Nigerian tech startup, Abode Asset Limited, has officially launched its business initiative that promotes wealth creation through fractional ownership of high-yielding assets across Nigeria and the African continent.
The launch, tagged ‘The Slice’, was held in Lagos and saw over 250 on-site and about 100 online participants in attendance.
Speaking with the media after the event, co-founders of Abode, Jeffrey Itepu and Damilare Oshokoya, explained that the startup was a community of like-minded individuals who were poised to build wealth by co-owning assets that they ordinarily might not be able to own in whole.
Itepu said, “The cost of assets is the most significant barrier to asset ownership in Nigeria, but we are using technology to build a community where people can come together irrespective of their income level, to fund projects, buy assets and earn recurring income from it.
“Just imagine somebody having as little as N20,000 and is able to partake in ownership of landed property in the prime areas of Lagos, for instance. And after a few years, they can trade it off or just continue to earn rental income from the property.
“In one 2020 report, it was said that around $4bn of real estate assets were bought in Nigeria in one year, and millions of Nigerians were excluded from it. Why? Because they did not have the financial capacity. So, we have built a platform where anyone interested in such an investment could partake in their little way.”
Itepu added that over 1,000 persons have already joined the digital community in the space of three months since Abode started admitting members into the platform.
He also stated that the movement was looking to take the Nigerian economy from consumption to production, as young people would begin to find it beneficial to co-own any asset, whether digital or tangible assets, rather than struggling to own it all by themselves.
On his part, Oshokoya said his partnership with Itepu was born out of a similar collaboration. He said both partners owned several assets together, and they wanted other young people to see how coming together to own assets could help them achieve more success.
Oshokoya said, “For us, it’s about democratising wealth for Africans, and we are using Abode as a tool to fractionalise assets. What we want to do is to have a Pan-African movement that allows people to be able to participate in things that they normally won’t be able to afford alone.
“We have several assets which we have listed on our website, and we have simplified the ownership process. We are saying it is possible to own a fraction of an income-producing asset, for the purpose of reselling it at the end of a predetermined period or for the purpose of earning monthly, quarterly, or yearly rental income from it.”
