When Babajide Odusolu founded Octo5 Holdings Limited, formerly known as Legacy Holdings Limited, the Nigerian real estate sector was still in its infancy. What began in 1997 as Legacy Realties Limited evolved over the years into a distinguished holding company, solidifying its reputation as a pioneer in developing gated communities, particularly across the beautiful Lekki peninsula. Today, Octo5 stands as a trusted and reputable name in the real estate industry with a clear purpose: to be the premier provider of affordable homes and real estate solutions across Sub-Saharan Africa while setting new standards of excellence for a proudly African enterprise.
Babajide Odusolu Founder, Octo5 Holdings
From Dream to Reality
There are over 30 million working Nigerians yet fewer than 10 percent own their homes, Odusolu explains. More than 65 percent live in under-serviced or substandard neighborhoods. That gap is a blue ocean opportunity. Octo5’s mission is to make housing accessible and viable as an investment class across Sub-Saharan Africa. Its goal is to become the premier developer, manager, and operator of affordable residential and commercial communities, redefining how Nigerians live, invest, and thrive in urban spaces.
Balancing Profitability and Purpose
Developing affordable housing in Nigeria has always been challenging. Limited long-term capital, volatile exchange rates, and the tension between profitability and social impact have tested every developer. For years, we had to cannibalize our own resources by leveraging one project to finance the next, Odusolu says. That model collapsed during the recent devaluation. Now we raise new pools of capital, build fully funded developments, and only then offer them to the market.
This approach allows Octo5 to create products that reflect the realities of modern urban life. Younger professionals increasingly demand studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments instead of sprawling villas. The company is investing in vertical communities like Congress Park where mid-rise developments balance density with livability and integrate essential amenities such as power, water, and recreation into the community fabric.
Ongoing Projects
Octo5’s current developments illustrate its commitment to transforming neighborhoods. Ocean Bay Estate continues to set benchmarks for luxury and community planning while Congress Park introduces modern vertical living. Additional ongoing projects include Heron’s Beak, a medium-rise apartment complex, Playa Bonita, an upcoming condominium complex along the coastal road axis; Arthur’s Place, an urban regeneration mini community on the Lagos mainland and Falcon Heights, Guzape, a proposed urban deluxe community in the Nation’s capital city, Abuja. All these projects constitute pilot schemes designed to illustrate Octo5’s strategy for fusing mixed-use residential and commercial spaces to foster integrated community living. Each project aligns with Octo5’s mission to provide fully serviced, secure, and high-quality residential options across Nigeria.
Innovation in Ownership
Odusolu’s next frontier is broadening access to real estate investment using technology solutions such as STOW designed to enable fractional ownership. This solution allows career professionals to co-own investment properties across Nigeria’s urban centers, creating simplified and flexible pathways to homeownership. The STOW plan guarantees homes, encourages disciplined savings, and introduces flexibility that makes property acquisition more affordable. According to him, why should an apartment worth $200,000 be out of reach when ten professionals can each own a fraction of it and share the guaranteed rewards.
Another innovative solution is PropKeys, a digital platform that enables property owners to generate consistent returns through short and mid-term rentals. Again, he shared that in December 2024, every viable property in Lagos was fully booked. Most of the enhanced earnings went to brokers and managers, however using PropKeys, investors can tap and benefit from that demand seamlessly, he adds.
Riding the High-Risk, High-Reward Curve
Nigeria’s real estate market is often described as high risk and high reward. Government initiatives like the Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), Family Home Funds (FHF), Ministry of Finance Real Estate Fund (MRIEF) are modernizing the sector, making mortgages more accessible and boosting investor confidence. Octo5 has elected to focus on aggregation, creating communities where thousands of professionals pay affordable rents for high-quality, fully serviced housing. We aim to move beyond speculative development, Odusolu explains. Our goal is to grow the rental-based housing stock while keeping our investors insulated from inflation shocks and currency volatility while generating stable yields for them.
The $100 Million Play
Octo5 plans to raise $100 million over the next four years to deliver 100,000 homes across Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Kaduna. The strategy is structured in two phases, an initial $10 million pilot followed by a $90 million scale-up once proof of concept is established. The strategy seeks to enable Institutional investors commit long-term capital through structured debt notes into the various projects while retail investors are enabled to co-own these properties via STOW fractional ownership schemes. Either way, the objective seeks to deliver, stable returns backed by tangible real estate to its investors.
Aligning With Vision 2030
Odusolu draws inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the ambitious urban regeneration exemplified by NEOM. According to him, when I look at NEOM, I see what is possible when leadership commits to bold urban regeneration, he says. Nigeria can and must do the same. For investors such as the Saudi Public Investment Fund, he adds, Nigeria offers both social impact and profit benefits, any investment creates a sustainable platform for transforming the housing landscape for millions while securing double-digit returns over the long term for such ethical investors.
Integrity as Currency
At the heart of Octo5’s resilience is Odusolu’s personal creed, integrity. For me, it means being a man of your word by prioritizing investors, homeowners, and partners’ above personal gain. That is why people trust us, he reflects.
The Road Ahead
Expansion plans extend beyond Lagos. Projects in Abuja, luxury beach-facing apartments along the coast, and developments in Epe, Lagos’s next frontier, are underway. The long-term vision is to scale beyond Nigeria into other African markets facing similar housing deficits.
Nigeria has a minimum real demand for at least 700,000 homes delivered annually over a five year period for it to attain a degree of adequacy in housing provision. This means the minimum realistic and realizable market for housing in Nigeria especially Lagos is in excess of $200 billion using current market rates, Odusolu concludes.
The large population and a working population in excess of 25 million persons means that these homes can be easily acquired and made viable assets. In essence, with the right partner, Nigeria is a vast ocean of opportunities. This market simply needs committed investors with patient capital willing to unlock the trapped value. At Octo5 Holdings Limited, we are poised and ready to deploy our twenty five years of operating expertise in the Nigerian market to lead the way in achieving this goal and empower a new generation of African homeowners and investors.
Interview clip Here
Last modified: October 22, 2025
