Managing Director of United Kingdom-based real estate firm, AGFRO Limited, and Founder of Aganga-Williams Foundation, Mr Olawale Aganga-Williams, in this interview with ABIODUN SANUSI, talks about his foundation’s aim to provide low-cost homes and food banks for the underprivileged
Tell us about yourself, the OAW Foundation, and your works.
I am Olawale Aganga-Willams, a real estate entrepreneur. I am the Managing Director of AGFRO Limited, and Founder of Aganga-Williams Foundation. I was born and bred in the Ojo area of Lagos where I had my primary school education, and later moved to Ijebu-Ode for my high school education, before emigrating Nigeria to the United Kingdom. I started the OAWF to help mitigate the problems that poor people face as it relates to employment, feeding and housing.
As Nigerians, we have too many problems that need to be solved, that was why my team and I started the OAWF with the feeding of the underprivileged, through our food bank palliative scheme, and now we’re graduating into training them to become employable, after which they’d be able to afford getting a roof over their heads through our low-cost housing scheme. As we cannot afford to do this alone, we are partnering some charities in the United Kingdom and some firms, and we plan to give grants to people in need to help them survive and start businesses.
Our partners have shown interests in providing financial grants, and essential wears such as shoes and clothes for the needy. My foundation is registered in Nigeria, and I have been doing this for about six years, and it would soon be registered in the UK.
Tell us about your real estate company based in the United Kingdom.
My real estate firm, AGFRO Limited, based in the UK, deals in properties. We buy properties, break them down and turn them into self-contained apartments for students and other interested people to live in their own private space. We sell accommodations, buy to let, and also help in acquiring commercial properties with a target to help students get affordable homes because most students have issues getting a home when they move to certain areas for university education, they find it difficult to secure rooms and some people don’t want to live in the hostels because they want a place of their own. We have properties in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leicester. I started real estate business because I was once homeless. I was once homeless in London and slept in the car for some time. Until you’ve experienced a situation, you won’t understand what other people go through. However, my homelessness was due to my personal decision.
What inspired you to start the low-cost housing scheme?
I started my low-cost housing scheme to help the underprivileged get roofs over their heads. Millions of people across Nigeria have no home, and I decided to start from the area that I spent my childhood. The issue of housing is very important, and growing up in Ojo opened my eyes to so many dehumanising conditions that common people go through. Many of those who we grew up together will never imagine that something good could come out of the area, hence I am doing this as a way of giving back to society. Although we plan to expand and reach more people in other areas within Lagos, I started with Ojo because I am aware of the conditions of many people who live there. We started this year with feeding 3,000 people, and our target for the year is to feed 10,000 people, and we have trained 20 people. If we build one shelter today, it would house about 500 people, and we would also train them to get skills to further integrate them into society. We also got crutches and wheelchairs for the physically-challenged, and we would soon make distribution to those that needs them.
How do you plan to achieve housing people at affordable costs?
Housing people at low-cost is our long-term plan. Our short-term plan is to feed people, and we have achieved that to some extent, and we are still doing that. Our next phase is to train people in order for them to become employed and be able to afford renting or buying the affordable homes. Because we have limited resources, we are doing it gradually with the support of our partners, and we are also liaising with local governments and councils in Ojo. Recently, we secured 500 hospital equipment for the general hospital. I am thinking of a 20-year plan. I am passionate about housing the homeless as I have been able to achieve such through my partnerships in the United Kingdom over the years.
Do you think that your foundation could help address the issue of housing deficit, unemployment and hunger?
In all honesty, the OAWF cannot solve these problems alone, however, we are doing our part and the government needs to do their part by making sure that people get educated, are provided jobs, and affordable housing. I have driven past kids who don’t go to school, walking around with no shoes and I felt bad. We are willing to even grant these children scholarships if they are ready to go back to school. With the resources that this country has, I believe we can do more for our citizens. Although homelessness is not peculiar to Nigeria, the UK gives over 2bn in foreign aid yet some of their citizens are still homeless, however, we need to do better because the major reason for homelessness over there is due to a lack of enough land to build on. My teams invest in programmes that cater to people’s needs, aimed at helping street kids become better and spend their time learning, acquiring skills rather than roaming the streets and causing nuisance in our society.
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