‘Engineering and Construction sector in Nigeria lacks structure’

Adegoke Segun is the CEO of Baay Agro, a real estate and construction company. In this interview with ADEOLA OTEMADE, he discusses the challenges facing the engineering sector in Nigeria.

 

As an Engineer, what would you say are the challenges the engineering sector in Nigeria is currently facing?                    

Engineering and construction as it is today are saturated by non-professionals who in the name of experience and money in their pocket are building poor infrastructures and tag their names as contractors and engineers or developers with edifice.

 

At quite a young age, you journeyed into the world of entrepreneurship, what motivated you to be an entrepreneur?

I decided to tread the hectic Nigerian entrepreneurial space in 2018 though I have always wanted to it all started when I wanted to start my Master’s degree and It was hard to convince my boss to work and study, I had to go to school for sure as education is foundational. So, I resigned and started what I desired which is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is hectic but an interesting path you have control of your time, your available resources, personal growth, business scalability and even more.

 

As an entrepreneur, what are the challenges you faced while starting up?

The first thing is a scalable idea, every entrepreneur should have an idea that is scalable. So, being an Engineer who was ready to stick to construction and its business, the evolution of tech really had me do(ing) a lot of research to see possible scalability approaches for construction and real estate while leveraging on tech to create a scalable and sustainable company. Another is the fund to start, believers of your start-up (first set of employees) and also the stereotypical opinion towards young firm owners in the construction and real estate space.

 

 In 2019, you started a real estate/construction company, which is worth millions of dollars today leveraging family and friends loans to start the company. Can you share with us, what birthed the dream, the obstacles you encountered while starting up and what were your fears along the way?

I have loved to be an entrepreneur since I was young because I loved what my grandma was doing growing up with her, she was a well-respected entrepreneur and I learnt that from her and it was in me growing up.  Some of the challenges are the stereotypical view of young people in the construction industry as too young to start kind of view from peers and even senior colleagues in the industry. Another challenge was people’s management which caused me to apply to one Human Resources institution in Nairobi to learn how to deal with people generally at the workplace

My fears: well one of them is the unpredictable economy in this country, another is my generosity which I know might ruin the company if I continue to bring a lot of friends and family into the business and lastly is the scalability of the construction sector as understand that contracts in Nigeria are not awarded on merit but on network and connections.

 

Agriculture as a sector has evolved over the years and we now have what we call agritech. How have you been able to evolve with time, blending agriculture with technology?

Baay Agro intends to be a leading processor of Agro commodity (cashew) but in this journey, the aggregation of raw cashew is required and information communicated to the smallholder farmers, this is where agrictech comes in, having a functional website, developing communication apps in local language and engaging Baay Agents locally to aide all these activities.

 

What does Agrictech really entail?

Agrictech is leveraging the evolution of technology to bring ease to all agricultural value chains.

 

How has your family background shaped who you are today?

The family thought me hard work, diligence and above all, it taught me a failure isn’t the end, a success story would erase 100 rejections or failures.

 

What motivates you as an individual?

The quest to be successful is my motivation. I am a product of hard work, I have reaped the proceed of hard work and I’m confident if I do more, the story would be beautiful.

 

Baay Project is fast becoming a household name as you are into real estate, construction, and agrictech. How do you intend to spread your tentacle as you go on this journey?

The evolution of the tech space and the sustainable development goals is something any sector should look into. The company’s projection is to be able to leverage these two to bring quality, economical and safe products to Africans.

 

Being an entrepreneur comes with lots of back and forth. What advice do you have for people struggling, and also intending to become an entrepreneur?

Have a scalable idea, get a great team, work diligently, and be prepared to fail then the sky is the starting point.

 

Nigeria is currently facing hard times in terms of economic growth. What would you propose as the way out of the current situation of the country?

The government rules the world; they should provide a viable environment for the private sector to thrive then the others would fall in.