Centum Real Estate: Pioneering Sustainable Development and Shaping Africa's Urban Future
Centum Real Estate stands as a beacon of innovation and sustainability in the realm of real estate development, heralding a new era of urbanization across East Africa. In this exclusive interview, we delve into the remarkable journey of Centum Real Estate, exploring its inception, accolades, and vision for the future of real estate in Africa.
Share with us the story of Centum Real Estate and its inception.
Centum Real Estate was founded in the year 1967, as the Kenya National Properties Limited, before transitioning and rebranding to Athena Properties Limited in the year 2013, and later to Centum RE in the year 2020. Over the years, Centum Real Estate has solidified its position and built its reputation as a prominent real estate development and investment firm, that has served a wide range of clients including government, institutional and private clients.
Today, Centum Real Estate Limited (Centum RE) is the leading real estate developer in East Africa, place-making the next generation of urban nodes in the region with over 8,045 acres in land bank, a pipeline of more than 10,000 residential units and over 20 years of solid track record. We focus on building new quality and affordable homes in attractive locations in Kenya and Uganda providing commercial impetus for both investors and people looking to own or rent a home.
The Board of Directors at Centum RE includes non-executive directors who are sector experts in their various fields. The Centum Real Estate management team has over 30+ years of combined experience in real estate development and project finance in East Africa.
In the year 2023, we achieved the following awards:
Centum RE was awarded the prestigious 2023 EDGE Champion for Africa Award by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), for its commitment to developing green buildings and promoting resource efficiency in the real estate sector.
The Vipingo Development Limited received the Circularity Initiative of the Year Award from the Big 5 Global Impact Awards in recognition of its commitment to sustainable growth and excellence in the construction sector.
Centum RE received three awards namely the Real Estate Developer of the Year, the Most Sustainable Real Estate Development Kenya 2023, and the Residential Project of the Year in Kenya 2023 award from the International Business Magazine team.
Africa being the fastest growing continent, how do you envision the future of real estate in Africa?
Africa’s economic growth and development will continue to sustain conducive environment for promoting real estate development across the continent. This is because Africa’s growth is accompanied by a high rate of urbanization, population growth, as well as the expansion of the middle class, which collectively drive the demand for real estate in Africa.
Today, Africa has an urbanization rate of 44.30%, which the United Nations project will continue to increase over the next 50 years. Notably, African cities are currently growing at a rate which is 1.7 times faster than the global urbanization rate, as a result of increased foreign direct investment (FDI) and infrastructure development across the continent.
These factors will drive the demand for real estate across all asset classes including residential, commercial, and industrial, to accommodate the growing population and enterprises. In addition, the growth of the middle class typically denotes that individual preferences and lifestyles will improve leading to the demand for quality and affordable products, especially in the retail and residential assets classes, as well as in the expansion of smart and sustainable mixed-use developments. As such, Africa’s growth presents immense opportunities for real estate development across the continent.
How do you ensure that all your community housing is resilient in the face of climate change?
Centum RE’s overall development strategy aims at building resilience against climate change by developing smart and sustainable mixed-use nodes that integrate environmentally friendly buildings. To achieve this, we partnered with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to maintain measurable green building standards across our portfolio, through IFC’s EDGE Certification program, that helps property developers to build and brand green in a fast, easy, and affordable way. As a result of this commitment and partnership, we have certified at least 50% (or 137,704 SQM) of the floorspace for our projects in Nairobi and aim at certifying at least 100% within the next five (5) years. Integrating green building strategies into our development process is a practical way to build resilience against the impact of climate change, as it will reduce carbon emissions during the construction process, as well as promote energy efficiency and ensure that communities living within our developments can overcome extreme weather events or changes during the operational stage. This action driven strategy led to Centum RE being recognized as the 2023 EDGE Champion for Africa.
If a foreigner is interested in investing money in real estate, how does your company assist them?
The Constitution of Kenya (2010) permits foreigners, whether as individuals, trusts, groups, or companies, to own real estate (commonly known as immovable property) within the country, and register them in accordance with the law, such as the Sectional Properties Act and the Land Registration Act. However, there are two main restrictions which apply to foreigners, and these include: 1) foreigners can hold sectional titles and/or leasehold leases for a maximum period of 99 years, and 2) foreigners are prohibited from owning agricultural land without prior approval from the government. Centum Re’ Clientele include foreigners, and particularly expatriates, retirees as well as investors who seek to grow their real estate portfolio in Kenya. We facilitate them by providing them with legal advice, through our legal partners, as well as helping them to secure a KRA PIN required for the transaction and walking them through the entire ownership/investment journey with support from our Sales Executives or Legal Team.
How do you integrate traditional and contemporary construction methods in your projects?
Centum RE embraces an innovative and forward-thinking development approach, that actively promotes the adoption of cutting-edge technology, contemporary construction designs, as well as industry trends throughout our delivery process. This ongoing commitment allows us to continually enhance our products and boost the efficiency of our processes for the benefit of our customers. As an illustration, we have implemented formwork and precast technology, resulting in a significant reduction of our project cycle duration by up to 60%, while maintaining a high-quality output compared to traditional methods. Additionally, we have adopted smart home features, particularly in security, lighting, and waste management installations, to align with the expectations for chic modern houses from our customers. To sum it up, we combine both traditional and contemporary construction approaches to ensure efficiency and high levels of customer satisfaction.
Tell us about the leader of the company and its team members.
Kenneth Mbae, Managing Director
He began his career in 2010 as an intern at Centum and has obtained hands on experience on every aspect of real estate development, investment, and business value chain through the various leadership roles that he has held at Centum RE. He is responsible for the company’s overall vision and strategy, investment priorities, ESG agenda, financial objectives as well as operations. Under Kenneth’s leadership, Centum Re has become one of the largest real estate developers in East Africa.
Kenneth Mbae is the Managing Director of Centum Real Estate, a real estate growth company that develops mixed use urban nodes in strategic locations where families, individuals, and businesses are positioned to thrive. Over the years, Kenneth who begun his career in 2010 as an intern at Centum has obtained hands on experience on every aspect of real estate development, investment, and business value chain through the various leadership roles that he has held at Centum Re.
In his role as Managing Director, Kenneth provides astute leadership to Centum Real Estate in its quest for growth and through its evolution journey to become the “homes developer brand of choice” in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is responsible for the company’s overall vision and strategy, investment priorities, ESG agenda, financial objectives as well as operations. Under Kenneth’s leadership, Centum Re has become one of the largest real estate developers in East Africa. The Company has delivered record sales and profitable growth by expanding into new diaspora markets in the US, Europe, Australia, Middle East and the Rest of Africa.
Kenneth is a trailblazer and result oriented leader with a proven track record in the real estate industry. He has been at the helm of providing oversight to multiple operations, marketing and strategic roles covering multiple large-scale projects in East Africa.
Centum Re under his leadership successfully completed and handed over 1,200 homes with a further 2,100 homes under construction. Most recently, Kenneth retired a KES 3B Centum RE listed Real Estate bond from internally generated funds, monetised the existing land bank and pioneered the installation of the largest sea water desalination plant in Sub-Saharan Africa with a daily capacity of 3 million litres of water. Under his leadership, Centum RE established a Scholarship scheme that provides full high school educational support to brilliant students from underprivileged background and so far, 400 student students have been beneficiaries.
Prior to assuming the Managing Director role, Kenneth held positions of significant responsibility within Centum RE such as the Chief Operating Officer and founding Managing Director of Vipingo Development PLC. He holds a BSC. Biochemistry from Kenyatta University and an Advanced Management Certificate in Business Management from the Kenya Institute of Management.
He is a Harvard GSD Alumni (AMDP XVIII), University of Cambridge Judge Business School SMP 8 Alumni, and a member of the Project Management Institute as well as the Institute of Directors (Kenya). Kenneth is also a Certified RBA Trustee. Kenneth has been named and recognized as one of top 40 under 40 Men during 2021 Business Daily Annual awards.
Raphael Nyamai, General Manager
Pearl Marina Development
Raphael was appointed the General Manager in March 2022 and is responsible for overseeing delivery of the projects across the Pearl Marina portfolio. He has over 9 years in real estate development and project management. Raphael Joined Centum in 2014 as a graduate trainee and has been a key player in delivery of key projects Raphael holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Nairobi and is currently pursuing an MBA degree at the same university.
Anthony Watare, Development Manager
Anthony is a real estate development and management specialist with 9 years’ experience in projects set up and delivery. Anthony joined Centum in 2014 as a Graduate Trainee and has grown to his current position though delivery of various projects. Anthony is a graduate of the Enterprise Leadership Programme from the University of Oxford. He holds a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nairobi.
Bernadette Mutuku, Chief Finance Officer
Bernadette was appointed as the CFO of Centum Real Estate effective 1st July 2023. She is a regional-level finance leader with experience spanning over 30 years in global multinational companies, having started her career at the then Price Waterhouse (now PwC) where she worked for 4 years as an external auditor. Previously Bernadette worked in various roles at East Africa Breweries Ltd for 25 years.
Martin Kariuki, Head of Sales and Marketing
Martin Joined Centum in 2015 as a graduate trainee and has been a key player in tenancy coordination for retail shops at Two Rivers Mall, and commercialization of residential projects in Nairobi (Two Rivers and Kasarani). Martin led the set-up of the sales department at Centum RE in 2018, and was appointed the sales manager in 2019, responsible for conceptualization and execution of the sales and marketing strategies for the Nairobi based projects.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kenyatta University, CPA (K) from KCA University, M.SC. Project Management from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
“Centum RE are master developers of urban nodes in East Africa, transforming areas into places where people want to live, companies want to grow and neighborhoods come alive.”
“Africa’s economic growth and development will continue to sustain conducive environment for promoting real estate development across the continent.”
“Real Estate with Real Experience.”
Company Name : Centum Real Estate
Website : www.centumre.co.ke
Management Team
Kenneth Mbae, Managing Director
Bernadette Mutuku, Chief Finance Officer
Martin Kariuki, Head of Sales and Marketing
Raphael Nyamai, General Manager
Anthony Watare, Development Manager
