The Laser Property Services which recently won the Valuable Brands Overall Real Estate Brand Award has now moved its headquarters to the Pension Towers along the Loita Street as it seeks for more space thanks to the firm’s exponential growth and ever increasing significant role in Kenya’s Real Estate sector.
Prior to the relocation, the company was based at the CPF House along the Haile Selasie Avenue where its parent corporation; the CPF Group is housed as well. While the Laser brand may not be so synonymous with most people, the company is the real estate arm of the financial powerhouse that CPF is. Some of the key services that the company offers include Property and Facilities Management through which the wide portfolio of properties owned across the CPF Group are managed; Project and DevelopmentManagement with the company being involved directly in the conceptualization of the project and the actual project management till handover.
Besides these major services offered under the Laser Property Services brand, the firm also provides Property and Asset Valuation Services, Feasibility Studies and Investment Appraisals, Real Estate Agency among many others. In terms of the notable properties under its portfolio include; CPF House, Pension Towers, The Freedom Heights along Lang’ata Road. Apart from this, Laser also develops housing projects for sale with the latest ones being Executive Town Villas in Karen and the upcoming Kisumu project dubbed “Anderson Park Project” consisting of 1,383 Apartment Units available for sale.
New Office Features
With the Laser being known for being the frontrunner in establishing ecologically friendly buildings in line with the globally adopted Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) guidelines, the company has greatly infused the concepts in its new office spaces that features modern amenities that include an architectural studio, a library, focus pods, meeting rooms, an executive boardroom, brainstorming area, dining area, and a mothers’ room. All these together forming an interconnected hub of creativity and innovation.
Announcing the move, the Company’s Executive Director Mr. Antony Mutisya acknowledged the incredible opportunities that this presents both for the brand and the business in general. “The offices symbolize the company’s dedication to sustainability and social responsibility as they have incorporated eco-friendly designs, energy & water efficient systems, and sustainable materials, underscoring the the company’s committment to reducing its environmental footprint”, he noted.
We congratulate the Laser Property Services Team on this Achievement.
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.
A few years back, the real estate sector was predominantly run by established personalities. Both in age and experience. Not anymore as more youth join the very luctrative sector thus challenging the status quo as we knew it.
Such a company owned and run by a youth is MD MODERN HOMES under the able stewardship of the youthful CEO, Marydiana. For a startup that has barely been in the market for less than a decade with such a promising brand, our selection team for the Valuable Brands Realtors Awards unanimously endorsed for the coveted award of the Best Youth Owned Real Estate Brand in Kenya for 2024.
About the Founder Marydiana
The CEO boasts of over 6 years experience in the real estate space as a realtor; kickstarting her career straight from the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) where she pursued a degree in Mathematics and Statistics graduating in 2017. She started off as a realtor handling sales prospects and rose to become the sales manager at one of Kenya’s budding low cost property development firms before taking a deep dive into entrepreurship in 2022.
Apart from being featured in our inaugural Top Women Real Estate CEOs in Kenya 2023 released last year, she has also been recognized by the Kenya Professional Realtors Association (KPRA) as the Realtor of the Year 2023, the National Business and Leadership Award (NABLA) honoured her with the Young Entrepreneur Achievement Award 2023 as well as being featured in countless TV Shows to discuss matters real estate such as the KTN’s The Entrepreneur Show and the TV47’s Realtors Show among many others. All focused on growing the MD Modern Homes brand!
md modern homes CEO featured on the Daily Nation Newspaper.
About MD Modern Homes
This real estate firm that is run by an entirely youthful team, is focused majorly on property marketing leveraging on its strong social media presence. The company has over 80K Facebook followers with millions of video views amassed over time while its Youtube channel has over 1,700 subscribers with hundreds of thousands views accumulated. And ofcourse the famous founder is leading the way with over 12K followers to her name on Facebook.
On the future prospects of the company, the CEO says, “Currently our focus is on marketing real estate projects and partnering with home owners-and developers. Our long term vision however is to go a top notch higher and be a developer and market out own real estate projects as I get a lot of motivation from the developers I have partnered with”. Furthermore, it is worth noting that over 50 real estate developers drawn from across the country have collaborated with MD Modern Homes in offtaking their properties.
On having an all youthful team at the firm, the founder notes the importance of growing together as a team and celebrating the wins they make as they work towards their illustrious future. She also believes that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and we conquer with her fully!
In line with the Valuable Brands Kenya’s rallying call for the participating brands to commit on promoting impact beyond profits, the company is keen on supporting the development of talents in the rural counties through its football tournaments among many other projects they do.
On receiving the award, the CEO and the team had this to say:
It’s an immense Honor to receive this award Yesterday during the Valuable Brands Realtors Award 2024 held at Trade Mark Hotel, by Valuable Brands Kenya recognizing our brand’s Hard work, dedication and commitment in the industry.. Thanks be to God for the far we’ve come ,all our valued clients and the entire #MDModernHomes fraternity for the endless support and making this Possible!
When it comes to brand recognition and celebration, Valuable Brands Kenya has curved out a niche in merging the need for supporting the SMEs and the large enterprises in cutting through the noise in their quest to meet their potential customers through its various corporate events such as real estate summits and breakfasts, SME Expos among many others as well as giving them the opportunity to be recognized and celebrated across a wide range of brand award categories based on its strength. The upcoming Valuable Brands Realtors Awards is such an excellent chance for the real estate companies to take advantage of.
Following a rigorous process from the submission of nominations, reviewing of the nominees by the selection panel to this point of announcing the first batch of the finalists for the top real estate brands in Kenya across the various categorieson offer in this inaugural edition of the awards. Here are the selected brands so far.
As the evaluation process continues on finalizing the shortlisting of the pending nominations, we wish to pass our congatulations to the above selected brands to join the top real estate brands in kenya for the 2024 period.
The Valuable Brands Realtors Award Nominations are now open. With the awards selection process set to take the whole of this first quarter, the nominations have now been opened across the 27 Categories spread across the Property Development, Sales, Management and other related services.
The awards are segmented into three as follows:
VALUABLE BRANDS AWARDS CATEGORIES
1. PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
In this segment, we will be identifying and recognizing the various Valuable Brands in Kenya operating in the subsector such as residential development involved in residential project delopments for apartments, estates, homes; commercial developments involved in commercial projects such as shopping malls, office complexes, industrial parks; interior design among others. The Valuable Brands Kenya will be seeking to celebrate the several companies and brands pursuing excellence in the sectors that they are operating.
The Award Categories for this year include:
Residential Property Development Brand
Commercial Property Development Brand
Architectural Design Brand
Interior Design Brand
Sustainable Property Development Brand
Mixed Use Development Project
2. PROPERTY SALES, MARKETING & AGENCY
In this segment, Valuable Brands Kenya will be seeking to recognize and celebrate the various real estate brands demonstrating excellence in the real estate agency market such as land selling, property management, home selling among many other subsectors.
The Award Categories for this year include:
Property Management Company Brand
Property Investment Cooperative Brand
Low Cost Landselling Brand
Diaspora Focused Real Estate Brand
Women Owned Real Estate Brand
Youth Owned Real Estate Brand
Most Promising Real Estate Brand
Fastest Growing Real Estate Brand
Overall Real Estate Brand
Value Added Landselling Brand
Most Resilient Real Estate Brand
3. PROPERTY ASSOCIATED SERVICES
The real estate sector is not complete without recognizing the various brands offering related services such as paints, cement, roofing solutions amongst many others. The selected Valuable Brands Awards Categories for this include:
Paints Brand
Roofing Solutions Brand
Smart Home Solutions Brand
Property TV Show Brand
Construction Cement Brand
Interiors Finishes Brand
Property Finance & Mortgage Lending Brand
Property Management Systems Brand
Security Solutions Brand
VALUABLE BRANDS REALTORS AWARDS NOMINATIONS
A. Submission of Nominees
The Valuable Brands Awards Selection Process kicks off with this Call for submission of Nominations for the various award categories. The call for nominations will be undertaken for the next 3 weeks while the inhouse research team does the initial shortlisting of the submitted entries.
B. Official Awards Announcement
The Official Announcement of the Valuable Brands Awards will be made after the submission of the nominees have been made and shortlisted. During the launch of the Awards, the shortlisted nominees will be made known to the media through an organized press briefing together with the unveiling of the Key Strategic Partners for this Inaugural Edition. Some of the partners so far onboard include Robisearch Ltd offering the technological support, Doubleshasa Ltd as our main branding partner, Tenacity Locks Ltd among many others.
C. Judging and Finalist Selection
The third phase of the selection process will involve the Judges shortlisting the TOP 3 FINALISTS per the 27 Valuable Brands Awards Categories. The announcement of the finalists will be made in March to pave way for the media team to develop a clear brand strategy for promoting the successful brands across the media channels such as social media, mainstream media.
The timely announcement of the finalists will also give an excellent opportunity for the development of the Valuable Brands Magazine featuring the several brand winners and real estate companies that will have participated in this edition. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the Valuable Brands Realtors Magazine will be distributed for free across the larger Nairobi region in leading hotels and restaurants, beauty salons, C-Suite offices among other key locations.
D. Awards Gala Night
Once the whole process is completed and the winners settled on, the Valuable Brands Realtors Awards will then culminate into the Awards Gala Night to be held on the 5th of April 2024 from 5.00PM at a location to be communicated in due time within Nairobi.
E. VALUABLE BRANDS AWARDS LEVELS
This inaugural awards will feature the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards levels for a number of categories while others will only have the Gold Award Levels getting trophies. This will be determined by the number of nomination entries made by a company and the diversity attracted by the award category involved.
Valuable Brands Kenya is pleased to announce the upcoming Valuable Brands Awards to be held in March 2024. The first edition is predominantly focused on the wider real estate sector and seeks to acknowledge, recognize and celebrate the established and emerging brands changing lives through their product and service offerings in Kenya.
With the real estate market boasting of some of the country’s dynamic brands and based on the lucrative nature of the sector, alot of efforts and guidance are needed in providing a framework of ensuring that building brands in the sector is consistent with the needs of the target clientele. Doing so also guarantees value to all the related stakeholders within the society in which they operate. Creation of clear brand recognition strategies and support that steers positive competition among them and promotes brand collaborations is what sets Valuable Brands Awards apart.
About Valuable Brands Kenya
You may have come across some of our latest rankings and recognitions of various key real estate personalities and our highlighted brand stories in Kenya so far. Valuable Brands Kenya runs an online brands magazine on this site. For instance, we released our first ever listing of the Top 10 Women Real Estate CEOs in Kenya.
Aprominent list that not only recognized the established personalities in the industry such as Ms. Nancy Muthoni of Property Show With Nancy that airs on KTN Home every Sunday, but also new entrants in the sector such as Mary Diana of Modern Homes Ltd. The Overall ranking for 2023 is as follows:
Top 10 Women Real Estate CEOs 2023
Another recognition listing that we have recently done is the Top 3 Persons Of The Year In Real Estate In Kenya. We named the 3 individuals that really shaped the sector in 2023 as Mr. Peter Nyaga of Certified Homes, Dr. George Wachiuri of Optiven Ltd and Mr. Mwenda Thuranira of Myspace Properties Ltd.
Valuable Brands Person of the Year 2023
Upcoming Valuable Brands Listings
As Valuable Brands Kenya continues to develop its brands recognition guidelines and ranking system, we anticipate more diverse sectoral listings featuring industries such as Manufacturing, Agribusiness, Education, Healthcare, Automotive, Technology, Energy, Media, Fashion and Apparel, Transport and Logistics among others.
Currently, our next upcoming Listing is featuring the TOP 30 MALE REAL ESTATE CEOs.
As 2023 comes to an end, Valuable Brands Kenya takes stock of the last 365 days reviewing some of the trailblazing milestones and achievements by the various women real estate stakeholders and founders leading some of Kenya’s most successful and upcoming firms. Here is our inaugural list of the Top 10 Women Real Estate CEOs that shaped 2023 in Kenya:
1. Nancy Muthoni – CEO, Property Show With Nancy / First Avenue Properties
Nancy Muthoni is the Founder and CEO of Property Show With Nancy that airs on KTN Home every sunday. The show highlights the various new real estate trends, available property investment opportunities and other real estate solutions. Furthermore, Nancy runs First Avenue Properties and Upscale Homes which deal in real estate agency and home construction services respectively. She tops this inaugural list for being a trailblazer in promoting home ownership amongst Kenyans.
2. Leah Wambui – CEO, Cheriez Properties
Leah is the founder and CEO of Cheriez Properties. A property development company focused on high end homes projects with Projects in Kitengela. From humble beginnings of hope and resilience, she’s been able to build a strong company that now not only provides bespoke real estate solutions but also offers interior design and home construction services for clients.
3. Anne Mwai – CEO, Bama Diaspora
Anne is definitely among the key women real estate CEOs in Kenya revolutionizing the industry. Through her diaspora focused company, Bama Diaspora, she provides investment alternatives to investors mostly based in the USA hence contributing to the building of trust in the highly volatile sector. She has been a mentor to several upcoming realtors and a host of women venturing into the business world.
4. Lizzie Costabir – CEO, BuyRent Kenya
BuyRent Kenya is undoubtedly an essential part of the real estate agency ecosystem in Kenya. And sitting at the helm is Lizzie Costabir, a phenomenal woman who’s working round the clock to create a more responsive content management system that creates more value for buyers, sellers and agents who leverage on the platform to transact safely. As the real estate market bounced back amid an ever rising need for real estate properties, BuyRent Kenya rose up to the occassion to facilitate the engagements thus earning Lizzie a spot on this list.
5. Sarah Wahogo – CEO, Safaricom Investment Cooperative
Sarah Wahogo has been at the helm of Safaricom Investment Cooperative for slightly over a year and her contributions to one of Kenya’s leading members’ investment co-operative are clear. Coming in at a time when the firm had no organizational challenges to steering it into a reputable company worth emulating is no mean feat. The cooperative has now create real estate agency platform called SIC PRIME connecting buyers, renters, developers and sellers.
6. Mary Diana – MD, Modern Homes
Mary Diana is the face of the young women real estate CEOs in Kenya taking content creation by storm! Through her Youtube Channel and other social media platforms, she has been able to cut herself a niche in showcasing various real estate projects and properties available for sale and rent across the country. And as they say, consistency is King and she’s definitely the queen at not just Modern Homes but also redefining how real estate marketing is done in Kenya.
7. Jane Baiyu – CEO, Amara Realty
Jane Baiyu makes to this inaugural list being the founder and CEO of Amara Realty Limited – a company offering property investment opportunities to Kenyans both within and in diaspora. Through her efforts and wide experience in the sector, Amara Realty has undergone steady growth and become a company of great repute for modeling by new entrants in the market.
Princess Caroline Mutisya is the CEO of Legacy Estates and also doubles as the Managing Partner of CR Advocates, a legal firm based in Nairobi Kenya. Legacy Estates offers real estate investment solutions in various locations in Kenya and has embarked on contributing towards rebuilding trust in the general real estate conveyance services and hence encouraging investors to consider the highly lucrative property business in Kenya.
9. Charity Nyoike-Baur – CEO, Nisiri Ventures
Being the only CEO making the list from outside Nairobi, Charity is the founder of Nisiri Ventures Limited – a real estate company based in Nanyuki providing investment projects in the vast Laikipia County. She has been a leading business leader, mentor and investor in the vibrant Nanyuki region and continues to inspire a new generation of women realtors not only in the area but in Kenya at large.
10. Ruth Mbula – CEO, Rubrina Properties
Finally on our list of Women Real Estate CEOs in Kenya that shaped 2023 is another youthful founder of Rubrina Properties who is also revolutionizing the way Youtube is used in marketing real estate properties in Kenya. She is a testament that with determination and objectivity, you can build a brand from nothing, literally!
In conclusion, Valuable Brands Kenya celebrates these phenomenal women and the brands they have built over time. We will hold the Valuable Brands Awards to acknowledge, recognize and celebrate the various brands impacting lives in Kenya in the real estate sector across all value chains. For more details, please email us on award@valuablebrands.co.ke.
