Tag Archives: Brand Story

AWARDS, REAL ESTATE KENYA

How Optiven Rose to Become Kenya’s Best Diaspora Focused Property Brand 2024

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What crosses your mind when Optiven is mentioned? Is it the countless billboards you see dotted across Kenya’s busiest highways and avenues, the numerous online ads that you interact with in your online engagements, the company’s very influential and consequential CEO Dr. George Wachiuri or perhaps you are its beneficiary as an employee, property sales agent, stakeholder or maybe been supported by its foundation: Optiven Foundation?

Well, whichever way you have had an experience with Optiven. One word is synonymous with them: Diaspora!

For starters, the diaspora community referred to here comprises of Kenyans living in other parts of the world for various reasons mostly work related and education and due to their roots in the country always seek opportunities to invest home. Therefore on the lookout for local firms that can help them achieve this. And what better partner than Optiven Group! A company that has been enabling investors to own a piece of Kenya for the last 24 years and only growing stronger by the day.

How Optiven Real Estate Started

As it is common with most Kenyan wealth building journey, the Optiven Group’s story emanates from a series of previously failed ventures. Among them joint ventures, sole proprietorships, partnerships leading to the point of the founder losing a sum total of Ksh. 5 million shillings! Something that would eventually lay the solid foundation on which Optiven was built. Dr. Wachiuri notes on his resolve going forward “I lost over Sh. 5 Million shillings in a deal gone sour, which was my all 10 year savings from employment. That loss drives my passion. No single person will ever lose money if they deal with us.” Part of the reason that we named him among the 2023’s Persons of the Year.

DR. GEORGE WACHIURI – CEO, OPTIVEN GROUP

A testament that would prove true in many years that followed. Especially with the target market in the diaspora. A community that have fallen prey to many investment schemes of all kinds. Ranging from their friends and close family members – sometimes, even involving their parents and siblings – as well as a number of real estate firms out to take advantage on them. But thanks to reputable firms like Optiven, alternative solutions are now available. Infact, not just in Kenya’s city locations but countrywide!

Property Investment Strategy

Optiven’s main strategy when it comes to availing their properties for sale to clients is to guarantee the value addition part by focusing on making the life for the projected dwellers as easy and convenient as possible. Furthermore, investing in the environment stands out by promoting conservation efforts of planting trees in all their properties on offer.

True to the company’s philosophy, they have invested heavily in ensuring that their investors are not just buying land, but creating self sustaining communities by security with highly secure fences coupled with manned gates, water accessibility by drilling water onsite, connecting electricity to as close your plot as possile and ensuring the access roads link you directly to the tarmac roads! Something that you wouldn’t other experience with most of the companies in the same space. We guarantee you that!

Besides this tangible investment on your behalf, Optiven Real Estate has also set its vision on providing recreational facilities within their projects such as the GMC Centres built in Karen, Kitengela and another one set to be developed in Nanyuki at their Great Oasis Project. The final and most important part has everything to do with establishing the various Welfare Home Owners Associations in their projects that help in managing the properties and creating a sense belonging amongst the property owners who become the sole members of the associations.

How big is Optiven in Kenya

The firm has focused heavily on the reinvestment strategies over time that has led it to build its wide asset base beyond the Ksh. 1 billion shillings mark! A feat that very few self funded real estate property agencies can boast of. This is attributed by the CEO and team to a culture of honesty, professionalism, creativity and innovation. “At Optiven, we cant promise what we cant deliver. The secret of our growth is keeping our word and integrity. We aspire to keep our focus and make our customers wealthy,” he adds.

From a small company that started as a general supplies businesses then morphed into a real estate agency and to grow in less than three decades into a huge real conglomerate is nothing less than inspiring. Most definitely this comes with hundreds of jobs created across the country, hundreds of students sponsored through high school, thousands of customers empowered to become home owners and much much more impact created!

And onto the big question on how big Optiven is, here is a sneakpeak into the companies that Optiven Kenya currently owns:

  • Optiven Homes : Optiven fully owns this subsidiary that is focused on building homes for the many customers that the parent company serves all across its portfolio properties.
  • GMC Place: GMC Place is a hotel franchise that offers a unique blend of Fun and African /European cuisine. There are currently two prime GMC locations in Karen and Kitengela. Just as Optiven Homes, Optiven Group owns 100% of the subsidiary.
  • Optiven Foundation : This is the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the Optiven Group through which the company supports the communities in which it operates by sponsoring students in schools, planting trees amongst others.
  • Optiven Water : This subsidiary is involved in ensuring that all the properties on offer across the country are well supplied internally to guarantee your peace of mind when it comes to your water needs.
  • Other interests include in the insurance sector etc.

Optiven Today

With this strong foundation, the company has now grown bigger with the ongoing plans to have it listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange thus according everyone an opportunity to own a piece of the firm and be part of this unfolding real estate empire.

Optiven has also opened an office in the United States of America in the State of Arkansas with the target of tapping into the huge diaspora market of over 120,ooo Kenyans living in the USA alone! “Kenyans living in the North America will now be able to sign their transfer documents, make payments and have their title deeds delivered to them; which saves them the cost of travelling to Kenya,” Dr. George Wachiuri concludes.

We therefore congratulate the company and the team for making it to our inaugural awards list as the Diaspora Focused Real Estate Brand Award presented by Valuable Brands Kenya.

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REAL ESTATE KENYA

The Inspiring Journey of Victor Amollo to Founding IconPrime Properties Ltd at 35!

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IconPrime Properties Ltd’s name came up during our compilation of this year’s Top 30 Male Real Estate CEOs in Kenya listing and based on the various boxes ticked through the selection process, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Victor Michael Amollo landed on this inaugural class at Position 16. Icon Prime was founded by a couple, one Victor Amollo and Winnie Maina. As expected, our team wanted to dig deeper into this new real estate firm that is taking off delivering one plot at a time.

We had a rare opportunity to meet and engage with the CEO at his offices at Spur Mall Ruiru along Thika Road on how he got where he is right now, the kind of upbringing he went through and how that impacted his future life and most importantly, the sustainable strategies the company has put in place to ensure the growth of the Icon Prime Properties brand. This is Victor Amollo’s inspiring journey to the top.

Early Life

Victor was born to a humble family in the heart of Busia County – the westernmost part of the country neighbouring Uganda – where he recalls his early years as being very challenging. Going to school with a torn uniform, walking barefooted and not really finding a sense of purpose while in Primary School especially due to poor results can be a recipe for disaster. And this case was exacerbated further by discouragements from the people closest to him. From his own admission, the stage had been set for failure as he did not even anticipate joining high school!

But as fate would have it, his turning point was to come not far from finishing his KCPE exams after his parents passed on leaving them orphaned. As part of the succession plan to ensure that they were well catered for, the young Victor and his younger siblings were adopted by their uncle and became one big family. A decision that would effectively give him another chance to dream and design a different path for his future life. This is how it unfolded:

Given his unimpressive results in the runup to the KCPE Exams coupled with the demise of his parents some few months to the KCPE, he did not perform well and therefore didn’t expect to gain admission to a secondary school – at least that’s what he had grown up knowing. However, his uncle chose to give him the chance to pursue his secondary education in a local school nearby. This surprising turn of events was the spark that Victor needed to pivot his life. A journey that would eventually lead to the establishment of the Icon Prime Properties brand.

As a result of the offer from the uncle to go to high school, he decided to instead repeat Class 8 in his former primary school where he shocked everyone by emerging first position in his indexing exam. He maintained Top 3 spot till his KCPE exams in which he came third in the school.

“When I ranked top 3 in my first exam when I went back to the same school that I used to be among the bottom 20 in a class of 80+ pupils less than a year ago, I realized it was possible to achieve anything. I now started creating more time to study with an aim of not going below Top 5, equally earning me a place to proceed with high school studies.” Victor quips. A promise that he clearly kept.

This transformation was consequently not to end at the primary level as he continued on this growth trajectory through his secondary school still within Busia County to set an unassailable record of maintaining the first position  from Form 2 up to the time he sat for his KCSE exams in which he led the school with an A- grade landing him the 52nd  spot in the Top 100 KCSE Students in Western Kenya Province in the year 2006 and third best candidate in the then Busia district, now Busia County. He later on earned admission to Kenyatta University (KU) for his Bachelor’s degree.

On his main goal and strategy of pursuing excellence in high school, he knew that the only sure way for him to better his life was qualifying for the university to undertake a bachelor’s degree through HELB sponsorship. The Higher Education Loans Board is a government authority that provides low cost financing for students who gain admission to institutions of higher learning when they attain a certain grade during their KCSE Examinations. And as fate would have it, Victor was selected amongst the beneficiaries in his cohort to be supported through university thus the success we celebrate today.

Previous Work Experience

Prior to co-founding Icon Prime Properties with his wife, Winnie Maina, Victor Amollo had worked as a Medical Technologist at the Pathologist Lancet Kenya since 2011. He worked at the company rising through the ranks from internship level to eventually being granted the responsibility of setting up the Lancet Laboratories in Tanzania where he and other colleagues successfully steered the subsidiary and in turn gained the much-needed startup experience that would later prove invaluable in his entrepreneurial journey. He then returned to the country after this assignment in Tanzania with a resolve to start building his business on the side as well.

Awards won at a recent event.

Together with his wife, they started venturing into private business on the side with one of the initial ventures being horticulture farming in Mwea region. This is a journey he remembers making like three times a week very early in the morning to check on the farm and returning to still clock in for his day job. In addition, the couple had another income stream through matatu business which had been secured through savings at that time.

“Our goal was to get to a point where our main expenses as a family would be carried comfortably by our side hustles. This journey enabled us to add a second matatu bus that was secured through financing thus expanding our income even further. Over time, all these efforts set the stage for our first company that exists to date; Petals Hygiene and Sanitation Services.” He reminisces on those times. After seeing the positive direction their hustles were taking, Victor and his wife quit their employment in 2015 to fully concentrate on building their business venture(s).  

Building Petals Hygiene and Sanitation Services Ltd

Next on his checklist was the co-founding of Petals Hygiene and Sanitation Services Ltd, a company focused on the provision of quality hygiene and sanitation services for their corporate and government agencies in need of such services. The company has been in existence for close to 9 years now and deal mainly in Commercial Office cleaning, Sanitary Disposal Services, Landscaping, Garbage and Medical Waste Disposal, Fumigation and Pest Control Services. Over the years, they have built a solid reputation in the housekeeping and hygiene line of business and today Petals Hygiene is a big household name to many consumers of this very services.

And with the experiences and contacts built over time, Victor and his wife eventually decided to take a plunge into the real estate industry, a passion they had harbored over time. They had a clear determination of going above and beyond to deliver to their clientele as well as redeem trust in the industry that had long gone due to rogue business personalities in the sector. They were also keen in providing affordable, value added and strategically located iconic properties. 

Thus the birth of Icon Prime Properties Ltd.

About IconPrime Properties

Unlike the popular belief that a real estate brand should have been in the market for a relatively long time for it to be considered a success, we believe the cumulative corporate experience gained by the couple in their respective companies has been the biggest reason that has catapulted this brand this far. The dynamic couple attributes the success of their ventures to being resilient, trusting one another, a never give up attitude, embracing the ability to learn from own mistakes, complementing each other person’s ability and the fear of God in their lives.

IconPrime was incorporated in 2019 but actively came into business in the last quarter of 2021 and currently boasts of land projects across the Nairobi Metropolitan region in highly sought after locations such as Ngong, Kikuyu, Juja Farm, Kangundo road among many other areas that also include Diani. The other thing that sets the company apart from its peers is the fact that the company owns the properties in which it transacts therefore guaranteeing the customers a safer investment experience given the murky waters that the real estate industry has been in Kenya for some time.

Motivation To Startup Founders

As a motivation to anyone aspiring to try their luck in business, his resounding advise includes; the need to take risks, shunning off fear and following your dreams and passions by starting out early. He further advocates for consistency by putting in small efforts consistently which eventually elevates one to a level of achieving the big dreams.

Furthermore, the IconPrime Properties CEO believes embracing a positive mindset not only has the capacity of making one scale heights they never imagined possible but also enables one to develop habits that optimizes the quality of life that they seek. Finally, he acknowledges that God also plays a key role in ensuring the success of the business world hence the need to put Him before all endeavors. On the family’s role in accelerating one’s success, he says “the family that you create is more important than the family you come from,” underscoring the critical role that his wife continues to play within the corporate ecosystem of the companies they run and how his close family inspires and motivates him to keep going.

On the future of the company, he is very optimistic on the prospects of the firm given the rate at which it is growing. “The best is yet to come. Progressively we are making tangible strides.  We see Icon Prime being a top real estate development firm through great customer service experience and consistently and seamlessly meeting the needs of Kenyans and those in the diaspora who are aspiring to fulfill their dreams of home ownership and wealth creation through property ownership, ” he concludes.

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HEALTH

Inside the New Kakamega Orthopaedic Hospital as it celebrates 1st Anniversary

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The Kakamega Orthopaedic Hospital has a story. It is definitely one of hope, relentlessness and optimism when a team with a common dream come together. As fate would have it, the founder of the hospital, the late Dr. Alushula who was a reknowned orthopaedician in Kenya passed on just when the new facility was complete and ready for opening during the pandemic! The hospital had previously been operating for decades at its facility opposite Sheywe GuestHouse at Kefinco off the Holden Mall.

But luckily for this new promising company, the teams would quicky converge their efforts to make it work beyond everyone’s expectations. Perhaps in honour of its great founder who had benevolently built the brand and reputation. And now fast forward, we are celebrating the hospital turning one year old while offering all health services you may think of while creating hundreds of jobs!

I bet your question then would be: Why Kakamega Orthopaedic Hospital?

Here are the reasons:

1. Homely Environment

The truth is, when it comes to a health facility , all you care about is homeliness and the ability of its environment to make you feel relaxed. We all know an element of greenery goes a long way. And this is what Kakamega Orthopedic Hospital understands more than anything else. The hospital is a very welcoming place that is well spaced, structured and designed hence giving you a peace of mind as you seek the top-level services in their offering. If there’s a group which appreciates this are kids and everytime you visit you will definitely see a bunch playing around. Isn’t this something to consider the next time you think of hospitals near you?

2. Proximity to the Kakamega – Webuye Highway

When it comes to health issues, we all agree that there’s nothing that beats proximity and accessibility of a hospital, especially where a highway is involved. Luckily for you, the hospital is found right on the highway. Besides the facility is only 5 minutes drive from Lubao Market, less than 20 minutes drive from the Kakamega CBD and under 10 minutes drive from Malava Town thus catering to a much larger community that had been underserved before its establishment. With its vast space comes lots of free and secured parking amenities for all visitors as well.

Furthermore, those using public transport like Matatus and Tuktuks or motorbikes can easily connect from town and alight right at the hospital’s gate. This is clearly the kind of convenience you deserve – so that you focus entirely on getting back to your feet and productivity. Right?

3. A Wide Range of Services

Well if we break the whole concept to the basics, a hospital is the place where we go for health related services. The Kakamega Orthopaedic Hospital’s core business is without doubt health provision and with it comes a wide range of services ranging from several types of surgeries, laboratory and pharmacy, Physiotherpay, X-ray and Ultrasound imaging.

It further provides an array of specialist services such as ENT (Ears, Nose & Throat) experts who ensure your wellbeing around hearing, swallowing, speech, breathing, sleep challenges and the allergies that arise from there. The other specialist categories include Obsetrics and Gynaecology focused on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum concerns; Orthopaedics from which the hospital credits its brand name and finally Paediatrics for children related services.

4. Kakamega Orthopaedic Hospital Funeral Home

Funeral Home

I’m imagining the last thing you want a review on is the morgue. Nevertheless here we are! This is how the ultramodern funeral home at the hospital looks like. The ambience and serenity it guarantees the loved ones of the deceased will contribute greatly in providing solace and peace to them as they mourn their loss. The facility can hold upto 50 bodies at a time and the two specialised gazebos gives a chance to the family’s an opportunity to rest as they come to terms with their sad realities. Two at a time.

Read Also: The Story of Naivas Supermarket since 1990

In conclusion, the future shines bright on the Kakamega Orthopaedic Hospital as a company and a health brand as it embarks on its second year in operation. A journey of creating more employment oppotunities, empowering the communities and people coming from and wide, revitalising the local economy and being one of the biggest healthcare investors in Western Kenya.

Pictorial Tour

For more details, kindly call the hospital on 0713 473 199

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REAL ESTATE KENYA

The Impressive Story of Certified Homes Ltd in Under 5 Years.

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Certified Homes Ltd started its journey in 2020 and in less than a decade has achieved milestones that many peers can only envy. Armed with over ten years experience in the vast real estate sector, the founder, Mr. Peter Nyaga set on a course to build Kenya’s top real estate development company thus the birth of Certified Homes Ltd.

The company is a property developer based at Westcom Point in Westlands Nairobi and caters to a wide range of clients spanning from the locals, diaspora community, institutional investors among many others interested in the Kenyan Real Estate market. Since its inception, they have successfully delivered several property projects across the country. Some of their key projects include; Sukari Heights in Kahawa Sukari Nairobi which is a mixed use development offering commercial spaces such as a salon and spa, shopping outlets and residential units ranging from studio apartments, one bedroom, two bedroom etc.

Another innovative investment project by the company include Naserian Holiday Homes in Nanyuki, KWITU Gardens for the members of the Kenya Women in United States Association and the Diani Holiday Homes at the Coast. For those seeking value added plots in either Nanyuki, Rumuruti, Juja, Joska, Malindi, Diani, Syokimau, Certified Homes has several options for you to choose from.

And this begs the question. How did the company achieve this level of success in such a short time and serving such a diverse clientele! This is how it all started.

The Birth of Certified Homes

The story begins when the young Peter Nyaga volunteered at his brother’s real estate firm to gain experience in the sector – a move that would see him make his first million at 21 years of age! “I wanted to get experience in Real Estate. I knew as an errands boy my brother could give me fare, and also, I had relatives in Nairobi so somewhere to sleep was not a problem. If I had fare and somewhere to sleep, the rest would sort itself,” he remarked.

Over time and with resilience, he was able to build his own network of potential clients and with it, his own reputation. Besides this, the opportunity gave Peter the much needed exposure on the best practices, pitfalls to avoid as well as learning on how to structure deals. Skills that would prove to be priceless later on when establishing Certified Homes Ltd. But before its birth, yet another partnership spinned off from this personal growth. One that would see them deliver a record 400 units from concept to handover in less than 3 years.

Consequently in November 2020, the founder finally setup the company as we know it today. Interestingly, unlike most firms that pick any kind of name, they settled on Certified Homes as a constant reminder that every property they would conduct exhaustive due diligence and only bring in the potential buyers once they were satisfactory on the documentations of the plots. Hence the “Certified”concept.

With this meteoric rise in the real estate market in Kenya came with hundreds of jobs with the organization creating opportunities globally.

Company Expansion Strategy

As Certified majorly targets the Kenyans in diaspora drawn from across the world, it works closely with the associations that connects them with the larger diaspora community. Examples of the associations includes the Kenya Women In The United States (KWITU), Kenya Women In Germany (KWIG), Kenya Diaspora Alliance and Sacco among many others. Leveraging on brand ambassadors based in the various states such as Canada, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Dubai, Sweden and many others.

Certified Homes Ltd Titles handover to clients at their offices in Nairobi.

The company is also now venturing into the African continent to reach an expanded diaspora team with previous meetings in Burundi, Ghana and other countries. This will definitely unlock more investment demand and hence more business as they seek to expand beyond their current service offerings. The company’s brand ambassador list is excitingly star studded thus giving a chance for them to also understand the market and in turn be able to invest as well. Isn’t this the idea behind being your “brother’s/sister’s keeper?!

Certified Homes Awards & Reviews

They say excellence never goes unrewarded. The company is not an exception as it bags various recognition awards not only in Kenya but also globally. Here are some of the key awards earned by the company so far:

For more details on any of these projects, feel free to reach out to the company on 0711 128 128

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RETAIL BUSINESS

The Story of Naivas Supermarket Since 1990

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Naivas Supermarket is clearly the biggest retail store chain in Kenya. And does not seem to be slowing anytime soon as it launches its 101st supermarket in Kakamega. The chain’s campaign dubbed “#Beyond100” has seen it expand beyond the a hundred mark. It now has stores in all the major towns in Kenya such as Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret, Bungoma, Naivasha, Nanyuki, Meru, Kisii, Thika, Kiambu towns among many others. Lately, it has started expanding into estates and city avenues with a high cashflow capacity such as the newly launched Branch at Lavington and the upcoming Mwanzi Road store.

Interestingly, this kind of hyper expansion strategies of Naivas Supermarket comes at the backdrop of the various retail stores closing shop in Kenya. With the majority barely surviving as they leaned their budgets. As we all know, the previously well known household brands such as Tuskys Supermarket, Uchumi Supermarket, Nakumatt all went down in a span of five years apart. Then you would wonder what kind of magic this company that also traces its roots to the enterprising city of Nakuru – just as Gilanis, Nakumatt that started as Nakuru Mattresses and Rivanas Supermarket uses to achieve this unimaginable success. In this article, we delve into its story, ownership and the opportunities it presents to the country.

How Naivas Supermarket Started

The supermarket’s humble beginnings can be retraced back to the late founder: Mr Peter Mukuha Kago who was the visionary behind this iconic brand as we know it today. It started as Rongai Self-Service Stores that was family owned on 27th July 1990. Exactly 33 years ago! The family’s relentless pursuit for entrepreneurial excellence, pushed the store’s growth to include wholesale and distribution services within a short time. Later on, the business got registered as a company in 1993. Just 3 years since opening its doors.

Naivas Supermarket Launch

In an interview with David Mukuha, the late Peter Kago’s son, he alludes to the early days. “The business was initially established to serve the local Rongai Community. Its success paved the way for a new branch at Elburgon area in 1995”. With the founder aggressively reinvesting back the profits realized in the business, he was able to expand further into Naivasha and changed the name to Naivasha Self-Service Stores. And later finally rebranded to NAIVAS!

By 2001, the company had expanded vigorously beyond the Nakuru region and had stamped its presence in major towns in Kenya. By this time, the retailer had setup branches in Mombasa, Nairobi, Naivasha, Eldoret, Machakos, Kitui, Embu, Nakuru among many others. Naivas supermarket has since grown through leaps and bounds to reach now over 100 branches employing over 10,000 employees. And this begs the question, who owns Naivas?

Who Owns Naivas Supermarket

The late founder Peter Kago was the owner of the retail brand till his demise when four of his children; David Kimani, Simon Gachwe, Wairimu Linet and Wambui Grace inherited his stake in the company with his firstborn son, Newton Gakiri Mukuha missing out. Newton Gakiri contested the same decision in court and lost the case as reported by Business Daily. Simon Gachwe served as the company board chairman till his passing in 2019 when the three surviving siblings took over the reigns.

With the company now currently valued at over Ksh. 54 Billion according to Pulse, its new divestment strategy has seen it bring onboard regional investors to take it to the next level. Initially, the family through its family holding company, Gakiwawa Family held their entire stake before bringing onboard other investors such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), German Fund DEG and private Equity Funds Amethis and MCB Equity Fund. In the first share sale transaction in 2020, IFC, DEG and the Private Equity companies through Amethis Retail Ltd bought a 31.5% stake in the company at Ksh. 6 Billion diluting the founder family’s ownership to 68.5%.

Later on, the representative company Amethis Retail Ltd sold its 31.5% shares at Ksh. 14.37 Billion thereby more than doubling their investment while the Gakiwawa Family topped up the 8.5% stake in the sale thus pocketing Ksh. 3.8 Billion to a consortium led by a Mauritius based conglomerate IBL Group through an investment vehicle: Mambo Retail Limited. “On 10 August 2022, Mambo Retail acquired 40 percent stake in Naivas International, representing all shares previously held by Amethis Retail Limited and … part of the shares held by Gakiwawa Family,” IBL in a circular to its shareholders.

Furthermore, other institutional investors have an indirect stake in Naivas International through Mambo Retail Ltd. Through IBL Group’s majority equity investment in Mambo Retail of 65.8%, it owns an indirect ownership of 26.32% of Naivas Supermarket. Proparco and DEG also holds indirect stakes in Naivas of 8.29% and 5.39% respectively.

In June 2023, the family sold another 11% stake to Mambo Retail Ltd at an estamated value of Ksh. 5.8 Billion hence relinquishing majority control to foreigners; IBL, DEG and Proparco through Mambo Retail. The latest transaction dropped the family ownership to 49%.

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REAL ESTATE KENYA

The Story of AMG Realtors In Kenya 12 Years Later

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AMG Realtors limited has reshaped the land selling business in Kenya since 2012. The company was established by Andrew Gitau, a Kenyan who at the time had just returned home to begin life afresh. while living abroad Andrew had been conned in a fake land deal where he lost money to people he had entrusted to help him acquire Parcels of land back in Kenya.

“When we were living with my wife we had a little bit of savings that we decided to buy a plot with. We actually gave the money to one of our friends in 2006 who was in the land business and he sold us this plot. And up to today, we have never seen the title for that plot and we have never seen the land itself I can’t tell you this is the particular plot,” Andrew quips. He says he had to find a solution to a problem that was becoming common affecting many clients in the diaspora.

“When we were in New York and the little savings that we could make because of the allowances that I used to get, my biggest dilemma was how do I who can I trust this money with to invest back home who will I give this money and can give me a genuine land with a title deed. I used to think that one day I will start a company that will actually be able to deliver titles to people and will sell genuine land. That is actually the Genesis of AMG realtors“.

Birth of AMG Realtors

In an effort to actualize his dream, he began buying parcels of land in bulk in Prime locations. A decision that eventually birthed AMG realtors limited. “A friend of mine called me to Nanyuki and told me there were parcels of land on sale that I should check them out. Once there, I fell in love with the beautiful place because of the Mount Kenya on one side and the Lol Daiga Hills on the other side. Besides, the Aberdares also overlooking as well. So I went sent a write up to everybody I knew including people had worked with in New York I was able to sell 25 acres which was just shocking.

Lily Richards is one of the diaspora clients of AMG Realtors. She is the chairperson of a diaspora community of about 14,000 Kenyan women living and working in the United States. Through AMG Realtors, they have been able to invest back home. Reverend Dr Kennedy Njenga is another diaspora client of AMG Realtors. The 60-year-old man preacher who had lived in the United Kingdom for 30 years was planning to return home in 2021 when he reached out to AMG Realtors.

Currently, AMG Realtors sells land in different parts of Kenya such as Nanyuki, Nakuru, Naivasha, Malindi, Kangundo Road among others. Furthermore, AMG Realtors is transforming the land selling business in the country giving more confidence to potential buyers that it is not all doom and gloom. For instance, 70% of our customers are repeat and referrals so they have been able to spread the word for us therefore we don’t have competition. Our only competition is to make our service better every time to the next customer.

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