Many people often wonder how Adron Homes & Properties, which started from scratch 7 years ago phenomenally grew to become the leading real estate brand it is today. The phenomenal growth of ADRON has, in fact, become a subject of study by real estate enthusiasts.
The fascinating part of the story is the way the management of Adron has kept faith with its lemon brand colour of the company, which pops out at you at every nook and cranny of the South-West and beyond. Many have been shocked to see Adron staff, marketing customers at major markets, malls and bus stops all around Lagos, Ibadan, and Abuja. Year in, year out, the company has been launching new estates one after the other in Lagos and all over the country.
Last week, Adron boss, Aare EmmanuelKing won the Lagos Man of The Year award and City People went to ask him to reveal his success secrets. He did. He told City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE and top management staff LEKAN ODUNOWO what catapulted Adron Homes to the enviable height it is today.
What has been the strategy that has made Adron Homes dominate the real estate sector in the last 7 years?
I will say it is Focus. 100% focus. We don’t divert into other businesses. We don’t look at what others are doing. We just focus. We have our Vision Statement and our Mission Statement. One of the major statements in our vision is that we are daily-driven. So we set our targets every day, every week, every month. We start a new month as if we are just starting all over again as if we didn’t achieve anything last month. So our Focus on Housing Provision is the key strategy. We keep asking ourselves: how do we improve better, every week, every month, every year? How can we provide housing to meet up with the gap and demand? That is just it. I think Focus is the key factor. The scripture says when your eyes is single, your whole body will be full of light. It is not as if there are no challenges. There are challenges but because we are focused, we tend to overcome these challenges. I see some of my colleagues after 2 to 3 years of doing real estate, they divert into farming. You get to their office you will see farming on one side, car sales on one side, real estate one side. But in our own case, when people ask us what we have been doing over the years we will tell you it’s Housing. Where are you now? We would tell them we are now in Osun. We are now in Akure. We are now in Abuja, doing only one business. We have not done any other thing than real estate for the past 7 years.
You have an inspiring way you greet people on social media. You always tell them to have an action-packed day. How did you come up with that unique greeting?
Oh yes. This is how we greet ourselves at Adron Homes. We usually say Action Morning, Action Afternoon and Action Evening. That word is enough. It’s just to let you know that you must be on top of your game. While the whole world says Good morning, we say Action Morning. When others say Good Afternoon, we say Action Afternoon and we respond by saying fast and furious. This is a constant reminder of what we should do. So, when someone greets you in Adron, saying Action Morning, you are expected to say Fast & Furious. That means be fast & furious about today’s job. That injects into us the spirit of the ability to deliver
Adron Homes has a large team of Managers, Marketers and other professionals yet everybody is on the same page. How do you run this team cohesively to deliver what you have promised your clients?
It’s part of our strategy. At Adron Homes, we have Culture & Values. That is why you will hear people say: this is how they do it at Adron Homes.
What we do at Adron Homes is to, first of all, make our people understand our Culture & Values. Every organisation has its own Spirit. That is why when you get to an organisation you begin to behave like they do there. You will start thinking about how they think and that is enshrined in Value & Culture. Of an organisation. We train our people about our core values and the culture of the organisation. For instance, what I do as GMD, is what everybody is doing I work hard. They work hard too. We have a culture of hard work at Adron Homes. We are all good at meeting our set goals. That is it. That is just it. All our staff have imbibed the values and culture of our organisation.
Please give us vital statistics about ADRON Homes. How many estates so far and in how many states are you.
As at today, we have 34 estates. We are in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Nassarawa & Abuja. We are in 5 major states. Very soon we are going to Osun, Ondo & Ekiti. We are also going to open offices in West African countries.
As you go round all these places what have you found out in terms of what people need? Are there similarities in terms of what they need or are there differences?
We have found out a lot. We have found out that Housing is a national product. It is a worldwide product. We consume a portion of it every day. In terms of where we play now and especially in Nigeria, there is a need, a serious need for Housing. The story is the same. The demand is the same. At my former place of work Sim Properties, my boss had a friend who went to Ibadan to explore the market. He came back and said Ibadan is a dry place. And New Creation Properties boss who happens to be one of our leading fathers in this business went to Ibadan and he came back to say Ibadan is dry. But when we went there we found out that there is a huge demand, huge gap, in government, meet up with their housing need. Today, Ibadan has become a land of prosperity for us. (Next week: How we took over Ibadan market).
