Ejimhukwu Stephen bought his first property in small installments. Now his company wants more Nigerians to own land the same way.
For a lot of Nigerians, owning land is a goal they hope to achieve later, once they have “enough” money to buy the land outright. Squemita, a proptech and fractional land ownership company founded by Ejimchukwu Stephen, is built on a simple challenge to that belief: what if you don’t need the full amount to own a piece of land from day one?
The Origin Story: A Property Bought in Small Instalments
Mr.Ejimchukwu has nearly a decade’s worth of experience in business across different sectors. According to him, his habit is to look at wherever he finds himself and ask how it could be done better.
When he was starting in the phone and communications business, he was already asking how to reach people who weren’t being served, before platforms like Jumia and Jiji made that kind of thinking familiar.
He started from the bottom when he got into real estate. He has distributed flyers on the street, made cold calls, and worked in marketing, sales, and management. The experience gave him a broad view of the whole sector.
The idea is also a personal one. He bought his first property through gradual instalments, and he says the receipts would make you laugh because the payments were small. However, the structure saw him through, and the land is now worth millions.
“Imagine if other young people could have this particular opportunity that I had,” he said.
That is what Squemita is all about: taking the structure that worked for him and making it available to more people, with the assurance that they will get to the end of the process.
Vision: Land Ownership Without the Wait
Mr. Ejimchukwu confirms that Squemita is working towards filling the gap in the traditional property market, starting with who the market currently serves.
According to him, traditional real estate is built around high net-worth individuals (HNIs), people who already own several properties. Meanwhile, the people who most need a place of their own, like the 9-5ers and young Nigerians, face demands of ₦50 million to ₦150 million or more.
“We have seen that there are a lot of people that want to get into the sector, but they don’t have that down payment of millions,” he said.
He has seen this play out several times, even in his own circle. On the day of this interview, a friend based in the UK called to ask how to get started.
Squemita’s priority isn’t just the individual buyer. Nigeria’s housing shortfall is large, and the speed of delivery is far lower than the need. He has warned that a generation of young people will struggle to house themselves if it continues.
The idea is that partial ownership beats none. “If you’re able to team up with someone and get it, at least you own part of something, and from there you can start your journey,” Mr. Ejimchukwu says.
His belief is this: “When you have a land, you already have a home.” In his experience, securing the land is the foundational step, and building is the second. He has seen buyers on linked sites complete a basic structure, finish the interior, move in, and gradually turn it into a home.
A Full Property Toolkit: How Squemita Works
How do people own property without breaking the bank? Mr. Ejimchukwu describes the solution in two words: access and trust. Access means getting property ownership to a much wider market, and Squemita does that in three connected ways:
- Fractional land ownership in Nigeria: a family or a group of friends can set a shared target, become joint owners, and build up their stake until they reach their goal. Instead of one person having to make a ₦50 million to ₦150 million purchase, the money is spread across co-owners.
- Saving towards owning land: Squaremeter allows users to gradually save toward a land purchase and accumulate ownership over time. Mr. Ejimchukwu highlights a common example: someone has ₦500,000 saved, which isn’t enough to buy land, has no disciplined channel for it, and ends up squandering it. A savings structure built for this purpose helps with that. According to him, improper planning and indiscipline are part of the problem, and the platform is designed to counter both.
- Instalment payments: large sums are broken into structured payments that can run in instalments.
Trust is the other half of the promise. Squemita works from both sides of a transaction, and Mr. Ejimchukwu describes it as having a merchant phase and a user phase:
- Merchant phase: real estate owners, both developers and individual property owners, present their properties to buyers who want to buy them, instead of advertising to audiences that aren’t interested. Buyers review the terms and move forward with those that match their needs.
- User phase: this gives the buyers control. “We are trying to make sure that the market goes into the hands of the users. Let them be the ones in charge,” says Mr. Ejimchukwu.
He confirms that Squemita’s legal team has put measures in place to protect transactions. The goal is that buyers get their property at the end of the transaction.
What’s Next for Squemita?
Squemita’s mission as a proptech company in West Africa comes down to affordable real estate investment in Nigeria, building financial discipline, and giving Nigerians a realistic path to long-term, generational wealth. By combining fractional ownership, structured savings, and a two-sided marketplace backed by legal measures, Squemita treats land as something a young professional or worker can own today, instead of waiting for the perfect time.
If you haven’t been considering land ownership because of how difficult it is to gather the full amount, Squemita, as a real estate savings platform, is worth a look.
Contact Squemita
Founder: Ejimchukwu Stephen
Company: Squemita
Founded: 2026
Location: Abuja
Email: info@squemita.com
Phone: +234 905 550 0059
Website and social media: [TO BE ADDED]
Services: Fractional land ownership, savings towards land purchase, installment payments, and a two-way property marketplace
Nigerians who want to start owning land without the full amount, and developers or property owners who want to list properties, can reach out to Squemita directly.