By Christy Anyanwu
Managing director of Lifecard International Investment Limited, Grace Ofure, is an investment coach who guides budding investors to learn how to climb into higher tax brackets and dominate, transfer the requisite skills and tools to enable one to identify profitable and secure investments. She is also the proprietress of Life Card University, an e-learning institute that was born out of her desire to improve business education and help people start a real estate business. Her success in just three years after she went into the sector speaks about her entrepreneurial abilities, which enabled her rise from selling second-hand clothes (okrika) on the streets of Lagos to her present status.
She spoke to Daily Sun recently.
You started barely two years ago and you are doing so much in your terrain. What’s the secret?
It’s all about integrity. The real estate sector has a problem. There are lots of very shady real estate investors. We saw a problem in the market and we came to solve the problem. The problem is to say the truth, no matter how it hurts. Integrity means a lot in real estate. I think we have been able to do that. Once you solve a problem and you are full of integrity, money will come to you. It’s as a result of our delivery. Because we have delivered so much we have a lot of customers coming to us. Over the years, they have seen that we are true to ourselves and we are true to them. It is a young company doing well. We aim to recognize our partners, our investors, customers, everyone that trusts our brand. We are feeding the diaspora market. We have a lot of people that believe in us and us. It is more than a real estate company, it is a vision to help people get the right kind of investment.
What is the idea behind ‘A Day of Advantage’?
It is a day we encourage customers, we give them discounts, we talk to the staffers and encourage them. We have new products, and we unveil them. We have just given out cars to departments; we gave out cars to young people. We want to encourage people to be more innovative in what they do. Basically, it’s a real estate company but the Day of Advantage is an event, just to showcase what we have, we showcase different things we are going to do in the new year, and we rejoice at what we have accomplished in the former year.
The Advantage Estate is one of our very beautiful estates and we are very excited about it. It is our first estate, sitting on 100,000 square metres facing directly the lekki/Epe expressway, which is going to host 250 young people, with purpose-built apartments, ranging from one-bedroom to two-bedroom to studio apartments. There’s no point making money without solving a problem. We have identified the need for young people, where they can live, work and play. We are going to officially launch the estate; we also have seven plots, ranging from 300 square metres to 600 square metres. For the first time, we are offering commercial plots for supermarkets, hospitals, schools, all facing the Lekki/Epe expressway. We are running this estate with weekly payment, monthly payment and yearly payment.
How did you break even, given that the real estate sector is not considered ideal for women?
You are correct. Women, maybe, are afraid, because the real estate is a very tough terrain. Something about women is that they like to do things right. I think it’s just the right time for us to come and do things right and that’s what we have brought into the real estate space. We have created a multimillion-dollar real estate business from scratch, with no prior funding or experience. We generated tens of billions in returns for our investors through real estate sales and educated over 1,000 entrepreneurs.
How was life growing up for you?
I grew up in a place called Ekpoma, in Edo State. Coming from that kind of place and now we are here, we can see that God has been very faithful to us. What else do you expect? You just have to make an impact; what is more importantly is making an impact. I think, once people are taught well and people are given the opportunity to learn, the sky is definitely not their limit.
What lesson have you learnt about life?
Just be audacious. Have tenacity, stick-ability, do not ever give up. If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. That’s our story. Everything you see here, we saw it. There were no resources, there was nothing, there was no help but because we saw it, it came to pass and this is just the beginning, I’m also seeing the next phase of business.
Before real estate, what were you doing?
I was selling okrika in the streets of Lagos. I was hawking used clothes as a graduate because my mentor (Pastor Chris Oyakhilome) said that nobody gives you a job, you find one. So, I found one, which was selling okrika, second-hand clothes, because the start-up capital was small. On this particular day, I made sales worth N23,000. The entire sum got stolen and I was left devastated. The point of this is to emphasize that sitting on cash is a high-risk venture. If you intend to grow wealth, then your goal should be to ensure that you are not excessively liquid. As a salary earner, you must plan yourself in a way that as soon as your remuneration is paid, you already have a clear investment plan and immediately put forward these commitments.
Tell us about the Grace Ofure Foundation
It is my foundation to give back to the community. I came from a very poor background. I was raised very, very poor. Now, I have come of age. So, the foundation is about helping the less privileged, widows, and others. We just rebranded a school, refurbished, so many things, just to make the school have a very good environment for the kids. For the youths, we are doing a lot of mentorship, empowering young people that is something we are very passionate about. The truth is, empowering young people is empowering the future