Tope Mark- Odigie: Real Estate Is A Platform For Empowerment And Wealth Creation
Tope Mark- Odigie is a transformative figure, leveraging entrepreneurship to drive societal advancement. With a strong belief in real estate as a path to wealth creation, she advocates for good governance to create an enabling environment for Nigerians. As CEO of REB360, Tope spearheads initiatives empowering individuals through real estate, while leading WIRE Africa to empower women in the sector. She draws inspiration from influential women like her mother, Ibukun Awosika, and Oprah Winfrey. Through initiatives like the “Game of Money” conference, Tope aims to demystify financial management and empower individuals to achieve financial freedom. In this interview with she shares her inspiring story.
Childhood influence
Igrew up in a family of entrepreneurs. My parents and my grandfathers on both sides were successful entrepreneurs. My maternal grandfather was a successful sawmiller in Ekiti and Ondo, while my paternal grandfather was a successful entrepreneur as a casket maker. I have always known I am going to be a successful entrepreneur. Childhood influences for me were my parents and grandparents, who co- influenced me into seeing myself thrive and grow as an entrepreneur, solving problems within my environment.
Motivation for entrepreneurship and real estate advocacy
I have seen many lives being transformed with the knowledge of entrepreneurship. I have met many people who started with nothing and became successful. I believe wealth creation is possible through knowledge of entrepreneurship and that inspired me to become an advocate of entrepreneurship. Many Nigerians are looking for jobs where there are not enough job opportunities. The best solution is for us to create jobs by becoming entrepreneurs and solving problems within our environment. My passion for living a life of significance led me to become a transformational speaker.
The hunger has always been in me right from when I was young and my life has to count for more. As the only child, my parents always say,
“You are a child of destiny. You are not a mistake. God gave you to us to solve problems.” With these, I have always had expectations of myself that I must solve the challenges of many people around me. I perfected my speaking skills when I finished secondary school through teaching and speaking in church. All of these helped me to become a teacher of entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
As I earlier mentioned, my parents and grandparents were big on consolidating their wealth in real estate. I have realised that many Nigerians make money and lose money because they do not have strategies to multiply their money. In solving that problem, I have discovered that real estate is the best way for people to maintain the value of their wealth and by doing so they need knowledge on how entrepreneurs build wealth through real estate. This brought me to teaching about real estate and helping people save and build their wealth through real estate.
To God be the glory, the testimony has been immense. I feel like I am living my dream life. I am living purposefully because I live a life where I am earning money while helping others to earn money through real estate and build their wealth as entrepreneurs. It’s a winwin!
REB360: Empowering communities and creating wealth through real estate A country like Nigeria deserves hopefulminded individuals who are filled with encouragement. These will contribute to the growth and development of the country in various ways. As a citizen of Nigeria and a real estate business owner in the country, I am not building real estate specifically because I want to house people. I am building real estate because I want to assemble communities that are inspired to solve problems from every layout and estate that REB360 designs for individuals who will live in those spaces.
Also, I use real estate as a tool for wealth creation because it is the best way to circulate money within an environment. With real estate development, many individuals get empowered, right from the engineers to the lawyers, architects, bricklayers, plumbers, building materials suppliers and every other worker that makes a building a home. Real estate helps to empower a large group of people to create wealth for themselves. I love real estate because it is a win- win for all. In my opinion, whenever governments are thinking of how to stimulate the economy, they should put money into real estate because it touches a lot of people. For me, real estate is a true platform for people’s empowerment and wealth creation.
WIRE Africa: Empowering African women through real estate
Financial empowerment is crucial for women’s independence and safety. WIRE ( Women in Real Estate, Africa) aims to combat issues like prostitution and abuse by empowering women economically through real estate.