#5 SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
Trying out Entrepreneurship, Learning and Living.
Tamilore Lawal, a Law student with interest in Real estate and now building Cluster shares her experience from living in two cities, growing up and trying out entrepreneurship.
In this discussion, Tamilore shares how she has fared as an entrepreneur, as well as her struggles and achievements.
Let’s start with knowing who Tamilore is.
I was born in Lagos, around Egbeda. We lived there until I was three and then we moved to Edo, Benin City. I attended school there until I was in Primary three and then one day we just moved back to Lagos and we’ve been living here since then.
How was the experience living in the 2 cities?
Well, in both cities my parents brought up my siblings and I the same. We were omo inside children. It was always going to school and then straight home or to my mum’s shop. So I didn’t really have too many friends but that was substituted with a lot of toys and a sandy backyard. *laughs*
Tell us something random about you.
Umm. I’m terribly shy and I am terrified of the dark
Being a law student and having an interest in real estate, how did that come about?
To be honest, I have no idea how I got into this real estate thing. I used to fantasize about living on my own and even if I couldn’t afford it I would spend hours looking for the perfect apartment for myself. And a lot of times doing that I was irritated by a lot of the listings. Houses with terrible quality and insane prices. Absurd agency fees, I couldn’t understand it.
So I thought, if someone made real estate investments easy for people, there would be enough money to build better quality houses. At the time I really didn’t think I was suited to solve the problem so I called a friend who runs a real estate company to gist him about it.
Funny thing, at that same time, there was a Hackathon supposed to go down in school. I didn’t make up my mind to go until the first day of the event was almost over. Lucky for me, I quickly formed a team and we got to work. Long story short, we won and I was thrilled so I decided to work on it. At that time it was called Estate Mini.
A few months later, I’m reading a book and thinking hard about the real estate crowdfunding idea and then I made a move and switched to co-living. Trying to build Cluster has been nerve-wracking but I like to think that it’s worth it.
Quite a switch, who would have thought it would turn out with you taking a stab at solving the problem. Before Cluster, did you try out other things? How did it go?
True. Well, I did try other things but I wasn’t as deep into it as I am with Cluster right now. I love cooking so when I was in my third year in school, I decided to sell pap and akara(bean cake) in my hostel. It’s a funny memory for me but I like to laugh about it because as weird as it was, I learned a lot of things. I spent almost every Saturday for a year frying akara and making pap, doing free deliveries running from the third floor to the last floor while trying not to get caught too. I think I lost a lot of weight that year. *laughs*
The pros seem to outweigh the cons, especially because you were keeping fit with it. How have you been tackling challenges you have faced at cluster?
With Cluster, especially since it’s still very early, there has been one issue or the other literally every week. Most of the time, it’s with me lying awake trying to make sure that our model doesn’t fall apart. So I find myself picking the entire thing apart, trying to find out what could go wrong and I always find something that could go wrong. I try to not focus on making things too perfect so sometimes if that issue can wait, I concentrate on other things that we can do.
Then other times, it’s having to deal with my team. We’re all students and it can be difficult trying to get everyone to do their tasks especially now that we’re at home. When I feel like I might get super angry, I just stay away and then call everyone to talk about the problem when I’m calm.
Sometimes out of the blues, I find a company that is almost similar to Cluster and then I start to panic. I literally go into full panic mode because I start to think, what makes us different from this company and then I begin checking out their social media, their websites, signing up to get more information until I can differentiate us. At times like that, when it gets too much, I sleep for days or I call my friends in the real estate business.
This revelation corroborates the fact that you are really building something important. We would like to know if you have faced any challenge that is linked to your being a female.
Well, being a girl can be hard; so in one way or the other, I have. I remember being in Year 2 and going to school from home, it was always a battle trying to make sure that I didn’t get grabbed or pulled or even groped by men at Yaba. I was younger then so I wasn’t so vocal with threatening rude men with lawsuits. I’m more vocal now. *laughs*
That is part of the ills we want our society free from. You mentioned learning from the sales of pap and akara, and it is certain you have learnt from the work at Cluster. Can you share some of the lessons and why they are important to you?
Feedback is important but more importantly, you have to be able to filter the information that you get as feedback from people. The first few weeks into selling pap and akara, I talked to some of the regulars and found out they thought the pap wasn’t thick enough. Same time, some people thought I should chop a lot of onions and pepper inside the akara but I think I figured that some people wouldn’t like removing onions and pepper while eating.
Execution is pretty important. That’s one of the mistakes I got into with Cluster. If you get stuck trying to make things too perfect, you’ll waste a lot of time and do nothing. So I’m taking my own advice and we’ll be putting something out early July.
We have always been big on how tenacity and resilience are important to the development of young talents. What are some of the strengths that has kept you going?
I’m very determined. Like every other person, I get really down and doubt myself but I never give up. If I say I’m going to do something, I make sure that I try everything I can to do that thing. I think another thing is that I’m very curious. I research even the weirdest things, I ask a ton of questions to whoever will give answers to them and if no one can, I look to Google. Also, I read as many books as I can.
Those are really admirable strengths. We would like you to share some of your achievements to inspire other young African women?
I started learning about entrepreneurship in Senior Secondary School. I raided my dad’s wardrobe and took all the Rich Dad books there. After a while in SS2, I tried my first money-making idea, handmade cards. I would charge N300 for small cards and N500 for bigger cards. I made a ton of money during my last two years in Secondary School.
At Unilag, I became the President of a career and entrepreneurial organization called Enpact Initiative. It was a tough but fun one year. I also founded a financial literacy organization to help children learn about money matters and entrepreneurship. I was privileged to be an Entrepreneurial Fellow of The Bridge Program from last year. Learning from The Bridge Program and meeting new people was the highlight of my year in 2019.
I was the winner of Flutterwave’s first student Hackathon in Unilag. I think I’ve said a lot about running across three floors selling akara. *Laughs* And now currently, I am trying to change residential real estate in Nigeria with Cluster.
Keep the big things coming, Tamilore. We are super proud of you! Quick divergence; do you have other interests? What are they?
Thank you. I’m a content writer. I enjoy reading, horror novels and business books are my favourites. I dabble in UI/UX Design when I can. And I love cooking.
Thank you for inspiring Africa, and we appreciate your time too. Stay safe through this time, as we battle Uncle Rona.
Thank you, too.
