Dr. (Mrs.) Ibukun Adebayo is the Chief Executive Officer, Rock Realty Limited, a real estate development and advisory company headquartered in Abuja.
The company’s target market is middle income group where it employs the institutional support of National Housing Fund and other mortgage options to boost the ability of this category of people to own their own houses. All the company’s projects are structured along mortgage lines, tailoring payment options to suit earning patterns.
The company specializes in providing real estate solutions for people earning N3 million and above annually. “We focus on building and providing purchase structures that are tailored to the cash flows of middle-income real estate”, Adebayo said.
Rock Realty is one of the few real estate development companies in Nigeria that play actively in the world of mortgages where the biggest capacity for mass housing development resides.
Adebayo launched the company in 2016 out of her passion to drive that real estate market niche where developers offer products designed for middle income earners to own their own homes.
Some of the company’s major housing projects include Bold Living Apartments located at Alpha Beach Road in Lekki, which is planned in two phases. Subscribers to the apartments can make use of the National Housing Fund loan, which is available at 6 percent interest rate per annum in structuring their payment plans.
Another of the company housing projects is Bronze Living Estate, which is located at Arapaja, Odona Kekere area of Ibadan. It consists of 290 units of affordable one-, two- and three-bedroom bungalows. The company offers flexible equity contribution options based on mutual agreement, which is spread over the construction period. The project is also planned to avail subscribers the benefit of using National Housing Fund mortgage, which the company helps to process. In addition to functional infrastructures, central location and significant capital appreciation potential, it offers adequate security.
Adebayo plans to attain new milestones in expanding investment in the real estate market using mortgages as the driving vehicle. “Over the next five to seven years, we intend to construct over 1,500 affordable homes in Nigeria”, she stated. She is working on a Diaspora Real Estate Platform in conjunction with Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, an initiative which would work hand in hand with the newly approved Diaspora Mortgages by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. This provides a platform where Nigerians in Diaspora can invest in credible and safe housing delivery back in their country.
Adebayo qualified in medicine & surgery and practiced as a medical doctor for a few years before branching off into the world of investment banking, development finance and advisory services.
Her last place of paid employment before she launched her company is Infrastructure Bank, where she played an active role in major infrastructure development finance projects.
Her focus on the middle-income market segment brought her face to face with an unyielding mindset of many middle-income earners – that they cannot afford their own homes yet, ruling out also the option of exploring any initiatives her company was offering for home ownership. Also, many people were skeptical about off-plan purchases on which most of her company’s offerings are hinged due to breakdown of trust within the real estate industry.
Through a lot of advocacy and mind re-orientation, the Rock Realty’s CEO has changed the story.
Rock Realty picks up the slightest buyer interest and works from purchase advisory, cash flow assessment to structuring payment plans that are fit for the client in consideration. This is the company’s distinguishing feature in the marketplace. “It is what endears us to our clients, especially those who just never thought home ownership was possible for them any time soon”, Adebayo said.
It is in recognition of her seamless transition from medical practice to leadership in real estate development where she is transforming middle income earners from being tenants to home owners that the Top10 magazine has named her the Female Real Estate Leader of the Year.
