TheCable

Lawyer’s Wig and Builder’s Hammer

“The last major large-scale housing development project was the Gwarinpa Housing Estate between 1994 and 1997. That singular action achieved the dual purpose of alleviating the housing challenges and opening a new part of the Federal Capital Territory.”

To Adebola Sheidu, a lawyer turned businessman extraordinaire who ventured into real estate development hinged on his passion for a leading role in bridging the worrisome housing deficit in the country. He is not afraid to experiment (constructively) to improve efficiency and provide the live-and-play ambiance for residents of his projects.

Driven by this passion, Adebola Sheidu and his childhood friend, Babangida Umaru Aliyu, founded Nigeria’s foremost hospitality and real estate company, Brains and Hammers. For a journey that began over fifteen (15) years ago, Adebola and his friend have built a real estate empire with 10,000 completed residential and commercial real estate projects in Abuja, Kano, Lagos, and Oyo States with the recently commissioned Kano Economic City project standing out a testament to the importance of Public-Private Partnerships for the company to him and his organization.

Adebola is not only keen on real estate development, but he also always creates a nexus between his projects and either societal good or suburban area development. He sometimes enthuses that his “hinterland-to-suburban” vision is the cornerstone of his projects. As proof, a chunk of his completed and ongoing projects started with access road construction. 

A typical example is his company’s APO 1, 2, and 4 residential housing projects. These projects opened that part of the federal capital territory as the 3km access road built by his team ushered in more private projects and huge commercial allure for retail chains like Shoprite to take advantage of. From Apo to Lifecamp, his team has constructed over twenty-five (25) kilometers of access and the internal road to aid the development of its projects and turned the hinterland into suburbs of the FCT.

How do you invest so much in road construction without a refund and continue to push ahead with new projects? To Adebola, it’s the simple mix of giving back to a society that he continuously speaks about favourably despite the harsh economic realities of the last 48 months in the country. To him, you gain more in giving more for the overall good of your people.

As the roads paved the way for housing developments, his team has constructed over ten thousand (10,000) completed residential and commercial real estate across the country and over five thousand projects in different stages of construction. He is one of the pioneers of underground electrical cabling and sealed drainages in the private sector-led real estate space. He also warmly mixes the need for recreational areas like swimming pools, mini-football pitches, gymnasiums, resident pubs, and safe bicycle riding places within his projects. Innovation is the hallmark of his Brains and Hammers brand. 

To build roads and develop real estates, you need an efficient workforce. Adebola has created over two thousand five hundred (2,500) direct, indirect, and ancillary jobs across projects in the country. 

He has also raised champions who have gone on to start thriving real estate companies in the nation’s capital in direct competition with his business. For the average businessman, this may be counter-productive, but not for Adebola, who prides himself in raising industry champions as he develops society, one block at a time. He is the leader that keeps providing the necessary mentorship to business-minded Nigerians on their way up. He is never afraid to lend a professional hand as he considers the space big enough for all to thrive.

Therefore, it is not a surprise that his contribution to the country’s real estate and infrastructural development receives recognition with the conferment of the “Officer of the Order of the Niger” on him and some other distinguished Nigerians by the government. 

The Federal Government, under former President Muhammadu Buhari, had announced the recipients of 2023 national awards on Sunday, May 28, 2023. Sheidu was formally presented with the award this week, a statement from the firm’s head of communications – Natasha Yamala, said on Friday.

To say the silent but significant contributions of Adebola Sheidu are well-acknowledged would be an understatement.

Here is a toast to Adebola Sheidu.