Investment With Impact

The story
CMS-Africa

CMS-Africa occupied 0.6 of an acre in a prime area of Nairobi. The land had been gifted to CMS-Africa in 2008, from CMS-UK when the land was worth $23,000 USD. Due to the expansion of Nairobi and the boom in the economy the land was worth $17m USD. CMS-Africa already had a vision to build a 16-storey building, so we became the developer and missional partner, being attentive to the needs of the mission. Without fair partnership these organisation are at the mercy of the banks or less scrupulous developers who know the land owner has few choices.

The construction was finished on time and under budget.

Affordable Housing

The urban population of Kenya is growing at a rate of 4.2% per annum as 500,000 people migrate to urban areas annually. In order to accommodate this migration, Kenya needs to build 200,000 new 'affordable' units every year. However, the problem is worse than these statistics reveal, as there is already a shortfall of affordable housing in excess of two million units, the consequence of which is that 60% of urban residents live in slums. The need for affordable housing in Kenya is clear but there are few developers that are intentional about making quality homes available for low income groups. 

HiHG builds homes ranging from $10,000 to $30,000, giving the poorest access to good quality residence and a share in an asset through a tenant purchase scheme. HiHG is committed to paying fairly, creating apprenticeships and safe working environments throughout the duration of the projects. 

Nine million children are sponsored worldwide annually, yielding no financial return to the donor. However, what HiHG proposes is an investment in business; building affordable houses, whilst paying the construction workers properly who are then able to pay their own children’s school fees and the investor gets their money back with a financial return.