Smart Havens Africa

In most African countries, owning a home is nearly impossible for women. High housing costs and low incomes shut most women out of the formal financial market and limit their access to finance and land tenure, making it hard for them to buy or build a home.

Two innovations enable us to build affordable homes in a way that solves the current problem, creates jobs and protects the environment. Our innovation combines low cost building technology with a novel financing mechanism (rent to own). We also employ women as masons to help improve their incomes. Existing options are traditional builders and contractors that are expensive, use burnt brick that harms the environment, rent homes indefinitely and leave customers with little or no savings and no clear path to economic and personal growth.

Our solution provides a unique pathway to homeownership and the tools to gaining financial security for women. With our model one can own a 2BH house at $5K as compared to $45K on the market. While the use of traditional burnt brick causes mass deforestation, our blocks require no wood for firing. At least 50 trees are saved on every home built. Unlike traditional builders, for every home built we create 25 jobs for women, each receiving a $2,500 increase in income per year.

Our revenue comes from rent-to-own payments, which lead to homeownership within 5 years. Rent-to-own payments range from $176-$327 monthly for five years, with 46% contributing to our profitability and 54% going towards the client’s ownership. 15% of the homes built annually are sold outright ($10,000-$15,000), we make a gross margin of 30-53% which is injected back into the building of more homes.

We need to build 46 units to become profitable, which will be achieved with already secured funds in 2024.