Okafor: Govt Must Provide Enabling Environment for Business to Thrive
Chairman of Morcopolo Propertities Limited and Marcopolo Hotl and Suites, Chief Emmanuel Frank Okafor, spoke to Anayo Okolie on prospects and challenges in the business sector
Business without any iota of doubt, can only grow or strive in a friendly environment. For instance, Nigeria where series of violence has been unleashed by the dangerous Boko Haram group has heightened fears among investors.
Since 2009 that the sect began its onslaught on the country, thousands of people have been killed, which has no doubt, affected businesses. The sect activities have scared away both foreign and local investors from investing in Nigeria.
But Chief Emmanuel Frank Okafor, the Chairman of Marcopolo Properties Limited and Marcopolo Hotel and Suites believes that things can still get better if the federal government led by President Muhammadu Buhari can end insurgency by December as promised.
Marcopolo is among the big business names that have carved a niche for itself in the business world. It has been in existence for over 15 years. The main reason behind the birth of Marcopolo according to the Okafor, was to end the suffering of Nigerians in getting accommodation.
Marcopolo Properties Nigeria Limited is a real estate and property development company. Marcopolo has over the years provided real estate services within Nigeria at different locations. It has delivered quality properties to numerous clients.
However, the company realises that it is not just the quality that is most important, rather it is delivering the right quality, at the right time and at the right place. Marcopolo has a history of embracing new approaches to established norms and breaking away from set patterns in order to generate exceptional results.
Marcopolo, since it was incorporated has successfully completed houses in Victoria Garden City (VGC), Crown Estate, Chevy View Estate, Ikate, Agungi, Ikota and Lekki phase 1.
Okafor is well-known as a big real estate player. According to him, “We are constantly thinking to attain greater efficiencies and faster growth. We are pioneering to be amongst the leading real estate developers by applying innovations to deliver quality services in the areas which we conduct business. Customised orders are available to suit specific construction requirements from our clients in which case we build and deliver same as requested. We also build according to clients discretion and affordability.”
In building these houses, Okafor said: “We consider a lot of factors, one of which is affordability. This is so because we know that there are different classes of people in Nigeria; the high, medium and low income earners. So, in building and selling our properties, we endeavour to bridge the gap, so every class can partake accordingly.”
Though, he confessed that it has been easy. As developers, he said: “We are faced with a lot of limiting factors, some of which are: no form of assistance/support from the government and multiple taxation by government agencies. Irrespective of these factors, we continue to march on. Over the years, we have been able to grow from strength to strength and execute housing projects successfully especially in Lagos State, not by our power but by the grace of God.
“Our houses are built to 100 per cent completion that includes all the comfort you can think of in a home. We make use of high quality raw materials, to ensure that our finishing comes out great. In all our houses, we have fitted kitchen, Jacuzzi and Spanish and Italian marbles/tiles. One of the standards we have set is “quality”; hence we endeavour to use quality materials.
“It is my hope that someday government will realise the importance of developers. There is a lot of shortfall in housing in Nigeria, thus this is a sector that the government can collaborate with to help solve this housing problem, because as we know housing and shelter is one of the basic human needs,” Okafor added.
In order to reduce the annoying unemployment rate in the country, Marcopolo Properties has provided thousands of jobs for educated and non-educated Nigerians in the company.
As developers, Okafor said: “We provide employment for people virtually every day. But we still need government partnership to do more. If government can be able to provide enabling environment, power, we will be able to give more jobs because we will spend less and employ more hands. At Marcopolo, the quality of the houses we build is of paramount interest to us. Presently in our company we have qualified engineers that we pay well to make sure we come out with very good houses.
“Again if government could help provide assessable and low interest loans, they will be helping us a great deal; this is so because the loans we get, comes with high interest rate, thus servicing these loans becomes difficult. To make it worse, we spend heavily on land documentation in Lagos. The state government should help us liaise with the federal government, so as to make available low interest loans and also fix moderate fees for land documentation.
“Well every business has got its own challenges. Like I said before, if government could make available low interest loans, then it would be a lot easier for both the developer and the buyer. Like you rightly pointed out, property business could sometimes be frustrating, as properties are not always sold out immediately.”
Speaking on how Marcopolo Properties make it easy for low and average earners to own a property, Okafor said: “We partner with a couple of banks, thus for prospective buyers who are salary earners, we bring in our bank to assist. Though the banks do their best as to assisting the buyers, there is the challenge of high interest rate on loans; thus discouraging the buyer.
“As a way of assisting our prospective buyer, we at Marco Polo we build different properties to suite every class of workers, ranging from bungalow to semi detaches to duplexes, thus making available affordable houses.”