Pathway to Homeownership for Women in Africa

Owning a home is nearly impossible for individuals and families earning
less than $5,000 a year. High costs and low incomes shut these individuals out
of the formal financial markets and limit their access to housing finance and
land tenure, making it hard for them to buy or build a home

Smart Havens Africa Solves this problem by  Building ,Smart,offgrid affordable homes from sustainable and locally available onsite materials,sold to low income women on rent to own model.

It is widely recognized that women in many countries-across-the-world are far less likely than men to own-property&otherwise control assets.In Africa,only 13% of women have sole-ownership of some-housing(World-Bank).

Like most-African-countries over70% of Uganda's urban-population are women who-live in slums that are overcrowded &often lack basic-infrastructure like water&sanitation.Landlords collect over50% of each tenant’s monthly take-home income &the poor-quality-homes are rented indefinitely with-no clear-path to economic&personal growth-provided-by-homeownership.According to Centre-for-Affordable-Housing-Finance-for-Africa(CAHF)2018-year-book, only 4.45% of Ugandans-can afford to buy-outright alow-cost-home of $20,000.

Access-to-finance is-also a major challenge for women earning less-than $8 aday &working in the informal-sector.Lending to-these women-by-traditional-banks &MFIs is deemed too risky thus the-rental housing-poverty-trap. 

Our-innovation enables such women to afford agood-quality-home without-deepening their poverty,thus contributing to sustinable Development goals 1, 5,7, 11 and 13: 

Our target customer segment is urban households especially those headed by women between the ages of 20-49,earning between $2-$8 per day.They typically live in slums and Urban centres,have 1-5 young children,are educated & employed or entrepreneurs.They are also our end-users. 

Neither the public nor private sectors meet their housing needs.They are dissatisfied with their current home because of lack of space,poor conditions,Expensive & uncertain rents.They want a Partner who understands their pain &a sustainable low-cost,Affordable solution like ours that delivers:
Savings & income stability
Better health-and-access-t0-other-necessities-of-life
Leads to Asset ownership
Enhanced personal image
Personal growth &job opportunities

Recent research has shown that male & female needs are different.We showed men &women within our target group our 2 bedroom 75square-metre home.While men were willing &ready to start payment,women considered their growing families &needs,&required a minimum 3 bedroom house before making a long-term commitment. 

This research has completely changed our perspective:we must involve women in design of the homes since they make the final decisions on the choice of home for the family.This will help us increase our sales &achieve 100% customer satisfaction.We must also address concerns over the length of time to ownership,&lack of trust in real estate companies(Market-Spoilage). 

Two innovations enable us to build affordable low-cost homes for women-at-the-base-of-the-pyramid.

Our technical innovation is a unique building technology that presses on-site locally available materials under optimum moisture to produce an interlocking soil-stabilized brick(ISSB) that cuts costs by 50%,has a lower environmental footprint &speeds up construction.The-right-soil-is-readily-available-in-the-areas-we-want-to-build-so-us-to-enable-scale.

The production of ISSBs starts with a site inspection &a sedimentation test to determine the soil properties.All soil types in uganda and africa work,the only difference is the amount of cement or-lime to add to the mix which-is-determined-by shrinkage test.After sieving to remove obstacles the soil is pressed in our press machine to produce an ISSB. 

ISSBs are superior to conventional burnt bricks(BBs) in several ways.They are: 
•Stronger - dry compressive strength is over 80% higher.
•Lower impact-embodied energy (at 5% cement )is 35% lower
•Cheaper-cost is 50% lower, 
•Higher Quality-do not require plastering & can last over 50 years
•Faster construction time is 10times less –one unit can be built in a week
.More-environment-friendly-dont-require-the-burning-of-scarce-lumber


•Our financial innovation is a humane yet commercially viable rent-to-own plan that brings the cost of homeownership within reach of our target market, provides women with a quality affordable home without-deepening-their-poverty,The opportunity to own atitled secure asset worth$19800 & earn extra $2,500 income peryear & a dramatic improvement in life prospects with a clear pathway to economic &financial security 

Our USP is that SHA is the only Company providing a complete package,finance & Affordable construction to make ownership of a high quality,eco-friendly home affordable to women earning less than $8 per day.SHA homes are built-for-women-by-women

Our homes are aesthetically beautiful & with our technology we can build an affordable 3-bedroom-75sqm home at acost of $8,000,giving us an opportunity to generate more than,50% profit margin per home &still beat the competition since according to Centre-for-Affordable-Housing-finance-in-Africa(CAHF)-2018-year-book, the cheapest house in Uganda costs $20,000

•Mission:

•Providing a
Sustainable Affordable Pathway to Homeownership for women in Africa

•Activities:

•Building Smart  offgrid affordable Homes

•Land acquisition

•Property title transfer 

•Basic
infrastructure((subdivide & Create access roads/etc)

•Home construction

•Providing a humane Rent to own plan

•Applications

•Vetting and screening

•Technical assistance/Financial Literacy Training

•Payment Management

•HomeOwnership

•Management Activities

•Raising Financial
Capital, 

•Growing SHA Team

•Conduct market trials in  the 4 regions in Uganda   ,

•Develop and pilot financial product with lender

•Identifying & Building  partnerships to help SHA scale

•Evaluating the potential of women to become entrepreneurs

•

•Outputs

•On Building Smart  offgrid affordable Homes Activities

•Number of Smart, Affordable off grid home, with secure  title deeds.

•No of trainings carried out

•Number of women housed

•Number of jobs created

•Number of trees  saved

•Number of carbon emission reduced

•Number of leases issued

•Number of Lives impacted

•Providing a humane
Rent to own plan & Management Activities

•Amount of Capital raised

•Partnership with lender secured

•Number of sales made/

•Number of Applicants recieved

•Number of Internal Capacity Building Trainings for SHA held

•Refined target segment and estimated demand

•Identify most effective promotional approach

•Scalable and viable rent to own model

•New partnerships secured

•Viable model for sales expansion

•

•OutComes

•% of women  among individuals impacted

•Improved housing in communities

•Reduced incidences of Waterborne Diseases

•Increased space and reduced crowding

•Improved standards of living & Secure financial future

•Reduced levels of homelesness

•Reduced burning of treess

•Reduced carbon emission

•Improved access to  other necessities of life like education and food, Water and Sanitation, medical care among others

Thus-far we have-built-18-homes, created morethan 630-jobs(450-direct,180-indirect),impacted 160-lives,saved over-900 of Africa's trees,reduced-over-60-metric-tonnes-of-carbon-emissions &our revenues have grown 3.5x.

Over-the-next-5 years,Conservatively we estimate building 1,620 homes with a-potential impact of

8,100-lives impacted,

56,700(40,500-Direct-&16,200-indirect)-jobs created,

$4.5Million,women’s income generated,

81,000 of Africa’s rare-Mature trees saved,

37,260 metric-tonnes of carbon-emission reduced,

$32Million in-client-owned-assets

> 15% return-on-investment

Our next Main,milestone through December 2021,is to have validated our model and-value-proposition for both homeowners & impact investors

HomeOwners

In the next 24 months we intend Raise $900k(~GBP700K)-in-both-grants-and-Patient-debt-including-Winning-the-African-prize to grow our team ( from 8-18) and complete the validation of our business model by conducting market trials,targeting 640 homes in all 4 regions of Uganda. This will make us profitable & self-sustainable and prepare us for scale.

Before starting the market trials we will work closely with our target customers to improve the design of the homes.

We will also develop and pilot different promotional approaches to identify the most cost effective method.

In parallel with the market trials we will identify & build partnerships to help Smart Havens Africa scale & evaluate the potential of women to become entrepreneurs

For Impact Investors

we will collect impact data among our beneficiaries and create profiles on the impact of our innovation socially, economically, environmentally, and financially on the people we serve.This will help us in impact reporting and communicating to our socially conscious investors who could help us scale the business model & impact more lives

Security & Political Risk
Uganda is prone to political risks especially Tribal clashes and Demonstrations. These could destabilize the country , creating a threat to life and property. 

Corruption Risk Smart Havens Africa   believes that competitive advantages gained from corruption are spurious and unsustainable. We categorize corruption risk by:
Informal  payments —improper  payments  by  businesses  in  Africa  can  arise  due  to significant  levels  of  “red  tape,”  particularly  relating  to  business  permits,  licenses and the import of goods. 
Use  of  intermediaries —agents,  brokers  and  facilitators  are  used  to  “assist”  with  negotiations.  Fees  paid  to  these  intermediaries  are  often  non-distinct  and  might  be used to disguise bribes. 
Petty  corruption —petty  corruption  can  be  found  in  areas  such  as  identity  checks, speeding or payload tickets or other such cloaked offences.

Regulatory Risks
Currently Uganda, like most African countries lack standards to regulate the quality and efficiency of the new eco-technology products.

Operational Risks Administrative procedures for processing land ownership or transfers, and development permissions in Uganda are generally time-consuming 

Affordability Risk The risk associated with future affordability of our homes once customers decide to sell them.

1.Security & Political Risk:Tribal clashes & demonstrations could create threats to life & property.

Mitigation:We will monitor such threats,compiling a weekly report highlighting key changes,& operate mostly in areas of low risk.We will work with best practice security companies to secure our assets&protect
our staff.

2.Corruption Risks including:
•Informal/improper payments - eg for business permits, licenses,imports.
•Using intermediaries -fees paid could disguise bribes.
•Petty corruption eg for identity checks,speeding.
Mitigation to meet the above significant operational challenges

We acknowledge that operating in Uganda we face significant operational challenges to overcome corrupt practices. 
To that effect, we have developed an anti-corruption

program comprising:
•Assessing risk
•Implementing anti-corruption policies and controls (including financial )
•Conducting compliance training
•Monitoring,reassessing ,and modifying the program

3.Regulatory Risks Lack of standards to regulate the quality & efficiency of new eco-products.
Mitigation We shall work with regulatory bodies to establish appropriate quality standards for correct installation across the industry

4.Operational Risks Delays in administrative procedures for processing land ownership or transfers, and
development permissions
Mitigation We shall develop working relationships with appropriate bodies and allow sufficient time for
every project.

5.Affordability Risk The future affordability of our homes could be affected if customers decide to sell
them-upon ownership.
Mitigation:We protect future affordability by agreeing with rent-to-own clients a risk weighted average price
in advance.The contract gives SHA the first right to purchase the property back if the owner decides to
sell.SHA can then allocate the house to another suitable family at the same equity share.

N/A

We have acapable team with experience spanning several sectors

•Anne K.Rweyora,Managing Director,Experienced in COmmunity Development with over 10 years in academic,humanitarian,&development work.

•Will Broad,Director of Operations,Master’s in Business Administration Finance,with 15 years’ experience in private &public sectors.

•Turinawe Januarius,Technical Director,Masters in Civil Engineering from Makerere University;over 20 years’experience in construction management

Board and Advisors

•Juli Betwee,Former management consultant at Ernst & Young.Founder,Pivot Point Partners.Board Member Miller center

•Dr. Godfrey Mugurusi,Associate Professor at Norwegian University of Science&Technology NTNU,Over 15 years of Global value chains (GVCs), Sustainability,procurement policy&Value chain processes.

•Ruth S. Hoffman,MBACPA(U.S.A.),MEd,Masters in Microfinance,Has over 35years’ experience in accounting,IT,education &finance.

Anne’s Story

When my father died leaving no will,my family were kicked off our home by relatives.For many years we were practically homeless.My mum fought for her rightful ownership of our home but eventually gave up.It affected our education,health &feeding.

This inspired me to become a Female civil engineer, to create housing-opportunities for people like my mum.

Despite qualifying to-study-civil-engineering at-Uganda’s prestigious Makerere-University,I couldn’t afford the fees since my mum was spending most of her earnings on rent.To spare my already over-worked mother,I settled for a government sponsored degree in industrial design at-kyambongo-university.

Although I never fulfilled my dream of becoming a female civil engineer, it gave me an Intimate passion & Desire to help women like my mother and this led me to found Smart Havens Africa   

I want my story & experience to inspire others to follow their passions and drive change in the world.

I have the skills & abilities to contribute to Uganda & Africa’s Housing sector especially in helping low-income women dreaming of home ownership.

I have always been a leader,a school prefect,Head girl and at university I was elected guild speaker.I like team working and have more than 10 years experience in academic,humanitarian & development work.

My Career goal is to create opportunities for women & to change lives of women living in difficult circumstances and Absolute-poverty

Will's story on why smart havens africa was started can be found on this link, https://shafrica.org/the-problem-2/

Tony elumelu Foundation seed grant of $5,000, Global entrepreneurship
Fund in partnership With Uganda Ministry of Finance, $10,000, Islamic
Development Bank $100,000,African wharton business forum as
finalist,Smogathon Global air pollution innovation as a finalist,Sankalp
awards shortlisted among the 12 final companies,

Worn participation in the Global social benefit institute accelerator program organised by the miller centre USA, and was second runner up at the Pitch at Palace africa 3.0 organised by the duke of york, 

Shortlisted for FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards 2019 organised by Financial Times and International Finance Corporation, 

Recognition by UN SDGs,UNDESA and Global Innovation Exchange and Invited to showcase out technology and Model on the impact we create at Science,Technology and innovation Forum, in NewYork, 

Joined SHONA(Previous Unreasonable East Africa) accelerator
Program,

Open Capital Advisors, came on board to build our technical
capacity in preparing us for their investors Investment

Won a silver medal and $15000 for the african prize of innovation and engineering by the royal academy of engineering

Won the Youth Contest Shank Tak organised by International Finance corporation

Featured on BBc, Brussel Airlines and the local media

At Smart Havens Africa we focus on women.Our homes are built by them and for them.We offer them a route out of poverty,through jobs,Financial Inclusion and affordable homes.

We offer them training in property management and financial literacy and Provide Our-client-with key tools-to-a-secure-financial-Future.

We manage the process of finding land,building Affordable homes,creating demand,screening & Vetting customers,&Payments Management.

For the next year we will use grants &patient debt to supplement capital from sales until we become Profitable and self-sustaining.

We will succeed because the business and impact models are well connected and create value and other incentives for everyone along the value chain from financiers,Builders,Sales-Agents to homeowners.

We have already proven our ISSB technology, by-building 20 Affordable homes &have established a business blueprint. We already have apipline of 400 customers vetted and screened, awaiting to start the journey of homeownership

In the next 24 months we intend to grow our team ( x2) and complete the validation of our Business model by conducting market trials,targeting 640 homes in all  4 regions of Uganda (0.1% market penetration),This will make us profitable &Self-sustainable-and-Prepare-us-for Scale.

Our vision is to impact over 50,000 lives year on year from 2023

Our revenue comes from outright sales and  rent-to-own payments,leading to homeownership within 2-10 years

1.              Rent-to-Own-Payment($65-$165per-month) -we take 40% of every rent-to-own-monthly payment and-this-is-what-determines-our-profitability, 60% of every-month-payment is what-takes-a client’s-towards ownership

2.              Outright-Sale($10,000-$15,000),25% of total homes built per year–we make around 53% gross margin                                                       

We need to build 50 homes to become self sustainable, this will enable us to generate revenues that will be building a minimum of 20 homes year on year

For the start we will use grants and patient debt until when we become self sustainable.

We are on the journey to sustainability and we expect to achieve it by end of 2019 as we have already committed funds to build at least 40 homes

We are seeking for connections to investors,advisors and mentors as well as an investment of $900k in either grants, debt or equity to grow and scale the business across uganda and the east african region in the next 3 years.

N/A

We want to partner with Financial institutions across africa to role out our model, 

Technology companies that can help us scale our model and measure impact are welcome

We plan to use Artificial intelligence in our application that will be used in selecting the right customers for our rent to own scheme, those with high chances of being back the homes.

The GM Community Innovation prize will help  us serve more low income  women to afford a good-quality-home without-deepening their poverty,

At Smart Havens Africa we focus on women.Our homes are built by them and for them.We offer them a route out of poverty,through jobs,Financial Inclusion and affordable homes.

We offer them training in property management and financial literacy and Provide Our-client-with key tools-to-a-secure-financial-Future thus contributing to:

•SDG-1(No-Poverty)through increasing quality&value of women’s homes,increasing women’s financial stability &quality of life.Our solution ensures that our-clients can own an asset,enjoy,stable lives,engage in meaningful-employment &maintain sufficient-disposable-income to live-on

•SDG-5(Gender Equality)& SDG-8(Decent Work&Economic-Growth)through redressing the gender-balance in terms of housing-ownership & by creating jobs for female-masons (25per-house).Each mason earns $8 perday,hence a $2,500 increase in income per year.Employing these women is not only securing them work but also helping to form strong role-models for girls & encouraging them to eventually work in male-dominated-sector thus contributing to the Development of STEM for Girls and women.

•SDG-11(Sustainable-Cities &Communities)through assisting those disadvantaged by market-failure by securing apathway to Affordable-homeownership recognizing that it is one way by which the poor-women can escape from housing-poverty

•SDG-13(Climate-Action)through reducing-carbon-emissions.In contrast to Burnt-Clay-Brick,ISSB require no-wood for firing.Atleast 50 of Africa’s increasingly rare mature-trees are saved for every home we build.CO2-emission is dramatically reduced not only by avoiding-combustion process,but also by eliminating the need for transport-since-our-materials-are-sourced-onsite. 

Over-the-next-5 years,Conservatively we estimate building 1,620 homes with a-potential impact of

8,100-lives impacted,

56,700(40,500-Direct-&16,200-indirect)-jobs created,through onsite training and STEM

$4.5Million,women’s income generated,

$32Million in-client-owned-assets

The Innovation for Women  prize will us serve more low income  women to afford a good-quality-home without-deepening their poverty,thus contributing to:

•SDG-1(No-Poverty)through increasing quality&value of women’s homes,increasing women’s financial stability &quality of life.Our solution ensures that our-clients can own an asset,enjoy,stable lives,engage in meaningful-employment &maintain sufficient-disposable-income to live-on

•SDG-5(Gender-Equality)& SDG-8(Decent-Work&Economic-Growth)through redressing the gender-balance in terms of housing-ownership& by creating jobs for female-masons(25per-house).Each mason earns $8perday,hence a $2,500 increase in income peryear.Employing these women is not only securing them work but also helping to form strong role-models for girls &encouraging them to eventually work in male-dominated-sector

Our target customer segment is urban households especially those headed by women between the ages of 20-49,earning between $2-$8 per day.They typically live in slums and Urban centres,have 1-5 young children,are educated & employed or entrepreneurs.They are also our end-users.

Neither the public nor private sectors meet their housing needs.They are dissatisfied with their current home because of lack of space,poor conditions,Expensive & uncertain rents.They want a Partner who understands their pain  &a sustainable low-cost,Affordable solution like ours that delivers:

Savings & income stability

Better health

Leads to Asset ownership

Enhanced personal image

Personal growth &job opportunities

N/A

N/A

The Morgridge Family Foundation Community Driven innovation   prize will help us serve more low income  women to afford a good-quality-home without-deepening their poverty,

Our target customer segment is urban households especially those headed by women between the ages of 20-49,earning between $2-$8 per day.They typically live in slums and Urban centres,have 1-5 young children,are educated & employed or entrepreneurs.They are also our end-users.

Neither the public nor private sectors meet their housing needs.They are dissatisfied with their current home because of lack of space,poor conditions,Expensive & uncertain rents.They want a Partner who understands their pain  &a sustainable low-cost,Affordable solution like ours that delivers:    

Savings & income stability

Better health

Leads to Asset ownership

Enhanced personal image

Personal growth &job opportunities

Our Innovation will contribute to,

•SDG-1(No-Poverty)through increasing quality&value of women’s homes,increasing women’s financial stability &quality of life.Our solution ensures that our-clients can own an asset,enjoy,stable lives,engage in meaningful-employment &maintain sufficient-disposable-income to live-on

•SDG-5(Gender-Equality)& SDG-8(Decent-Work&Economic-Growth)through redressing the gender-balance in terms of housing-ownership& by creating jobs for female-masons(25per-house).Each mason earns $8perday,hence a $2,500 increase in income peryear.Employing these women is not only securing them work but also helping to form strong role-models for girls &encouraging them to eventually work in male-dominated-sector

•SDG-11(Sustainable-Cities &Communities)through assisting those disadvantaged by market-failure by securing apathway to Affordable-homeownership recognizing that it is one way by which the poor-women can escape from housing-poverty

The Innovation for Women  prize will us serve more low income  women to afford a good-quality-home without-deepening their poverty,thus contributing to secure and safe cities without violence hence contributing to broader SDGs:

G-5(Gender-Equality)& SDG-8(Decent-Work&Economic-Growth)through redressing the gender-balance in terms of housing-ownership& by creating jobs for female-masons(25per-house).Each mason earns $8perday,hence a $2,500 increase in income peryear.Employing these women is not only securing them work but also helping to form strong role-models for girls &encouraging them to eventually work in male-dominated-sector

•SDG-11(Sustainable-Cities &Communities)through assisting those disadvantaged by market-failure by securing apathway to Affordable-homeownership recognizing that it is one way by which the poor-women can escape from housing-poverty