The life of Chief (Mrs.) Yetunde Babajide can no doubt serve as an inspiration to many young jobless Nigerians. The product of a not-so-rich parent, young Yetunde set out for Lagos from her Ikire, Osun State base after acquiring her National Certificate of Education (NCE) certificate, hoping to get a white collar job.
But after several long fruitless searches for a job, she took up the challenge to fend for herself. After a quick meditation on what she could do, she opted for a one-man dry cleaning service. Moving from one house to another, Yetunde went through her neighbourhood, soliciting customers. “After leaving school, I came to Lagos to live with my uncle. I thought I would get a job as soon as I got to Lagos, but weeks soon passed into months, with no sign of a job in the horizon. But after I got tired of the fruitless search, I woke one day and decided that I would be doing dry cleaning for people around my neighbourhood. I became a washerwoman.
“I could not just sit down and do nothing. I was very lucky to have the kind of parents that I have. My mother sold food items in Ikire, while my dad was a driver. We were brought up to be up and doing early every day, as early as 4am. From that time, there would be no sleeping again, because we would all be doing one thing or the other. My dad did not discriminate between the boys and the girls. So there was nothing the boys could do that I could not do. We washed our dad’s clothes and iron them. So the job of washing clothes was not really new to me.”
With that little and humble beginning, which started in the backyard of his uncle’s home, the business has grown into a company with five branches scattered across Lagos. “At the beginning, I was doing the job alone. It got to a point that I could no longer handle it alone, and I had to invite another person. From that point, it just started growing. And it came to a point that I had to register it as a company. I ran the company for about 18 years, with a staff strength of more than 20.”
With a thriving business, there came new challenges to be explored. The first challenge was thrown at her by an elderly client who advised her on the need to improve her education. And as a woman with a firm belief that no condition is big enough to discourage a man from pursuing set goals, she took up the challenge and went back to the university to study business administration.
“Among my clients was an old man. He is a Ghanaian and a lecturer at the University of Lagos. One day, he came to my office and asked if I was educated. I told him that I had an NCE certificate. But he was not sure, and so he asked me to bring the certificate. At first, I forgot to bring it on the first appointed day. So when he came, he simply aid that he knew that I was lying. I felt very sad about it, and asked him to come back the following day. After I showed him the certificate, he said he saw a lot of potentials in me, and that I could do better than I was doing. He said I needed to get a better education.”
And truly, the university education soon opened her eyes to better opportunities around her. Then she made the first move to diversify her business, as she added a sachet water business to her profile. “I started seeing opportunities that I didn’t know existed even before I finished the degree course. The truth was that I didn’t go back to school because I wanted to work with the certificate, but to expand my scope and view of doing business.”
Her expectation of an expanded scope came to pass one day when a seemingly impossible business fell on her laps. According to her, she went to repair a faulty power generating set. But while waiting, a man approached the repairer, and asked if he had any parcel of land for sale. “While I was waiting for the man to finish the repairs, a man came and asked him if he had any parcel of land for sale. The man replied that he didn’t have any. But before the man left, I drew his attention and told that I have one for sale. But the truth was that I didn’t have any land to give to him t the time. We agreed on an appointment for the next day for the inspection of the land.”
With what seemed an impossible task, she set out immediately in search of a land that may be up for sale. And to her surprise, the man repairing the generating set suddenly came to the realization that his family had some parcel of land somewhere not too far away. “I asked him to take me there immediately. We went there with me sitting behind him on an okada, and I saw this large expanse of land. From there, we went to meet the head of their family to negotiate, and before I knew it, a deal was sealed. After that business was completed, other family members began to approach me to help their land. That is why I always say my involvement in real estate business is a miracle.”
With a profit well in excess of N1 million, she soon realized the huge potential in real estate business. And she promptly grabbed the opportunity, and going back to learn the tricks of the trade from established real estate agents around.
Twelve years after that ‘miraculous’ breakthrough, she has grown in the real estate business, with her company, Yefadot Positive Property Ltd, breaking the barriers in property development in Lagos and Ogun states.
Interestingly, her real estate business goes beyond building houses and helping clients get accommodation. She has added a new thing, which hitherto was known to practitioners of the business- advocacy and conflict resolution.
She explained the reason behind her new-found love. “I came to the realization that lots of people who want to build houses don’t know much about the laws guiding the construction of buildings. For instance, most people believe that having a Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) is all they need to own a land. But it is not so, because that are other things they need to get. You need to get the receipt of the family that originally owned the land.
“I also realized that there are too many land cases everywhere. Where two parties are fighting over a piece of land, you should know that one of the parties is not telling the truth. So, I encourage people to always say the truth about their purchase of land any time there is a conflict. I have been able to settle age-long land tussles involving families and individuals in and around Lagos.”
For her efforts at resolving conflicts, the Ojokoro community in Lagos honoured her with a chieftaincy title of Iyalode, a title she holds close to her chest.
Her activities have also led her into politics. She is a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Lagos, and also a prominent member of the Asiwaju Total Loyalty group.
