Kenya: Local Property Developers Visit China
By Ben Omondi
GUANGZHOU, CHINA----Kenya’s property developers recently had a chance to learn about new building technologies and engage with their counterparts from China during a ten-day visit to the country’s two provinces.
The visit, organized by the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) through its mortgage arm Savings and Loan (S&L), was meant to give the local developers an opportunity to learn about building technologies available there.
The trip, from October 12 to 21 and the second one organized by the developers club this year, saw 45 members of the KCB S&L Developers Club visit China’s provinces of Guangzhou and Guangdong and was due to the fact that the property developers considered China as having the best alternative forum for property development.
“This is a great opportunity for our customers to see what the construction sector in China can offer and learn new ways to do business back home,” said Peter Muthoka, KCB Group chairman, adding that the second tour to the Asian nation was meant to expose the visitors to the opportunities and building technologies available in the Far East.
The KCB S&L Developers Club, which was formed in 2009, currently has a membership of 120 drawn from real estate professionals such as developers, estate agents, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, as well as parties providing complimentary services to the real estate community including lawyers, valuers and building materials suppliers.
The Developers Club is managed by the Bank’s Mortgage Division following the merger between KCB and its mortgage subsidiary, S&L.
The mortgage club members attended the 108 edition of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, an exhibition of construction machinery, household electrical appliances, lighting equipment, building and decorative materials, sanitary and bathroom equipment among other fixtures and appliances.
In China, the tourists visited construction sites and met with suppliers of building materials, furniture and textiles with a view to learning more about modern trends in construction and new construction technologies.
“The tour proved useful to our customers especially in terms of building their own capacity and creating valuable networks that will benefit their work,’ said Muthoka, further urging developers to supplement efforts being made by the bank and other partners to bring down the cost of building or buying homes in order to promote the sector.
In May, 2010 another group of 47 members toured China as part of ongoing capacity building in the club’s efforts to improve the level of development and growth of Kenya’s construction sector.
“Kenya requires an annual development of 150,000 new housing units to meet increasing demand but it is barely able to make a third of that number. We hope such trips can invigorate the sector strive to meet this demand,” added the KCB board chairman.
Over the past two years, KCB has facilitated visits to China and South East Asia for over 300 members, through which the entrepreneurs have been able to make business contacts, expand businesses and conduct monetary business transactions.