AREHF Academy rolls out the red carpet in recognition of best practice in the industry in Africa. ROLAND IGBINOBA, director of AREHF Academy, sheds more light
All is set for the African Real Estate and Housing Finance (AREHF) Academy’s inaugural Awards. The AREHF Academy Awards is aimed at recognising and highlighting the role and importance of real estate and housing finance sector across the African continent.
In an industry faced with various challenges including financing, availability of serviced land for residential and commercial real estate, municipal capacity, regulatory bottlenecks and affordable housing, stakeholders in this sector remain fully aware of the task they face in creating accessible and dignified settlements; landmark commercial developments and sustainable environments that uplift the living standards in Africa.
About 56 per cent of Africans stay in slums and it is part of the real estate and housing finance industry’s mandate to upgrade informal settlements and ensure marginalised populations are afforded housing finance products to enable them change their lives. Furthermore, commercial and hospitality real estate have a significant boost on economic development across the world.
Award advisory board
The AREHF Academy Awards are here to pay homage, serve as encouragement and open up the region to more investors. Taking place in Nairobi, the AREHF Academy Awards is a two-day affair (March 29-30, 2012). It will kick off with a business-to-business networking cocktail on the March 29.
This will be followed by a full day conference on March 30. The conference will serve as an overview of the supply and demand conditions of real estate in Africa and where the market is heading in the next decade.
"With industry leaders in one place, vigorous and open debate around macro-economic conditions that can bolster the sector will be discussed," explains Mr Asare Akuffo, Chief Executive Officer of HFC Bank, Ghana, who is also a director of the AREHF Academy.
"Innovative solutions and transaction structure will also form part of the discussion," he adds.
The official awards ceremony takes place on 30th March, from 6pm to 12am.
Nominations for the awards are on until March 17, 2012 and anyone can nominate any project, development or institution involved in real estate and housing finance.
This award ceremony has been created by the AREHF Academy, a leading resource centre for the development of real estate and housing finance entrepreneurs in the African region.
The choice of Kenya for the awards is due to the country’s resourcefulness, vibrant and emerging real estate and housing finance markets, attraction for tourism and strong leadership drive at the sub-sector policy level.
Although there will be an advisory board for the awards, the industry itself will nominate and vote for the recipients in the different award categories. For the finalists that will be voted for, the awards advisory board will be looking for execution of exceptional transactions and projects that have made huge contributions to the social, economic and developmental wellbeing of the people and countries in the region.
Nominations
The high profile event, which will be attended by multilaterals, governments, private sector and international financial institutions, will be broadcasted on international media such as CNN, CNBC and BBC, as well as on KTN and other local and international newspapers, TV stations and magazines.
There will be a total of 14 categories for the awards spanning across commercial, industrial, residential and hospitality sub-sectors. The voting will be overseen by a professional auditing firm ahead of the award night.
