The sun was brutal that afternoon, but Chinedu did not mind. It was fitting that the heat would be the first thing conquered.
Before him, the first rows of Imperial Power's solar panels were being carefully lowered into place on their steel mounts. The technicians—Chinese engineers alongside Nigerian crews—worked in silent coordination, a rhythm of movement and instruction that promised both precision and speed.
This was no groundbreaking ceremony with golden shovels and cameras. This was real. The beginning of a grid that could alter how an entire region consumed energy.
Behind the rows of machinery, government officials gathered—representatives from the federal power company, NEPA, and the Ministry of Energy. Their conversations with Chinedu were polite but serious. They wanted to know timelines, integration points, and the guarantees Imperial Holdings was putting forward.
Chinedu explained calmly. Imperial Power was not competing with NEPA; it was complementing it. The federal grid would remain the backbone, but Imperial's farms would feed stability into the system, ensuring fewer outages, more reliability, and most importantly, visible progress. He even hinted at offering NEPA priority purchase rights at favorable rates, a move that made the officials nod in approval.
Later that week, Chinedu left the buzzing installation site and took a quiet drive through Imperial Real Estate's developments.
The foresight was visible in every detail:
Apartments and estates built just off newly paved expressways—some of them Imperial Construction's own projects.
Imperial Oil stations strategically positioned nearby, with residents offered complimentary fuel cards as part of their home packages.
Imperial Malls and Imperial Cinemas no more than fifteen minutes away, ensuring entire neighborhoods lived within the Imperial ecosystem.
It was not just about building homes. It was about weaving a lifestyle loop, where every need—power, food, transport, leisure—circulated back into his empire.
The numbers were already coming in. Apartments were selling faster than expected, with middle-class families eager to own homes tied to modern infrastructure. Investors were circling too, some quietly asking if Imperial Real Estate would eventually float shares.
Chinedu smiled at the reports. Profit was finally rolling in—not from speculation, but from solid, physical foundations.
He knew this was only the beginning. The panels would rise, the estates would fill, and the Imperial name would continue spreading like the roots of a great tree.