Coffee Chats Vol 3: 21 Year Old in Private Equity Real Estate?!
Ok, ok, I admit the title is a little misleading, but don't let that fool you. Recently I got the amazing opportunity to sit down and chat with Oha Yejekwe, a UIUC real estate finance graduate with an extremely impressive resume! From his student housing startup Abode to his legit private equity program through Project Destined, I got to learn so much wisdom from his experiences in college, his move into real estate, and just from having a genuine conversation about life and our similar goals.
Lesson 1: Life is trial and error. You have to try things to find your fit. One of the most interesting things about Oha is how he went through multiple interests in college. He started off as pre-med, then marketing, then accounting, then found finance, then niched down into real estate. "A theme you'll see with me is that you need to try, and that life is very trial and error. Every single major I did, I took the classes, I met people, I joined clubs." What I appreciated is that he gave each experience the attention it deserved, really getting himself involved. A discouraging belief I used to have was that you had to have everything figured out by 18 or else you're cooked. But that's simply not true. You're allowed to fail, you're allowed to pivot careers, and you're allowed to learn what you like. Most importantly, none of that time spent discovering yourself is a "waste of time." Every moment spent learning about yourself is valuable. Mistakes are meant to guide you, not define you.
Lesson 2: Chase fulfillment over prestige and salary. A shared ideal Oha and I both had is that we care far more about fulfillment than about how rich we can become. I admired how introspective he is: "I'm trying to find things where I can see myself doing this for five, ten, fifteen, twenty years. Do I actually like this stuff? Does it pique my interest?" I believe this is an important mindset that not enough young ambitious people take the time to adopt. Especially in business, everyone raves about investment banking, tier 1 consulting, quants, and private equity. But a lot of the students chasing these goals don't actually care about these industries. Conditioned on prestige and high salaries, a lot of young adults think this is all that matters, and they never take the time to truly understand themselves and the lifestyle they want to live. Oha eventually landed on real estate because he was genuinely fascinated by the mix of relationships and analytics. "A big draw was that it's a really good blend. You're in Excel doing analytics, but half of it is also the people, your relationships and your reputation."
Lesson 3: You don't need to master the technical stuff up front. Be a sponge. One of the things I'm most nervous about going into my later years of college is technicals. Every day I'll see a post reminding me just how ignorant I am when it comes to Excel, casing, modeling, accounting, and everything else. Thankfully my soft skills have been able to take me pretty far, but I don't want to just be the personality hire. I want to be able to contribute at a high level no matter the career path I pursue. One encouraging thing Oha told me is that you really only need to master the basics. "No one particularly expects you to be a master of things. They're more looking for people that can just work. They just want a sponge." Every company has its own programs and its own unique way of doing things, none of which are taught in class. Most companies don't expect you to run their operations right out the gate. Unless you're applying for a very technical role like an analyst, strong soft skills, a basic understanding of the industry, and a willingness to learn will take you very far. Shout out Oha, too, he emailed me some great resources like a real estate vocab Quizlet, relevant newsletters, and a DCF model!
Speaking with Oha genuinely felt like catching up with an old friend, despite this being our first conversation. Hearing his story and relating to his goals was really encouraging. It felt like talking to a version of myself in the future.
