Fine & Country West Africa
Fine & Country South Africa has grown rapidly to 60 licensees since its initial introduction to South Africa in 2006. The significant growth of Fine & Country in South Africa has opened new opportunities and another ground breaking deal was signed this week with Renaissance Properties from Nigeria.
Udo Maryanne Okondjo, a remarkable woman who qualified as a lawyer and started Renaissance Properties 6 years ago in Nigeria, has spotted the opportunity that the International Network of Fine and Country provides. Maryanne and her husband, also a successful businessman in his own right, live in Bryanston and their children are educated at St Stithians. Her time is divided between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Lagos as her business interests are in these cities.
Since the inception of Renaisance Properties 6 years ago, great strides have been made in Nigeria where real estate development has become a tool for social-economic advancement. Tourism development is being targeted with very up-market golf estates and leisure resorts, mostly powered by private funding and official support from local and national governments, all too aware of the Dubai miracle.
According to Maryanne the upper economic brackets in Nigeria, similar to South Africa, are less affected and this is also reflected in the boom currently being experienced in the residential and commercial markets. Commercial properties are still selling well due to the high level of entrepreneurial flair that is indigenous to Nigeria, especially in the upper economic brackets of society.
Linda Erasmus, CEO of Fine and Country confirms that the property industry in Nigeria is not fully regulated, which of course presents a sterling opportunity for an operation like Renaissance Properties, placing an emphasis on continuing training and leveraging on the expertise and experience of Fine & Country to blaze a trail in this regard and become the benchmark for that industry.
Nigerians are very cosmopolitan in outlook and there is unfettered freedom for Nigerians from whatever ethnic background to invest in property wherever they choose. Johannesburg and Cape Town parallels the New York experience for Africans, which can only serve to enrich the human experience that is South Africa.
The Vision of Fine & Country Nigeria is to compile investment portfolios for their clients worth a total of US$ 5 billion or more by 2015. With a staff compliment already in place, added to that the service-delivery recourses, this will create prudent, longterm portfolios for any investor. A successful partnership has seen the light.
