Shelter Afrique boosts Stima Investment's housing plan

The loan from Shelter Afrique will be used to support Stima Investments' ongoing Syokimau gated community housing development project dubbed Stima Village.

Stima Investments partnership with Shelter Afrique comes on the back of a strategic corporate undertaking to change its capital mobilization strategy by incorporating the use of both debt and Equity instruments to finance its operations.

Stima Investment counts a rich pool of more than 4,000 members drawn from Energy sector players such as Kenya Power, Kenya Electricity Generating Company, Kenya Electricity TransmissionCompany, Rural Electrification Authority and STIMA SACCO among others.

Shelter Afrique has extended a Sh395 million development loan to Stima Investment boosting its planned construction of 156 housing units on Mombasa road in Nairobi.

The loan from Shelter Afrique will be used to support Stima Investments ongoing Syokimau gated community housing development project dubbed Stima Village.

Stima Investments partnership with Shelter Afrique comes on the back of a strategic move to change its capital mobilization strategy by incorporating the use of both debt and equity instruments to finance its operations.

“We are actively extending support to such projects as Stima Village to boost supply of affordable housing units for Kenya’s growing middle class,” Shelter-Afrique managing director Allassane Ba said on Monday when he confirmed the loan.

In the ongoing Stima Village development, Shelter Afrique is stepping in to fund the development of 76 maisonettes, forty 40 three-bed roomed and 36 four bed roomed units.

Stima Investment is an investment company registered under the co-operative act whose main mandate is to carry out business activities using member’s funds.

Each maisonette will comprise a large living and separate dining area, modern kitchen with in-built cupboards and pantry.

The ground floor will also have a guest cloakroom, laundry area; a self-contained and detached domestic quarters. In addition to this, each unit will have parking spaces for two cars.

“Stima investment over the years has been losing great opportunities in the real estate due to lack of ready funds to take up lucrative investments in buying of land, houses for speculative purposes and then sell them later at a profit,” said Stima in a statement on its website.

Stima Investment counts a pool of more than 4,000 members drawn from Energy sector players such as Kenya Power, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (Kengen), Kenya Electricity TransmissionCompany (Ketraco), Rural Electrification Authority(Rea) and Stima Sacco among others.

Cooperative societies in the country have been capitalising on their cheap capital to invest in the otherwise expensive property market in which a few have managed to enter.

Kenya’s property market has prooved to be a reliable investment vehicle posting good returns compared to the stocks and fixed income market.

Heavy demand that has been created by the underdevelopment in the property market in the past decades has seen rents and house prices escalate attracting investment capital.

This has also been boosted by cumulative economic growth in the last ten years that has pushed a many into the middle class and improved infrastructure opening up more areas for investment.