The story of Sujimoto, also known as Sijibomi Ogundele is one that can inspire anyone and make a good motivational compilation. He rose from obscurity to fame and is now widely recognized as a luxury real estate magnate and Nigeria’s youngest billionaire.
Ogundele is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sujimoto Group, a luxury construction company focused on building extraordinary edifices in premium neighbourhoods of Ikoyi and Banana Island. The Sujimoto group is said to worth over $400 Million with annual revenue of approximately $30 million. He is also a venture capitalist and an investment strategist.
Early Life
Ogundele, also called Sujimoto, grew up in Agege and lived with his parents where he learned the importance of entrepreneurship. He attended public primary and secondary schools as his parents could not afford to send him to a private school.
As early as 8 years of age, Ogundele had started trading with his mother in Oke-Arin in Agege. After a while, he went on to start his first business which was “Okada” business. Even though his parents disapproved, he was relentless and from his little savings, he grew his okada business from having just one motorcycle to 6 motorcycles.
Ogundele never fails to mention the strong support system he has in his mother who he said was a high school dropout but never gave up on her dreams. She was a salesgirl but has now gone on to become one of the top 5 distributors of Nestle. His childhood experience, he said, has helped to build his resilience.
Ogundele studied law in the United Kingdom and has international real estate experience in Europe, Dubai and the United States.
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Career
Ogundele found his passion for the real estate industry when he lived in the South of France. After years of working for multinationals, Saudi Arabian Investment firms, and trained Venture Capitalists abroad, Ogundele thought it was to move back to Nigeria and put his experience and exposure into something different.
The real estate magnate was into real estate brokerage in France where he brokered a lot of deals in Project management and Financing. His major break was in 2011 when he bought an apartment in Paris, remodelled it and sold it in less than two months from a friend from Qatar for double the price. This he said reignited his interest to expose himself more on the real estate career path.
The lawyer turned entrepreneur says his major motivation for real estate happened the day he visited his aunt’s brand new house in Banana Island. According to him, she has just moved in but still had to do major renovations in the house despite paying so much for it. It was there and then that he knew he wanted to redefine the luxury real estate industry in the country and he started his business Sujimoto in 2014 when he finally moved back to Nigeria.
About Sujimoto Group
Equipped with knowledge and experience, he came back home to put his business plan into work. Sujimoto Construction is grouped into property development, renovation and facility management arms. Its property development unit provides services in real estate and property development for the company and for its clients. It undertakes various projects from the planning stage to completion. Its expertise is in the development of luxurious buildings of unique architecture and other facilities.
Some of Sujimoto’s works include the Medici Luxury Terraces in Ikoyi, the Lorenzo apartments in Bourdillon, Lagos, the Anantara apartments in Banana Island, Frith Hill Heights in Ikoyi and more within and outside the country. It also includes the latest ongoing construction in banana island called GiulianoBySujimoto.
According to the Sujimoto boss, the idea behind all edifices built by Sujimoto is to provide luxury and not mediocrity. The fundamental principle of luxury is the capacity to blow people’s minds and that he said is what his firm has used religiously in its mission to change the Nigerian luxury real estate market.
In one of his interviews, Ogundele recounted the story behind the name of his company, Sujimoto. He said he named it after a mentor of his, Dr Sujimoto who was a philosopher that transformed his life and taught him vital lessons. After the death of his mentor, Ogundele decided to name his group of companies after him out of adoration and respect and as a constant reminder of the need to be diligent.
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