Real Women Invest in Real Estate

Udo Maryanne Okonjo is currently the chief executive officer and vice chair of Fine and Country West Africa, where she leads the management team. Under her leadership, Fine and Country has captured a niche in the Nigeria real estate sector, specialising in advisory issues, corporate leasing, sales, marketing, and branding of premium residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects. Under her leadership, the West African office has leaped to the top in the provision of excellent real estate services to leading real estate developers and institutional clients. Udo was admitted to the Nigerian Bar Association in 1991 and to the New York Bar in 1994; she pursued a successful legal career for more than a decade, rising to become a partner in a leading law firm. In addition to this, she was the senior special adviser on legal and constitutional matters to the president of the senate of Nigeria. She was also best graduating female student in 1991 at the Nigerian Law School, and was awarded the prestigious Chevening Scholarship to study at the University of London, Kings College School of Law, where she graduated with a master's degree in Law (LLM), specialising in corporate and commercial law. She is also an alumnus of the Executive Programs at the Said Business School, Oxford University High Performance Leadership Programme, and the Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge University, where she took part in the executive programmes on strategic marketing and branding. Udo is a member of the Oxford Real Estate Society. Udo is passionate about leadership development in all sectors of the economy and was instrumental in setting up Nigeria's premier Real Estate Leaders Network and the Institute of Real Estate Excellence, amongst other learning platforms. An astute real estate investor and trusted advisor, Udo is passionate about real estate as a means of wealth creation and nation building. Working with Fine and Country, she set up Finer Wealth Club, the first women's group to enable more women to get onto the property ladder as a means of securing their financial future and empowering them to make better life choices. This book is an effort to encourage women to gain clarity, confidence, and competence in this area.