Economy now forcing businesses, citizens to be more creative, prudent—Nyong
The Managing Director of Lekki Gardens, Mr. Richard Nyong has revealed the current state of the Nigerian economy is not only forcing families to start thinking outside the box to be eating daily, but has compelled every serious business to workout innovative models to remain afloat in any industry.
In an interview in Lagos, he said “The economy is forcing us to be even more creative, prudent and ask questions differently, which is the beautiful side of it”.
Disclosing that he knows that nobody can deny the difficulty in the market space, he noted that “Real estate is capital intensive in nature and in times of recession, the first place people try to cut down on is investing in the long-term”.
“They want to focus more on immediate needs. Though, the market has shifted a bit, but our brand has been bold and consistent to face the economic headwinds as well as the challenges we have faced as a brand.
Explaining more on some of the business survival strategies, Nyong said “When you face a challenge of this magnitude economy wise, you must be creative. To focus on technological creativity only is not going to solve the problem”.
“Technical excellence is not what is missing in the market place. There is lack of funding, a change in people’s decision in terms of what they can afford to buy and what they want to spend their money on. People will rather hold their money. It is not like there is no money but people want to see the direction of the economy and want to be more intelligent about their expenses.
“There is also blurriness from the centre. People don’t really know the direction of the economy. Everyone says 2015 was an election year, 2016 we want to know the body language of the leadership team of the country. Now, there is a lot of stability but still no business traction. In the biblical times, there were various times of famine; some because there was a siege on a particular country. If a famine occurs because the country’s key supply route has been blocked, you either apply diplomacy to negotiate your way out of the crisis or you go to war.
“In another season, a famine may occur because of drought in which case you think irrigation, which is creativity in a drought. So, you must define the dynamics that brought a problem before you can become creative with finding the solution.
“So, it is not only about the technical operations but fundamentally asking where we can play and what products will allow people to take investment decisions. It is the investing public that is your market focus and they are also the people holding on for the government to act. So, since we are in an economy like this, we want to know how to work on our products to know how to help clients pay their rents. We need to bring up ideas that tie buying a house to saving rents, or helping people not to pay rent anymore.
“At the core of our business is creativity, so we are going back to the drawing board to see what is possible and doable, and that is what we are doing.
