In a move described as driving innovation in the real estate business, leading online property letting agency, Tolet.com.ng has rebranded to PropertyPro.ng. The new property search online platform was officially launched in Lagos on Monday.
The rebranding to PropertyPro.ng became necessary after six months of acquiring Jumia House (Lamudi), Tolet.com.ng’s biggest competitor. The new name, PropertyPro.ng which has over 6,000 properties listed would help improve the search experience of 14,000 daily users who visit the website.
Speaking during a press conference in Lagos, Fikayo Ogundipe, Co-founder and CEO of PropertyPro.ng stated that the acquisition of Jumia House was a strategic investment for the company as the firm had evolved in its operations.
He said the firm which had been in operation in the last 5 years was initially branded Tolet.com.ng, however, changed its name to PropertyPro.ng as this reflects the company’s broader commitment and its expertise in driving the innovations needed to shape the future of real-estate search solutions.
“We were branded Tolet.com.ng but today we launched a new platform called PropertyPro.ng. And for the past 6years, I and my Co-founders have built this business, however, the name change reflects a real phase of real estate business in Nigeria.”
“Before we acquire Jumia House last year – which strengthens our position in the real estate business, we were offering rental services but our business has evolved because people can actually buy properties via our platform,” Fikayo said.
In his words, Sulaiman Balogun, Chief Business Officer and Co-founder said the name change allows the company to emphasize its wide-ranging business objective.
The CBO stressed that PropertyPro.ng desires to continually improve the way property search is conducted from the view of both real estate professionals and the general public, with the goal of increasing access and improving service delivery.
“The new name is effective immediately and will be implemented across the company’s product offerings.
Our brand ethos has always been built on trust, credibility and industry knowledge – that’s what kept our business growing successfully over the last 5 years, and the PropertyPro brand promises to deliver on this same terms.”
The Chief Operating Officer and Cofounder, Oladapo Eludire stated that real estate agents and property developers who list on PropertyPro.ng will now have their listings displayed in the best manner yet.
He explained that each listing will contain more relevant and clearer information that will assist end users in making better decisions. “In other words, this will help real estate agents get better results.”
“We have made efforts to ensure that all properties listed on our website are verified, that has helped us build trust over time.”
PropertyPro.ng (formally ToLet.com.ng) was founded in February 2013 by four visionary young men; Fikayo Ogundipe, Sulaiman Balogun, Oladapo Eludire and Oluwaseyi Ayeni. The company had started with the sole aim of reaching out to agents and property owners to change the concept of property search in Nigeria.
It was a milestone achievement for these four young men when the company secured an investment worth $1.2m. Since then, the company has pivoted from having around 10,000 property listing to about 60,000 property listings; from 150 agents to about 10,000 agents advertising on the platform.
PropertyPro.ng is a subsidiary of the ToLet property group alongside with other companies founded by the group; Moveme.com.ng and Prestige magazine.
Experts have projected the Nigerian real estate sector will grow at the average of 10% in the next few years.
The real estate sector has been valued by National Bureau of Statistics to worth at an average N8.06 trillion which is over 8% of Nigeria’s GDP. With the recession that hit the country a few years ago, the real estate market in Nigeria still remains vibrant.
