same time, I ensure that my husband is also not lacking the wifey attention. And I also ensure that I give the business the attention that it requires.
