Women Leaders Of Real Estate: Adenah Bayoh On The 5 Things You Need To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry

An Interview With Jason Hartman

I had a partnership with a partner of mine, which was the third deal. So the partner sends the deal over the deal term after an agreement. So you know, we’re just going to use the operating agreement that we have on the other deal. That’s just going to be that, no problem. My partner, little did I know, wanted to change some of the terms in that operating agreement. Later, when the project was all said and done, and it was time to divvy up the developer’s fee, it was in the operating agreement that the partnership can absolutely take up the developer’s fee to use it in the construction. The next thing is get yourself a good CFO and a good accounting team. You also must know your community, or that community that you are doing business in, let them know you, and you know them. The last and final advice that I would give anybody trying to come into the industry is that no man is an island. This real estate industry as a circle, you know, today, anybody, every transaction, be firm, but be very respectful to all of the professionals that you do business with. You never know when you’re going to need a person again in the future. Don’t be a pushover, be firm, but be very respectful.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders of the Real Estate industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Adenah Bayoh.

Adenah Bayoh is the owner of 7 restaurants including 4 IHOP franchises in northern New Jersey. She opened her first IHOP in Irvington Township, New Jersey at the age of 27, making her one of the youngest franchisees in the country at that time. Because of the success of this flagship location along with her other business ventures, she is the second largest employer in Irvington. In late 2017, Adenah launched Cornbread, her first independent fast casual, farm-to-table, soul food restaurant, which she co-founded with fellow entrepreneur, Zadie B. Smith. In addition to her restaurants, Adenah is a successful real estate developer with a portfolio of several major residential and mixed-use urban redevelopment projects across northern New Jersey. In January 2015, she was appointed to the prestigious Federal Reserve Bank of New York Advisory Council on Small Business and Agriculture. She has been named to Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 list and NJBIZ’s Best 50 Women in Business list. She was also the recipient of the Faces of Diversity Award from The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. She is a sought-after speaker by business, professional, and community organizations; universities; and women’s associations.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?

To make a change!

I think the biggest backstory for me was growing up in affordable housing and not understanding the complexity of the buildings I lived in and within my communities and how they got there. I’m thinking the government just put this building here, and I’m just living here. And as I got older, and I evolved, and started getting into real estate, I understood that housing for me is the foundation of everything in your life. If your housing is off, everything else in your life is off-kilter as well. So I started experiencing that in college when my friends didn’t have a dorm room and had to stay with friends and what that did to their grades. Coming back to the community that I lived in, and witnessing homelessness yet gentrification is rapid and the high costs of housing. So I started doing the opposite, I started buying homes, renting them at a very, very affordable rate with no subsidies. Because I had a three bedroom and I know a friend can only afford $1,000. So I rented it to her for that price. And for me, I started doing it over and over and over. And I started realizing the impact I was having when people called me and said, Adenah, I need a place for someone to stay. Do you have anything I can afford? I realized that I too, in this space can have a greater impact because of my reach. I’m local, and from the community, and people can relate to me. And so when I have to sum all of this is impact, and to make a change and a space that is so much needed.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away what you took out of that story?

I worked on a project seven or eight years ago and was having a difficult time getting the project off the ground. The capital stock was in there and the funding wasn’t lining up. So, I brought a partner into the project. And we formed a JV, (joint venture partnership) and got to 9%. When we went to close on our syndication, I got a call from them and they said, “We want them to do this deal. You can’t be in a project.” and I said why? They said, “Well, you had a full court of foreclosure on your credit report from about nine or eight years ago. And they don’t want you to part with the project because of this foreclosure”. This moment felt like such a punch in the gut for me. It was like someone taking a baby that you nurse and nurture and say this is not your baby anymore. At the time, the option that was in front of me was either get the project right now, and we can continue to do the project because we already got the funding in the view and we have to go to another syndicator. The project was going to take too long. So my usual response is always that the community first has to forgo being in a project.

So that is the project and how it happened, because I knew the community needed those 40 units. The lesson that I really, really learned from that was “Adenah, you got to do this, you’ve got to do this on your own. Stop bringing partners in deals, that last minute change terms, that last minute can even have the gut to come to you and say you can no longer be part of this project.” The lesson that I learned was that my independence was so important. From that moment, I said to myself, this will never ever happen to me again. I will find my independence. I would do this and do this in a way that I put my community first, but doing it in my own way.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I’m currently working towards opening my own fast-casual restaurant business. While frequent restaurant goers might be satisfied with time-tested menu items such as the hamburger or pizza, there is an emerging demand for something new that could truly satisfy their changing taste buds. Cornbread Farm to Soul — the fast-casual restaurant focusing on savory soul food and family-friendly experiences– looks to meet this demand through the creation of a new franchise opportunity. The brand now plans on opening more locations in the next few years. They have three locations in the NYC/NJ area with the latest one opening in Brooklyn.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

I think the bigger reason why I think my company stands out is that I bring a woman’s perspective to real estate development. I think women are so powerful. I think anything, any organization that has a woman at its head, is going to do very impactful things. I feel that what we’re doing for your development is impactful projects. I want to leave a mark, I want to leave a mark of excellence, I want to inspire the next generation of young girls to look at real estate development as an option. I want to lead the path that’s a little bit more clear than the people that came before me did for me. I want to make women, particularly black girls, come into this industry to let them know that they can do it. Our doors are opening for them to make sure that they too can have a seat at this table. So I feel the reason why I think this company’s development stands out is because it’s about women, it’s about making room at the table for women.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

The people that have been pivotal in my career helped to get me to where I’m at, I will start with my grandmother. My grandmother was this uneducated woman in the remote village of Africa, who had no education, but was tenacious enough to build a real estate empire, tenacious enough to build a restaurant empire, and tenacious enough to build a whole farm. So I grew up around a woman, you talk about women King, my grandmother was a woman, King. She instilled in me that don’t take no for instance, before getting up. Where your scores will honor and pride.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. The Real Estate industry, like the Veterinarian, Nursing and Public Relations fields, is a women dominated industry. Yet despite this, less than 20 percent of senior positions in Real Estate companies are held by women. In your opinion or experience, what do you think is the cause of this imbalance?

I think the fundamental cause of this imbalance is that men are so comfortable keeping women as second in this industry. It is very hard for women to find a man that can say you are just as smart as I am. Either apply for the senior position or go start your own firm. There is no incentive for them to do that, because they like women in supporting roles. There are a lot of men in this industry that do not like women that have opinions. I think besides them, wanting women in supportive roles, I also think in the real estate industry, women are comfortable being there. The unit we dominate, if you look at a variety of these real estate firms, women are in really strong supportive roles. But, we are not comfortable raising our hand and saying, “I can do this too, I may fail” and that’s okay, because you fail to, but I am going to take the chance and bet on myself. There is this fear of failure, particularly amongst women that holds us back. We’re not given the ability, we’re not given the opportunities to fail and learn. Because when we fail, it hurts so harshly against us. That’s why you see my opening story, I get kicked off a project because I had a foreclosure. On my credit on my record, they would never do that to a male, particularly a white male. For we get penalized, so harsh because of mistakes that we make. It makes you afraid that why would you put your hand up with something like this gonna come back and haunt you. So for me, I find that fear is fear of failure, that has women not stepping up to the plate to bat. I haven’t met a man in the industry that is encouraging them to do this. Because we do qualify, we cave on this industry, we could be vice versa. And we could be president and CEO of these firms. We are just uncomfortable, and the ecosystem is not there to push us and said no, you can do it. And you should do it.

What 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender balance going forward?

For individuals, if you’re running an organization, and you have your morning executive team meeting, and you don’t see at least four women at that table, do something about it. Companies, when you hire, seek to hire women professionals. So what? you may have to search high and low, do it, Beyonce was able to find a whole female band and do a song you can’t find three females to be seen in your organization? I’m on the second team. For society I do think one of the pivotal things about diversity and equality is that it takes a lot of work, you have to be able to do the work, and it takes ingenuity. But most importantly, be intentional about it.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Lack of support is one of the biggest challenges faced by women executives. Oftentimes these women execs are the only ones at the table with men colleagues. At the end of the day, it comes down to unconscious bias, unequal pay, being treated differently, and sexual gender based harrasment. I feel that gender biases and stereotyping work against professional women’s leadership aspirations. Many executives tend to interpret men’s assertive behavior in the workplace as strong and direct, but when these women display the same skills, their employers often see them as aggressive and outspoken

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry?

I think with real estate, it’s the particularly affordable housing that excites me most., it’s going to be the next civil right. It’s going to be our generation’s civil rights issues to solve, that inequality is so very right now. That if we don’t fix this and put real money to fix this problem, you’re going to have the working poor in this country, there aren’t going to have nowhere to live. That’s one thing. The other thing that I think excites me about this is that that industry is getting diversified. A lot of people of color, a lot of women are looking at the real estate industry as an option. I think the third thing is that the unexpected, for me, is that I’m looking at the real estate option, as a way to be a catalyst of change within my own community. When I see a building that’s abandoned, I no longer say, oh, when are they going to fix that? I said to myself, Where am I going to fix that? Who owns that and why does it look like that I need to do something about it. So that empowerment within myself, I am so excited about

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

The concern is that access to capital is very hard for minorities coming into this industry. The cycle in which we get affordable housing online is so hard, it’s so long and may make it harder for us to get these units on the market. Because we all go into the same capital stack that is 9% to 9% or 9%. We got to find another source of capital to fund affordable housing in the state of New Jersey.

What advice would you give to other leaders to help their team to thrive?

I think the biggest advice I would give to a leader is that you have to surround yourself with players. If you want to build a compelling company, surround yourself with players and give them the autonomy for them to work. Another advisor, our game, to lead us to have that thing Team Five is that we have got to empower our people to solve problems. What problem is your organization solving that is getting your people excited to come to work every day? I think when people have a purpose, to solve something, especially something as crazy right now as affordable housing, that can wake anybody up at night. So I think you should allow your team to be in a space where you’re solving some real problems. And I honestly think that not giving the people that work for you slack really helps you build a powerful company. And don’t accept mediocre performance don’t, as someone who’s not bringing it has the courage to have an honest conversation with them, that unless they can step it up, this is not the place for them. I love that I honestly have the courage to have an honest conversation with people.

Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

I had a partnership with a partner of mine, which was the third deal. So the partner sends the deal over the deal term after an agreement. So you know, we’re just going to use the operating agreement that we have on the other deal. That’s just going to be that, no problem. My partner, little did I know, wanted to change some of the terms in that operating agreement. Later, when the project was all said and done, and it was time to divvy up the developer’s fee, it was in the operating agreement that the partnership can absolutely take up the developer’s fee to use it in the construction. The next thing is get yourself a good CFO and a good accounting team. You also must know your community, or that community that you are doing business in, let them know you, and you know them. The last and final advice that I would give anybody trying to come into the industry is that no man is an island. This real estate industry as a circle, you know, today, anybody, every transaction, be firm, but be very respectful to all of the professionals that you do business with. You never know when you’re going to need a person again in the future. Don’t be a pushover, be firm, but be very respectful.

Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger

I think the movement now is helping people that are working two, three jobs, and put them in decent housing, where they’re not spending more than 60 or 70% of their income on rent. Housing is a basic foundation, it’s a necessity. Any movement that I want to do is to stabilize housing in marginalized communities, give people places to live that they can be proud of, and make it affordable, so that people are not working five jobs just to have somewhere to live. This way, they’re not defaulting on that car note, they’re not, you know, missing credit card payments, because that’s what happened. And we don’t know the effect of people living in apartments or the rent burden. We do not know that affects affect them in ways where they can put their kids in.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.