It is no longer news that every entrepreneur has their fair share of failure when they decide to start their business.
Is there any successful entrepreneur who has never failed? The entrepreneur path is never an easy ride, as it comes with its highs and lows.
Olawale Ayilara who was listed on Forbes Africa Under 30 in 2018, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LandWey Investment Limited, one of Nigeria’s fastest growing real estate firms.
During his entrepreneur journey, Olawale sold rice and drinks at events. From there, he ventured into printing, business consulting and several other businesses. For Olawale, all of these businesses had one thing in common… they all failed and left him in more debt than he was when he started. He got fed up and proposed to relocate out of Nigeria never return.
While in South Africa, Olawale started making research about what he wanted to do with his life. That was when the idea of real estate happened. Upon returning to Nigeria, the first person he told about his dream to start a real estate business told him he had failed in so many businesses before, so he would be doing himself a lot of good if he starts with a 9 to 5 job instead.
Olawale almost gave up on his real estate dream before it even started; he had gone with a couple of friends to a state in Nigeria to purchase a piece of land and it wasn’t a rewarding experience at all. Despite all these challenges, Olawale saw a solution instead of a problem. He then returned to his drawing board and commenced his research all over again. He started talking to people and finally, his company LandWey was birthed, majorly to fill the void that he noticed was present in the real estate business in Nigeria. LandWey is a real estate development and management company that has grown to establish a name for itself, turning over $14 million per year. It started with just five employees. Today, they employ 42 full-time staff, 370 realtors and 16,000 consultants.
“Once I had a taste of success, there was no turning back. Starting and running businesses became my turf and all I had to do was build more capacity. I always believed opportunities would come to those who were most prepared so I put in the hard work even when no one noticed,” Olawale says.
We are not all born with the resources we need to fulfill our purpose in life, but with the resources we have (no matter how little) we can write out our own success stories. From selling rice and drinks to being enlisted as an achiever on Forbes Africa under 30 in 2018, you can make a difference in your life like Olawale – the question is; what are you still waiting for?
