Serial entrepreneur and Africa’s most influential investment coach, Dr. Stephen Akintayo, is set to make history.
At a meeting with investors and mentees in Lagos recently, he shared the vision for Gtext Homes, his real estate company, saying in the next five years, he would build the largest green luxury estate in the United States of America.
With the real estate space evolving to accommodate emerging demands of modern housing and shortage of liquidity, many firms in the sector are struggling to keep afloat.
From the days of humble beginning as a bulk SMS broker in Nigeria, the chairman of Gtext Holdings, Stephen Akintayo, metamorphosed into building one of Africa’s most formidable real estate firms, extending the company’s reach from Nigeria to the UAE, America and the United Kingdom.
With a diverse array of investment options, ranging from land purchase to house purchase, the introduction of land banking has also opened a leeway for investors to key into crowd-funding estate projects to earn a return on their investments.
According to Akintayo, the green estate, which would seat on 40 acres of arable land, would account for the largest stretch of luxury housing in America, raising the bar for the fusion of luxury and technology in modern housing. The building designs would range from mansions to apartments and single-family units, standing exclusively in Houston, Texas.
He said: “We are believing God that in the next five years, we will be contributing assets worth at least $5 billion in terms of real estate in the United States alone. It is a forty-acre property and it gives us the opportunity to be able to build massive housing. They would be green, meaning we are not connecting to the national grid. Power would be generated through solar and wind.
“Also, the house are automated and there is no currently in US any single location that has that size. Our own project alone would be over 200. Other people who are buying land to build what they want would also do over 100. So, in total, we are looking at over 500 properties on the 40 acres. It would be the largest in the US when we complete it.
“We just acquired the land. So, now it’s to raise fund. Those who want to buy land can buy land and build their mansion. We have these exclusive for those building $2,000,000 property and above. They will buy the land and build what they want, and then we have off-plan subscribers in our green and smart housing. We have standalone single-family units; we also have apartments. We have a five-year building period.”
Akintayo, who recently stepped down as Group CEO to occupy an advisory role as chairman of Gtext Holdings, has appointed investment banker, Rana Ijaz as the new Group CEO.
“I decided to step down as the Group CEO because what we need in this phase is institutional funding and that is not really my forte. There was a need to bring someone who is experienced in institutional funding at a global level. Now, it is no longer a Nigerian company. In Duba, we control over 100 houses, we are in the UK, we are also in the US and here is somebody who understands that path.”