Mi Vida home buyers are set to receive financial support from the financer of Pan-African Housing Development Shelter Afrique.
Mi Vida affordable homes are developed by private equity firm Actis in a joint venture with Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate (SPRE). In addition to supporting Mi Vida’s affordable home buyers, Shelter Afrique will also cover part of the project’s implementation costs.
Mi Vida Homes will initially be developed in Kenya and potentially spread elsewhere. The development will include multiple affordable housing units, including studio apartments the cost of which starts at Sh2.8 million.
According to Samuel Kariuki, CEO of Mi Vida, the partnership with Shelter Afrique builds on their current institutional capacity to push urban renewal as well as the provision of affordable housing at scale.
The partnership, according to him, will explore demand and supply-side finance solutions. The development and rollout of products that address current issues are a welcome boost. It is said that demand-side financing in particular continues to be a major challenge in the housing value chain.
The agreement offers Shelter Afrique an opportunity to carry out its mandate of delivering financial and technical support for housing. Shelter Afrique also gets an opportunity to deliver urban development in Africa.
According to the most recent available disclosures, the institution, which is primarily owned by governments, has assets worth Sh20.9 billion in 2021.
Why Shelter Afrique plans to fund the Mi Vida affordable homes buyers
It is expected that providing financing to buyers will make it easier for households to purchase the property. Without it, it is said that the properties would be out of their price range. The majority of individuals live in Nairobi and other large cities as tenants. Most city dwellers buy their homes with cash or build them slowly over time.
The chief executive of Shelter Afrique, Thierno-Habib Hann, acknowledged that Kenya, one of the most developed markets in Africa with a population of 50 million, has just 30,000 mortgage subscribers. He added that the same applies across Africa, while India has a well-developed mortgage sector. He said that such a partnership is important to help them draw fundamental lessons.
Aug 2021
Mi Vida Homes Builders Achieve 1 Million Man-Hours Incident Free
Mi Vida Homes, currently under construction next to Garden City Mall, has achieved a major safety milestone after surpassing more than a million work hours without a reportable accident.
This hallmark achievement has been attributed to the developer’s strong focus on health and safety resulting from a company-wide strategy of instilling strict values and targets within the wider network of workers on its construction sites.
For Mi Vida Homes to achieve such a milestone is highly notable, especially in a country that experiences a high rate of accidents and loss of life among workers.
In 2017, a report by the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) recorded 237 construction-related accidents in four years, with about 115 men aged 21 to 40 being seriously injured, some of them sustaining lifetime disabilities. The accidents include electrocution, falls from roofs, injuries caused by falling debris, explosions, and fire-related accidents, among others.
While most of these incidents are seemingly hard to control in large construction sites, they are preventable, and Mi Vida is a testimony to how implementing the right safety measures can eliminate construction accidents.
“This milestone is a credit to the diligence of the Mi Vida construction team, Eco-Hub Services Ltd, and Steel Construction team,” said Mayur Sancheti, Project Director at Mi Vida
“We have strong field leadership, excellent craft workers, and engaged safety technicians assigned to each project, all of whom prioritize safety throughout their daily work.” He added
Mi Vida Homes engaged the expertise of the backers Actis and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate to ensure continued timely construction through the Covid period, taking learnings from developments they have done in Asia and Africa. This has allowed Mi Vida to keep to their promise of on-time delivery as they are on schedule to complete their project at Garden City by Q2 2022 after commencing construction in March 2020.
The company currently offers 1-,2- and 3-bedroom apartments from KES 8.8m next to Garden City, off exit 7 Thika Superhighway. Visit www.mividahomes.com for more information.
