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Kenyan builders urged to embrace Brazilian technologies

Brazil’s innovative architectural designs can be used to potentially solve Kenya’s housing woes.

Updated

Samuel Makome
Samuel Makome, KCB chief business officer. PHOTO | COURTESY

Kenyan builders have been urged to embrace Brazilian building technologies to meet the rising demand for affordable housing in the country.

Speaking in Nairobi on Thursday during the KCB Group Developers Club pre-trip briefing to Brazil, Samuel Makome – the group chief business officer – said Brazil’s innovative architectural designs can be used to potentially solve Kenya’s housing woes.

Mr Makome said trip would broaden the developers’ business scope while exposing them to modern architectural designs.

“We hope to transfer technologies and advancements in the developed economies to the real estate industry in this country and our region and positively change the industry altogether,” he said.

The KCB Developers Club’s tour, which is scheduled to begin on February 29, will see a group of 30 developers travel to Brazil to experience the South American country’s innovative building technology.

The annual trip seeks to expose local builders to modern construction methods and innovative building materials.

The Brazil tour comes at a time when the rising house prices have made it impossible for many households to afford decent housing.

KCB, whose Developers Club comprises about 450 active members, recently registered its mortgage lending arm S&L as an independent construction firm that will build low cost houses for the local middle class.

READ: KCB to build 10,000 low cost homes

The company hopes to ride on new construction technology to build houses priced between Sh1 million and Sh3 million.

The bank is said to be working with people in Brazil and Mexico to bring in seed funding for the new venture.

Kenyan investors are increasingly looking to Italy, Brazil, China, Malaysia and other developed countries for technologies aimed at bringing down construction costs.

Jayson Maina is a technology reporter with a degree in Computer Science from JKUAT. He has covered emerging technologies and their impact on the construction industry for more than a decade.