Interview with a real estate investment platform Cofundie

Try to explain what Cofundie is doing:

Cofundie is a real estate investment platform. We make it simple for anyone who is interested to invest in income-generating real estate deals specifically in the affordable housing sector. We are creating an alternative source of financing for property developers who are building affordable housing. 

We realised that most financing for property development in the region goes towards commercial & luxury properties which is a problem since around  60-80% of the population needs access to affordable housing.

 

Can you give an example of who your customer is?

Our ideal customer (Or Cofunder as we call them)is an African middle-income earner who lives either on the continent or in the diaspora, below the age of 55 and is interested in a legitimate and reliable source of passive income. We provide a reliable asset class that any and everyone can participate in.

 

How many people work with you? 

We are currently a core team of 5 but growing every day. This, however, doesn’t include the support we have from our retained legal counsel and part-time & contract staff.

 

The labour market has been difficult to find qualified people lately, do you have this problem?

Its always going to be difficult to find good people, to find that diamond in the rough, but they are definitely there. As a company when we hire we make sure we are bringing in people who can contribute positively to the business but who the business can also impact positively, we are a people-centred organization and that has helped us greatly in our hiring efforts.

 

What markets do you do best? 

Our main markets right now are Nigeria & Ghana, the population and business culture support our business model and we see a lot of potential here, however, we are also keen on expanding into the rest of Sub-saharan Africa, one city at a time. We have already seen demand from Kenya & Cote'divoire  so when the time is right we will definitely move into those markets

 

Are you thinking about expanding into other markets?

Answered above

What's the latest trend in your segment?

Africa is on the way to a population boom, following current trends, we can assume that majority of these new people will be in the lower to middle-income economic class, these new people will need a place to live, work and play. So we see only growth in the demand for affordable housing and smart companies are developing technologies & techniques for quick & cheap housing. At Cofundie we are doing our part by providing access to financing for these companies.

 

Social Media of Cofundie:

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Disclaimer: The writer is an experienced financial consultant who writes for Finscreener.org. The observations he makes are his own and are not intended as investment or trading advice.