Prince Dr. Idowu Lamidi is the Chairman, Dollar Construction Ltd, an International construction firm with Offices in Abuja. Lagos and Ibadan . In this interview he spoke on why the company is investing Billions of Naira in real estates and why he gave out cars, motorcycles and other valuables to staff.
Today you are marking the end of the year party and you are rewarding some of your staff, can we know the reason behind it ?
We do this every end of the year to mark my birthday and the hardworking staff in Dollar Construction both in Abuja, Ibadan and in Lagos. This it to encourage all our staff, not just our staff per say, the laborers because they are the ones doing most of the jobs. We encourage them to show our love and to show them how we feel about them, that is what we do every year.
Can you tell us about Dollar Construction/Estate?
When we got to Ibadan is when it turns to Dollar Estate. The name of our estate in Abuja is usually Westwood, we have a company that is called west dream, which is the marketing arm of our estates. Why Dollar Constructions just construct, but when we get to Ibadan, you hear everybody saying Dollar, Dollar, so we just went with the name Dollar Estate. Most of our estate in Abuja are called Westwood homes…and the brain behind it, is to create more affordable houses for everyone, we want to create class, we have class but with your little income you should be able to own a home. That’s our aim and objectives.
In terms of naira, can we know the worths of what you are giving out today?
In terms of naira is happiness, cause anything you are doing and once it is not attached to happiness, it will worth less. The value of the thing we are giving today is happiness. The person that will win the car now, I can tell you maybe he is just a laborer, and can never think in his life maybe he can even own a wheelbarrow, not to talk of bike or car. Now can you quantify such joy in the heart of that person ?
What’s the secret behind it?
The secret behind it is just joy and happiness. That’s why in Dollar, you cannot differentiate the MD, the labourers, the Engineers, the Architects. You can’t differentiate anybody, we are all here to achieve one particular goals and objective
In this time , we are use to companies coming and in six months, they are under. What is your own against that, as we have so much companies that are no longer existing ?
Also, we know that Ibadan is not where many people want to invest, why are you building a multi-billionaire naira investment in Ibadan?
Let me tell you the truth, Dollar constructions have been in construction for more than 20 years and I have noticed that in Ibadan, no experience, they just come and within two years, they are gone. Maybe they are trying to get Visa with that name, I don’t know. But for us, I can tell you, in the next 40 years, if God preserve our lives we’ll still be here.
A lot of housing estate will tell you to come and buy land and get bag of rice, why are you not doing that?
Our targeted audience is quite different. If you are luring somebody to buy a land, an investment because of a bag of rice or a ram, you should know the kind of people you are targeting. Why differentiate is the targeted audience. You that can buy a land of our type or a house of our type, you should know that ram or rice is not your problem anymore in life, but if your targeted audience is still people that are struggling to buy a ram, you should know what they are targeting.
Your starting point and your projection in the next ten years?
People think that we are only real estate outfits, No, we are contractors, we build for federal government, we build roads and others. In the next forty years, I can assure you if we are still alive, you will still be here to ask us this question.
