In a bid to bridge the knowledge gap between stakeholders in the real estate sector and their clients, the Managing Director of PWAN Plus, owners of Cedarwood Luxury brand, Dr Juluis Oyedemi, is set to roll out Nigeria’s first real estate radio station known as Cedarwood Online Radio.
The virtual radio platform, which seeks to transform real estate radio broadcasting, will feature various innovative real estate programmes and segments, headlined by experts dealing with legal, economic, religious, health, and other aspects of the sector.
Dr Oyedemi disclosed this at his Trimetrix Towers, Lakeview Park Estate headquarters in Ajah, Lagos.
While explaining the need for a core real estate radio, the real estate guru said the sector is a vast area of endeavour, and beyond mere buying and selling of properties.
His words: “Real estate has to do with giving right information to prospects and clients. And when we talk about information dissemination, we can’t do without means of communication of which the online radio platform is one. We are establishing an online radio platform so that our customers all over the world can always view us at a glance.
“Many of our clients live abroad; where fears of transacting big business in Nigeria is so high. So, we decided to create a platform where there is a proper channel of information; particularly access to the radio station. The idea is to have a gateway between real estate service providers and the clients or the prospects, such that they can access us at any time.”
Oyedemi further noted that a lot of patrons of real estate products often lament about having bought property from some companies, yet don’t even know their address and other things. But according to the PWAN Plus managing director, taking the business to the level of establishing a radio station, “is to spread our visibility, to make us more visible to our customers. So, it is driven from the point of meeting customers’ needs. That’s why it is strictly a real estate radio platform.
“And on this platform, we will be giving out rich information about real estate market and opportunities locally and globally.”
Dr Oyedemi also expatiated on investment in properties, saying there’s more to it than having paid money into a company’s account. “People also want to watch their investments grow and (know) who talks to them. Today, I can’t begin to reach out to everybody by writing letters. But I can reach out to everybody by being in the studio to broadcast. This is why we need to set up a means of engaging customers,” he added.
The innovative CEO, however, acknowledged that existing TV and radio stations do feature real estate programmes. But the stations do not project the segments as a call??. “We are looking at a radio station, whereby if we are playing music, it is real estate music. If we are doing anything it is centred on investment, the need for investment.
“We are not coming to compete with anybody, we are just coming to complete. We are coming to say okay, from in-house here, this is what we have, from the outside market, this is what we have. By so doing, we will be bringing customers abreast of issues; telling customers the truth, giving them the avenue to also ask questions,” Oyedemi explained.
The property guru explained that there would be ample room for Cedarwood Online Radio to take on critical issues in real estate, including alleged unprofessional practices.
He said: “We will be looking at legal part of real estate, the economic part of real estate, even the medical side of real estate. A lot of people think it is all about investment. How about your health? We will even project the religious part of real estate. Today, how many people are sincere? A lot of people call themselves Christians and they dupe customers. We are going to be looking at the various parts of real estate and telling people the truth.”
“Definitely. One thing a radio station does is that it gives room for accessibility. For instance, I own business, nobody knows what I am doing and nobody has the right to ask questions. But the moment I go on air, people want to know who I am, people want to drill you. A lot of people want to come and say is this real, is this true; and you cannot go online to lie. If you lie, listeners are all there to say no, to debunk that. We are committed to giving out the truth,” Oyedemi added.
He noted further that listeners round the world would be treated to robust, but core real estate programmes on the virtual radio. “We are going to make it robust but it’s going to be a core real estate station. Like we have the core sport radio station, they still give news update. So, we are going to have news segments and carrying people along. To be frank, even the news or information of happenings in the environment is part of real estate. If an information in an environment is not good, investment in that area cannot be good.
“For example, we all know what is happening in the core North. How many people are taking their money there? It is affecting real estate because the first thing anybody investing in real estate is thinking about is security. Real estate is moving today in Lagos because of security; because a lot of people want to invest where there is security.”
Noting that innumerable opportunities exist in having a radio station, the managing director said its broadcasts would help interested people “know what is happening in and about the environment, and where to put their money.”
Another benefit of the Cedarwood Online Radio is the potential engagement of many Nigerian youths, which has huge impact on society.
“When people know there is this radio station that talks about real estate, investments, it gives people the opportunity to want to embrace the opportunities therein, because this is what everybody wants to do. So, it is going to impact positively on the industry because a lot of people will be panting for information about the industry,” he said.
