This is as it redeemed the promise to the 14 SMEs that emerged winners from its Valentine’s Day promo tagged ‘Propertymart SMEs Valentine’s Grant’ held earlier in the year.

The online campaign which held between February 14 and February 28 had participants sending in sone-minute video describing their businesses, their inspirations, and how a grant of N100,000 will impact them.

Entries were judged based on the compelling startup stories, the proposed best use of the N100,000 grant, and the level of engagement on social media. 

The winners who met all the criteria were announced in March 7 and received their prizes recently at Palton Morgan Head Office in Victoria Island.

Speaking while presenting the cheques to the winners, Nidal Turjman, Group Chief Operating Officer, Palton Morgan Holdings, highlighted the importance of giving back to society and disclosed the idea behind the initiative.

“We understand that the SME segment is an important sector of the economy, and we wanted to acknowledge them for their brilliant ideas. The initiative started with our key objective to motivate them and is a part of our corporate social responsibility. We are not looking for only profit; we are also giving back to the society by helping SMEs,” said Turjman.

“We hold our word in high regard, and we are happy that the winners have all received their grant. We will continue to encourage SMEs, not only on valentine’s day but anytime in the year. That is the least we can do for society,” he added. 

Sharing their happiness after receiving the grants, the winners appreciated Palton Morgan’s gesture, disclosing that it means a lot to them and their business growth.

Temiloluwa Ajet, who runs a male fabrics business, said, “This was a pleasant surprise, and I wish to express my appreciation to Palton Morgan for this grant. I usually get orders in bulk sometimes, and I’m sometimes unable to deliver due to financial constraints. But with this money now, I’ll be able to get materials in bulk and deliver to my customers,” she said.

Adeshola Araoye expressed the same sentiment, commending Palton Morgan for fulfilling its promise.

“With a lot going on in social media right now, one will always be sceptical about giveaways. When I saw my name on their page as part of their winners, I waited for like two, three days without hearing from them; I started doubting them. Today, they’ve proved to me that they keep to their word,” Araoye said.

Olawumi Beatrice, who heard about the SME grant through a friend, also praised Palton Morgan for the initiative, disclosing the money’s impact on her business. “Thank you to Palton Morgan for impacting lives and supporting small businesses like mine. There is a particular machine I’ve wanted to get that will help my work become fast; with this grant now, I’ll be able to get that machine and also get a small space to display my goods,” she said.

Another beneficiary, Oluwatobi Ogunyemi, who runs an educational tutorial centre, lauded Palton Morgan’s integrity, saying, “I am surprised companies like this still exist. I was a bit sceptical about participating in this giveaway, but they proved me wrong at the end of the day.”

He added that “one of the major challenges I face is finance and getting tutors to teach the students. But now, with this money, I’ll be able to get new instructional materials that will facilitate learning and convince more people to be part of the tutors. Teaching is more of giving back to the society, so it has to be people that have passion for the job.” 

Since its incorporation in 2008, Propertymart has embarked on several corporate social responsibility initiatives.

It offers scholarships to outstanding high school students and carries out training programs.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Propertymart donated relief items running into millions of naira to Lagosians.

The three-day program held from March 16 to 18 and was themed ‘Enhancing Economic Competitiveness.’

It was designed to boost the effectiveness of public sector stakeholders through exposure to global best practices on institutional collaborations, PPP dynamics, sustainable competitive advantages, and cluster participation mechanisms for inclusive national growth. 

The well-attended course had senior government officials and public sector stakeholders in the built sector of the economy, special assistants to governors, permanent secretaries and directors at ministries and heads of MDAs relevant to the real estate sectors of both States as participants.

The course facilitators were faculty heads in Business, Strategy, and Economic Planning, including Dr. Nkemdilim Iheanachor, member of the Strategy Group at LBS; Dr. Dolapo Tukumi, Course Organizer; Dr. Frank Ojadi, Member, Faculty of Operations Management at LBS and Lead Facilitator & Manager at LBS, Oreva Atanya.

Others include John Uwajumogu, Partner at Ernst & Young Nigeria; George Agu, Founder/CEO, ActiveEdge Technologies Limited and Ife Adedoyin, Senior Executive, Deloitte.

Speaking on the training’s purpose, Femi Olubanwo, Chairman of Palton Morgan Holdings, noted that “although LBS usually has the course curriculum attended by corporate executives across sectors for capacity and economic development, we decided to sponsor this course to enrich those who regulate our sector with current knowledge of economic strategies and the power of synergies so that they also can have a contemporary understanding of where the people they regulate are coming from.”

On the choice of Lagos and Ogun, Olubanwo said both are contiguous but work in silos and that it would be beneficial bringing them together.

He said, “if this initiative goes as we hope, we will find Lagos and Ogun states working together on projects, planning, and development, which will benefit our society and sector. We are delighted to be at the vanguard of making that happen.”

Also commenting on the company’s facilitation of the training, Delphine Misan-Arenyeka, Non-Executive Director at Palton Morgan, said it was part of its social responsibility to the states it operates in.

“We are building the capacity of senior public servants. Hopefully, it will translate to their subordinates and ultimately result in greater success in policy and regulations.

“We looked at the business of Palton Morgan and the value chain and felt that we can bridge the gap between our stakeholders in the public sector and us. We wanted to stimulate a synergy such that they will understand our language when we go to them for approvals and permits that will enhance development in the sector,” Misan-Arenyeka explained.

The course beneficiaries, on their part, expressed gratitude for the opportunity provided by Palton Morgan to improve their knowledge and progress in their careers with dynamic and relatable industry resources and comparative trends from across the globe.

They all affirmed the importance of collaboration for both states to maximize their economic strengths whilst integrating their competitiveness. They encouraged Palton Morgan to engage in more partnerships to consolidate on growing the potential of the two states.

Some of the beneficiaries were the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning, Lagos State, Abiola Kosegbe, her counterpart at the Lagos State Ministry of Housing, Wasiu Akewusola, Director of ICT and Business Development, Ogun State Housing Corporation, Olufunmilayo Sorunke, and Director, Administration and Personnel, Ogun State Property and Investment Company, Taiwo Ogunyoowo.

Speaking, Kosegbe said, “The fact that you have been able to select people from the built environment to be here is saying that Palton Morgan is interested in developing the sector.”

Sorunke said, “I have learned to develop new business strategies and not business as usual.”

Commenting on the partnership with the public sector, Group Chief Operating Officer at Palton Morgan, Nidal Turjman, stressed that the real estate giant’s contributions to socio-economic development are extensive.

He said, “We have contributions covering the real estate value chain. It could be from property management, construction, logistics, investment advisory, sales and marketing, etc. These are the first course participants, and at Palton Morgan, we are looking to more contributions from stakeholders in this sector so that we can all contribute to growing the economy of Nigeria.” Palton Morgan Holdings is the parent company of PropertyMart Real Estate Investment Company, Grenadines Homes, The Oceanna, and Paltonloitte. The economic capacity development and competitive strategy course is one of its corporate responsibility initiatives and interventions to impact the sector and society.