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Real Estate - Page 5

2 mins read

Tyler Perry Just Sold His Former Studio Lot For $18.5 Million

In 2007 Tyler Perry purchased his first studio lot. A year ago, the property was put for sale (for $25 million), so that the company could move to a larger studio on the grounds of an old abandoned Army base (Fort McPherson) located just outside Atlanta. The studio reportedly sold for $18.5 million and closed on Dec. 13, 2018.

tyler perry
Former TPS listed the studio in July for $25 million

The property was purchased by Ozzie Areu, former president of production of Tyler Perry Studios, and his brother, Will Areu. To purchase the complex, the Areu Bros. raised $4.5 million in a recent funding round, according to an SEC filing. According to an Areu Bros. release, they will be the first Latinos to own and run a major film and television studio in the United States. Will Areu will continue to work for Tyler Perry Studios as president of production.

Previously the world headquarters for Delta Airlines, the lot in the Greenbriar area of Southwest Atlanta sits on 60 acres and includes five sound stages, four office buildings (126,000 square feet) with executive offices, post-production facilities, a theater, a commissary, and fitness center.

The studio also has a back lot consisting of a suburban neighborhood with eleven homes and a city street.

Ozzie Areu,(R) former president of production of Tyler Perry Studios, and his brother, Will Areu (L)

 

Tyler Perry Studios at Ft. McPherson

 

-Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson (IG @thebusyafrican)

 

8 mins read

This Family Owned Business Closed over $500 Million in Real Estate Deals In One Year

National Standard Abstract is a family owned title insurance company located in Floral Park, NY. In 2018 they closed more than $500 million in commercial real estate transactions and have since closed over $1billion in transactions.

In June 2018, NSA closed a total of $432 million in faith-based and affordable-housing development transactions. The non-faith-based deals include the $189 million Archer Green in Jamaica, Queens; the $47 million Regina Pacis Housing in Gravesend, Brooklyn; and a $42 million project in Harlem.

We spoke with NSA founder and CEO, Osei Rubie to learn more about him, his background, and future plans.

family owned
Osei Rubie

What led you to get involved in the title insurance industry?

14 years ago, I was refinancing my personal residence and once I realized that title insurance was required; I did not want to pay for this cost, perceiving it as optional. The bank attorney then explained that this was a mandatory cost that the bank required to confirm that they were no current defects in title, violations, liens, or outstanding judgments.

I then asked the bank attorney, who happened to be a friend of mine, if he had a business relationship with the title insurance company; which led to him setting up a meeting for me to speak with them after the closing. After meeting with the company, I learned that they were not only publicly traded, but the largest underwriter of title insurance in the country.

At the time I was working with a pharmaceutical company, so when a permanent position to begin as a sales executive 2 weeks after we met was offered, I accepted thus beginning my career in the title insurance industry.

NSA focuses on faith-based affordable housing development projects. Why did you decide to focus on this niche?

New York City’s independent churches represent a significant portion of land ownership. As a result of Mayor de Blasio’s housing initiative, developers are constantly looking for new opportunities to create development projects, leading to the partnering of the two entities to create a faith-based affordable housing market.

This opportunity allowed us at National Standard Abstract to achieve our business mission in conjunction with our social mission.  Here at National Standard Abstract, we strive to identify new sources of transactions to provide title insurance; as well as focusing on underdeveloped communities and advancing the growth of affordable housing.

Your father is an entrepreneur. Briefly describe his influence on your professional life.

My grandfather (Costa Rican), as well as my mother and father, were all entrepreneurs, in addition to numerous other family members.

We lived in Liberia, West Africa for several years during my childhood, during which my mother and father started multiple businesses that included, 3 clothing retail stores for men and women, a clothing manufacturing facility for school and military uniforms, as well as a restaurant.

Upon our return to the United States, my parents were driven by the void of representation for black children within the toy industry. The passion to fill this void gave birth to one of the first mass-produced black toy lines in the country, Huggy Bean Doll. This product was in all major retailers on a national basis that sold toys (Toys R US, Walmart, Kmart, Target, etc.).

I was directly involved in this process at the end of my high-school career, by actively presenting new toy product lines to these retailers. This intense exposure to entrepreneurship both domestically and internationally was the ultimate training ground.

family owned
Osei Rubie (right), founder and CEO of NSA and his son, Nadir Rubie.

In the past 5 years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life?

The Power of Faith and Overcoming Doubt.

When I started in title insurance, they were many comments made to me that it was unlikely that I would be able to succeed as an entrepreneur in title insurance. So much so that people would tell me that my aspirations of owning my own firm were time not well spent.

In October 2017 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. This potentially terminal illness also has another layer of complexity in that there has been a significant advancement in technology for this procedure (laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP)). In the past, 10-12 years ago, this procedure could have a variety of results including impotence, but with new laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, this risk has been substantially minimized.

I had the surgery in February of this year and when first diagnosed I was told that because of my aggressive and intense schedule with my business, I would need to adjust my schedule accordingly and to expect my business revenue and sales goals to be reduced. Mental and physical conditioning has always been a major part of my business and life prep toolbox.

I’m happy to say that I defeated cancer this year making a complete recovery; while simultaneously having my best year in title insurance in my 14-year career.

Where do you see this business in 5 years?

Our goal within the next 5 years is to be the premier provider of title insurance nationally. We have provided title insurance for 2 multi-million-dollar commercial transactions in the state of New Jersey since we have begun in 2015, one for $15 million and the other for $35 million.

Our pipeline is filled with new out of state multi-million-dollar commercial transactions. Our focus on continuing to strengthen our position of leadership in the state of New York on multi-million-dollar commercial transactions will grow from this year’s banner accomplishment of over $600 million dollars closed and $274 million in Faith-Based development

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

First, assemble an informal team and then transition to a formal advisory team, including but not limited to legal, accounting, financing, and expert or experts within the field that you have an interest in.

By surrounding yourself with these individuals to give feedback and technical instruction on processes and procedures in your industry of interest, you can maximize your ability to bypass traditional problems and errors in a startup environment, and also maximize your ability to accomplish “stretch goals” in a short period of time.

 

-Tony O. Lawson


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5 mins read

DMV Realtor, Eze Okwodu Wants You To Buy and Sell #TheEzeWay

As important as it is to recognize business owners and entrepreneurs, it is just as important to recognize the professionals and service providers who are excelling in their different fields of practice. Eze Okwodu is one such professional.
Eze is a Realtor at Exit Flagship, serving the Washington D.C. Metro Area. With over fifteen years of experience as a real estate investor, Eze is committed to helping his clients find their dream properties that not only meet their needs but are sound financial investments.

Eze Okwodu (Realtor) Washington D.C.)

Why did you decide to become a realtor?

I decided to become a Realtor because I felt it would give me the opportunity to buy larger buildings at a more affordable rate.

In addition to being a realtor, you are also a real estate investor. How has that helped your career so far?

It has helped in several ways, for one I am already very familiar with the inner workings of the real estate industry. Since I am a landlord I can see things from the perspective of a client who wants to purchase an investment property. I can also understand the struggle that tenants go through trying to save money to make a purchase.

What do you do in your spare time?

In my Spare time, I enjoy reading fiction, hiking, long distance runs. I love trying out different vegan restaurants in the city.

You serve the DMV area. What changes are you noticing that market?

The prices of homes in DC are growing very very fast. My advice is to do everything you can to buy property in DC. Even if it’s a one bedroom shack, it would be wise to buy something based on where the predicted future appreciation of property in the city.

How has the pandemic affected your business?

With the majority of people now confined to their current living spaces and now also having more time to think about their comfort and future, coronavirus has actually increased business for me. I get a lot more inquiries about refinancing and wanting to buy larger homes.

In a way, it makes sense because social distancing has forced people to be more reflective about their home environment and how important it is to live in the best place possible, especially if you have to stay there nonstop for long periods of time, as is the case right now.

What marketing strategies have you implemented recently?

I’ve increased my marketing by 50% and also started working closely with loan officers. I’ve also started using Zoom and other web-conferencing platforms to host financial literacy workshops that have been a real hit in the community.

These workshops give people an opportunity to continue to improve their potential to become new homeowners.

In addition to that, I share images and videos of some of my current property listings on social media platforms and set up one-one-one follow ups for those ready to buy.

You’d be surprised how many people are willing to buy new homes in this environment.

What advice do you have for those interested in becoming a real estate agent?

It’s not as simple as people make it sound. The best advice I can give is to come in ready to work harder than any job you’ve ever had.

Where do you see your practice in the next 5 years?

In 5 years I will own my own real estate brokerage.

Contact info:
EXIT Flagship Realty
1221 Caraway Court, Suite #1040
Upper Marlboro, MD 20774
Cell:  (301) 559 2872

Tony O. Lawson


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10 mins read

$500 Million Black Woman Owned Investment Firm is Rebuilding D.C. with Foreign Dollars

When Angelique Brunner moved to the nation’s capital two decades ago, she was shocked to find neighborhoods with no stores, no services, and burned-out buildings.

Black woman owned investment firm

Black Woman Owned Investment Firm

“I started asking around about what is going on here, people told me it was the riots,” she tells Fast Company. “I said, ‘Oh, what riots?’ They said, ‘The Martin Luther King riots.’ I said, ‘The riots were in 1968. So, this is why D.C. doesn’t have grocery stores, and it’s giving away houses for a dollar?’”

The local city government was, in fact, selling off long-abandoned homes for a buck to developers who had the money to rebuild. Some of Washington’s once vibrant black neighborhoods never quite recovered from the unrest in the days following the assassination of the civil rights leader and the subsequent departure of the middle class.

Brunner was stunned and, armed with her degrees in public policy from Brown and Princeton, started learning the ropes in venture capital and then real estate development—determined to make a difference.

And she is making a difference, bringing jobs, homes, and new business to once blighted streets.

The NoMa neighborhood seen from the top of Uline Arena in Northeast Washington. With the hotels, restaurants and amenity-rich apartments comes the specter of gentrification to a historically African American neighborhood of modest row homes. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post)

As president of EB5 Capital, which she founded a decade ago, Brunner is now one of the driving forces in the revitalization of D.C., leveraging a controversial program that puts rich foreign investors on a path to citizenship in return for their investment dollars.

FOUNDING HER OWN COMPANY

The road to founding her own firm was paved during those first years, initially at a VC firm. “I  was the only African American female from New York to Atlanta that was in venture capital.” She later moved to Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association), where she became an expert in community investing.

“Laypeople might assume that urban areas struggle to get development dollars because no one wants to build there. I learned through the late 1990s and early 2000s that there has always been interest, just not the financing needed to actually execute,” she says.

It was during this time that she became familiar with the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and saw an opportunity to bring development dollars to neighborhoods that others did not want to touch. So with the gap in money needed persisting to complete urban projects, and the scars from the riots still showing, she founded EB5 Capital.

“I felt motivated to address this, which is why my second project ever was a grocery store on 7th Street in Northwest D.C. that also had an affordable senior housing component,” she says.

Since then, Brunner has helped connect foreign investors with several major D.C. gems, including City Market at O Street, bringing new residential and commercial life to a once dilapidated but beloved historic city site. Brunner is also behind D.C.’s Columbia Place development, bringing two new Marriott hotels to the downtown convention center area.

JOB CREATOR

Brunner sees her mission as twofold: Rebuilding the capital’s neighborhoods and bringing new jobs to people who desperately need them. And she is an unabashed fan of the EB-5 program, which is up for renewal—and reform—in U.S. Congress. Job creation is at the core of the program, which was founded in 1990 and is administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It offers foreign investors green cards in return for job-creating investments in domestic development projects.

“People are willing to invest in the United States for an expedited visa process. The only hitch is that you have to create jobs with the money they invest,” she says—10 for every $500,000.

“We are focused on job creation, but livable cities require jobs and affordable housing,” Brunner explains. Gentrification, like the luxury apartments that now make up the O Street Market, is necessary, but there are ways to mitigate the displacement that sometimes follows.

“First, as a financier of multifamily housing developments, we are able to advocate for higher than required moderate- and low-income housing set-asides,” she says. “We work with a particularly sensitive developers committed to the mixed-income fabric of our neighborhoods.”

EB5 Capital’s latest project in Washington, D.C., has 14% of its rental units set aside as affordable housing–the District of Columbia’s inclusionary zoning program only requires between 8% and 10%.

Black woman owned investment firm
NoMa — adjacent to Union Market — has the highest concentration of EB-5 financed projects in the city, said an official with an EB-5 lobbying group. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post)

The company also focuses on bringing living-wage employment opportunities to areas that need them. “Be it working in the construction trades or an entry-level position at one of our hotel projects, I believe jobs that present meaningful advancement opportunities, located in the areas that are being developed, are very important to strengthening the fabric of a mixed-income community,” Brunner adds.

“You can actually have financial gains in a neighborhood that don’t necessarily change the racial fabric of a neighborhood initially. To me, the only way to address the addition of economic opportunity is to consciously create mixed-income neighborhoods.”

“We’re not a manufacturing city. We’re not a place where we can easily absorb a non-educated labor population. We struggle with that, and so we have to bring retail, and we have to bring the jobs into those neighborhoods,” she says.

PRESERVING THE EB-5 PROGRAM

EB5 Capital is now worth $500 million and has 35 employees with 12 nationalities who speak 16 different languages, and have visited more than 90 countries. The  company’s portfolio also expands to cities like L.A., New York, and Nashville.

Brunner and her firm have an unblemished history with the USCIS, but the EB-5 program in recent years has come under increased scrutiny.  “I think our company has used the program effectively and in a way that creates a cascade of benefits for their respective cities, including new jobs, new housing, and new business opportunities,” she says.

Construction seen from the roof of the Homewood Suites in Northeast Washington. (Jared Soares/For The Washington Post)

Still, critics have called the sale of citizenship to high bidders unseemly. The AP reported that in return for nearly $8 billion in investment, the USCIS has approved 40,000 visas for Chinese nationals and their families.  A company owned by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, came under SEC scrutiny earlier this year for its dependency on EB-5.

And just this week, more than a dozen Chinese investors in Royal Palm Beach in South Florida sued, claiming they were defrauded by American developers.

Brunner, who has testified before Congress on reforming the program, says she supports efforts to tighten accountability.

“The EB-5 industry has been advocating for new legislation for the program, and I am in full support of strong integrity measures to ensure it’s being used as intended and in a lawful manner,” she says.

 

Source: Fast Company and The Washington Post

3 mins read

Shaq Partners With Black Owned Real Estate Development Firm to Build $79M Apartment Tower in N.J.

Shaquille O’Neal is partnering with a Black owned real estate development firm to build a 22-story apartment complex that will hover over the city’s downtown as its first high-rise in more than 50 years.

Black owned real estate development firm

“I remember when I was growing up (the city) used to be beautiful like this so the older I get, I want it to be a little more beautiful,” O’Neal told NJ Advance Media. “I invest in things that are going to make a difference.”

On Tuesday, O’Neal, a Newark native, was joined by Gov. Phil Murphy, Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver and Mayor Ras Baraka to mark a milestone in the building’s construction.

“Yet another piece of evidence that this city is on the rise, let there be no doubt about it,” Murphy said. “This is a city that has got a trajectory that is undeniable … as our big urban centers go, first and foremost as Newark goes, so goes the state of New Jersey.”

Black owned real estate development firm

The $79 million luxury apartments, developed by Boraei Development and O’Neal, are steps from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the renovated Hahne & Co. building that includes a Whole Foods and the newest restaurant by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson.

The 168 apartments at 1 Rector Street will open by the end of the year with residents able to apply for a lease as soon as September, Wasseem Boraie told NJ Advance Media. He said the company bought the property — which used to house the old Science Park High School10 years ago — but construction didn’t begin until last October.

Wasseem Boraie, executive vice president of Boraie Development

“We were waiting for the right time,” Boraie said, citing new businesses in the area. “We all then build up around the supply.”

O’Neal also announced a new $150 million, 350-unit apartment complex with Boraie (whom he called “the Kobe Bryant of development”). The 35-story building on 777 McCarter Highway will be known as the “House that Shaq Built,” O’Neal said.

“I was born and raised here, I love this city,” O’Neal said during a press conference after struggling to lift the microphones at the podium to his height.

O’Neal recalled a 1992 visit to Newark to see his relatives. “My mother says to me, ‘I remember when this city used to be beautiful, somebody needs to come back and invest in this city and make it beautiful again,’ then she gave me the elbow to the chest like I’m that somebody,” he said.

4 mins read

Kofi Nartey Discusses How He Sells Million Dollar Homes to High Net Worth and Celeb Clients

Kofi Nartey has over fourteen years of professional experience in luxury real estate and has sold millions of dollars worth of real estate.
The former athlete and actor is currently the Celebrity and Luxury Homes Specialist and the National Director of the Compass Sports & Entertainment Division.

We caught up with Kofi to find out more about how he has managed and trained hundreds of agents, and built a successful real estate business.

How did you decide to get into real estate?

I have always been an entrepreneur and real estate is an industry that has allowed me to build a business. I get to use my business school training, team skills from my sports days, negotiation skills, and interpersonal skills.

It is also rewarding to help people build wealth through investing.

You often work with celebrities and professional athletes. What does it take to attract and keep hi net worth clients?

You have to understand their lifestyles and know how to service them better. They have different wants, needs, and concerns.

Kofi and LA Laker, Lonzo Ball

The better positioned you are to proactively service those needs, the more likely you are to get their business. Once you get them, you keep them with amazing service and follow up.

Kofi and Philadelphia Sixer,  Joel Embiid

What are some new and innovative ways you market your services or listings and what “old school” methods are still effective?

I have a saying when it comes to innovation in industries: “Two-thirds tried and true, one-third sexy and new.”  Sometimes industries are so innovative, they don’t connect with the consumer. We use technology to improve the client experience and make it more efficient.

Compass, the brokerage I work for, is at the forefront of real estate technology and we use these tools to stay ahead of the market. For the tried and true, you still have to engage and connect with people on a personal level. You may use technology to reach them, but personal engagement will keep them.

People measure success in different ways. What does success in business and in life look like to you?

That’s a simple one. To me success is realizing all of your God given gifts and sharing them with the world. This means, working daily to realize your potential in whatever you are doing and share that potential with those around you.

What advice do you have for fairly new real estate professionals who want to take their business to the next level?

1. Be ready to work hard. Nothing replaces hard work…not even technology.

2. Find a mentor. Find someone in you can learn from or join a team that gives you more exposure and resources.
3. Set longer term goals. Set your goals a year to three years out, then work daily to accomplish them. Nothing amazing happens over night.

4. Lastly, Focus & Finish. This is a mantra I created and have lived by for a decade. Focus on the small steps that lead to your big goals.

 

– Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson (IG: @thebusyafrican)
6 mins read

Black Real Estate Businesses & Professionals

From the beginning of recorded time, real estate or land and property ownership have been responsible for the creation of many fortunes. Here are some Black real estate business owners and professionals who are at the top of their game.

Black Real Estate Business Owners & Professionals

Ayesha Selden (Philadelphia, PA) is a self-made millionaire who has amassed a real estate portfolio of 0ver 30 properties and 41 units. She is also an author, public speaker, and coach.

black real estate

Cedric Matheny (Atlanta, GA) is Principal and Vice at President T.Dallas Smith & Company. He specializes in Tenant and Buyer representation services for corporate users of office, industrial, retail, and land.

black real estate

Eze Okwodu (DMV area) With over fifteen years of experience as a real estate investor, Eze is committed to helping his clients find their dream properties that not only meet their needs but are sound financial investments.

black real estate

Daniel D. Thomas (Bridgeport, CT) Since starting his career at the age of 19. By the age of 23, he became one of the youngest Real-Estate Brokers in the country to open his own firm Daniel D. Thomas Real-Estate.

black owned real estate

Kofi Nartey is the founder of The Nartey Group, a leading authority on luxury real estate, he is the go-to broker for celebrities, prominent sports figures, and affluent clientele around the globe.

C. David Moody (Lithonia, GA)  is the President and Chief Executive Officer of C.D. Moody Construction Company, Inc., one of the largest Black-owned construction firms in the U.S.

black owned construction company

G. Lamont Blackstone (Mount Vernon, NY) is the principal of G. L. Blackstone & Associates LLC, a commercial real estate consulting firm specializing in urban markets.

Lisa Phillips (Arlington, VA) is the founder of Affordable Real Estate Investments. She is also a real estate investor who is passionate about teaching others how to “cash in on working-class neighborhoods for higher profits.”

black real estate

Scottie Smith (Houston, TX) is the Managing Broker at Scottie Smith II & Associates. Mr. Smith specializes in sales, investments, property analysis, and valuation of multifamily and single-family properties in Texas.

black real estate

Roy Donahue “Don” Peebles (Washington D.C.) is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the Peebles Corporation, the largest African-American-owned real estate development and ownership company in the US.

black real estate

 

Harrison Beacher (Washington, D.C) has dealt with and successfully helped close every kind of deal from multi-million dollar sales, to foreclosures, short sales, co-ops, estate sales, first-time buyers, Down payment assistance program deals, investors, rentals, and everything in between.

Adenah Bayoh ( Irvington, NJ) is the founder and CEO of Adenah Bayoh and Companies, a real estate development portfolio with over $250 million dollars in urban redevelopment projects.

black real estate

Quintin E. Primo III (Chicago, IL) is the co-founder and CEO of Capri Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm specializing in mezzanine investments in real estate private and publicly held companies.

Kenneth H. Fearn (Los Angeles, CA) is the Founder and Managing Partner of Integrated Capital LLC, a leading hotel-focused, private real estate advisory and investment firm. 

Egypt Sherrod (Atlanta, GA) is an award winning Realtor ® and CEO of The Egypt Sherrod Real Estate Group. Egypt’s daily business activities include counseling modest first-time home buyers to quarterbacking the listing/marketing of homes owned by corporate leaders, celebrities, physicians and investors throughout Atlanta.

Brendan Wright (Atlanta, GA) is a realtor with Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty and a Certified Negotiation Expert. In 2013, Brendan was recognized as Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty’s youngest Multi-Million Dollar Sales Club member.

Michael Russell (Atlanta, GA) is the CEO of H.J. Russell & Company, a vertically integrated service provider specializing in real estate development, construction, program management, and property management. Michael founded the company in 1952 and led it for 50 years.

Victor MacFarlane (San Francisco, CA) is chairman and chief executive officer of MacFarlane Partners, which he founded in 1987 to provide real estate investment management services to institutional investors.

Kenneth Bacon (Bethesda, MD) is Co-founder and Managing Partner of RailField Partners. Prior to forming RailField, Ken spent 19 years at Fannie Mae, most recently as the Executive Vice President and Head of the Multifamily Business.

Sundra Ryce (Buffalo, NY) is the President and CEO of SLR Contracting & Service Company, Inc. SLR offers commercial general construction, construction management, and design-build services for new construction and renovation projects, schools, nuclear facilities, and government projects.

 

-Tony O. Lawson


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8 mins read

Adenah Bayoh Escaped Civil War and Built a $225M Real Estate Portfolio

When Adenah Bayoh was eight years old, civil war in Liberia forced her into a refugee camp. She immigrated to the U.S. when she was thirteen. By the time she was twenty-seven, she was one of the youngest IHOP franchise owners in the country. Her location soon became one of the most profitable in the Northeast.

Adenah has since received numerous awards and has been named one of the top 50 business women in New Jersey and one of Ebony Magazine’s Power 100. In 2015, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York named Adenah to its Small Business and Agricultural Advisory Council. We recently had a chat with her about her amazing journey. This is what she had to say:

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SB: What was the most valuable lesson you learned from your experience in a refugee camp?

AB: I learned that becoming a victim in difficult circumstances is a choice and that it was not going to be my choice. Escaping the war motivated me. I wanted to find opportunities and move forward instead of looking back.

I learned that even in the toughest situations there were always options and resources I could tap if I was willing to work hard enough. When we were in the refugee camp, my cousin and I would cross back into Liberia to get fruits and vegetables and then sell them in the camp in Sierra Leone. I was always hungry for opportunities.

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SB: You were very close to your grandmother. How did she shape the person you are today?

AB: My grandmother would always say, “you have to wake up before everyone else and do more than everyone else,” and that wasn’t just an inspirational quote. She really lived that way. My grandmother played a big part in raising me when we lived in Liberia because my parents were working in America to pay for our schooling.

My grandmother is an amazing woman. She owned over 100 acres of farmland, she owned restaurants, and she was involved in real estate. She was highly respected and growing up, she really helped to shape my entrepreneurial drive. When I was six, she told me that I had a skill for business and had me working in her restaurant. I’m really thankful to her for helping me to realize my own potential and giving me a space to learn at a young age.

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SB: What sparked your interest in real estate?

AB: Well, I knew it was a possible venture because as I mentioned, my grandmother owned a lot of real estate in Liberia. I chose to get involved because I knew it would be a solid investment.

In college at Fairleigh Dickinson University, I served as an Residents Assistant in the dorms and after I graduated and got my first renter, I realized that I was doing a lot of the same kind of work, except I was the benefactor.

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SB: Community development is a passion of yours. In what ways do use your businesses benefit the communities where they are located?

AB: After immigrating to the U.S., I lived in Newark and saw firsthand how this community was often overlooked by businesses and investors. The negative perceptions about crime and the lower-income population didn’t inspire a lot of businesses to invest and those that did invest didn’t bring the kind of quality goods and services that are offered in other communities.

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My goal was to bring high quality services to Newark and other urban markets and to ensure that my real estate development projects and other ventures bring value, generate opportunities, and serve as a catalyst for more economic development. I also make it a priority to utilize and support minority and local businesses and to invest in the people in these communities. I believed that when communities such as these get better the world gets better.
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SB: Why is it important for you to expand your business interests to West Africa? What are you planning for West Africa?

AB: I have a yearning to help rebuild my home country of Liberia. I’m currently working to start a nonprofit called “Hope Well” there. It will be a mobile clinic that can provide medical care, screenings, and important supplies to the villages in the country’s interior.

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SB: This summer, you will open your first fine dining establishment, Cornbread. What should we know about Cornbread?

AB: I’m really proud to announce that Cornbread will be my own signature line of fast casual, farm-to-table, soul food restaurants. Also, the support of sustainable and organic farming practices will be central to Cornbread’s goal of serving high-quality soul food.

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We’ll be sourcing our meat, fish, and produce from over 120 small-production, family-owned farms throughout the New Jersey and Pennsylvania region and we excited to cultivate a true “farm to soul” experience. The first location will open in Maplewood, New Jersey.

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SB: Based on what you have learned so far, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in any industry?

AB: I would tell them to be present and stay in the moment because you never know when you will need to draw on your various experiences. Don’t allow your circumstances turn you into a victim and keep a positive attitude. When I arrived in America, I was severely behind in academics, but I didn’t let that intimidate me. It seemed like there were endless possibilities in this country, so I pushed to be the best.

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There’s no substitute for hard work, but when you’re motivated and driven, nothing or no one can stop you. Additionally, don’t be deterred by “No.” I was turned down by seven banks before I was able to secure a loan for my first IHOP. However, those seven “No’s” prepared me for my “Yes”. By the time I got to the 8th bank I had addressed every possible issue, concern, or question so there was no way I could be denied.

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Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson

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