Kenya is set to host Shelter Afrique’s 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and annual housing symposium next week. This is the fourth time in recent years that Kenya is doing so. The event which was earlier scheduled to take place at Kenya’s coastal town of Malindi, will now be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has limited movements of people.
All the forty four member states, African Development Bank and Afrique Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), will now converge virtually to discuss Shelter Afrique’s performance and turnaround strategy. The week will also feature a symposium presented by Shelter Afrique Centre of Excellence, focusing on analyzing the success of housing policies in the last decade and forecasting likely developments in the next decade in the context of the pandemic.
Giving the update of the AGM to the press jointly with the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Mr. James Macharia (who becomes the chairman of the bureau of AGM), Shelter Afrique’s chief executive officer Andrew Chimphondah observed that Kenya continues to play a significant role in the operations of the company, both as a host nation and key shareholder. “We are happy that Kenya has undertaken to host this year’s Shelter Afrique’s AGM amid challenges of a pandemic and we are grateful to the Ministry of Housing for its continued support,” Mr. Chimphondah said.
Mr. Macharia lauded Shelter Afrique for the remarkable performance for the past one year, noting that the company was poised for better years ahead following a successful turnaround.
”As a ministry, we have a lot of synergies with Shelter Afrique and we are constantly exploring ways of working together on issues touching on affordable housing,” said Mr. Macharia. “We are grateful for the commitment Shelter Afrique has shown to this course through its investment in the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) and the financial and technical support it continues to extend to private developers engaged in the provision of affordable housing,” he added.
Additional capital
The Cabinet Secretary said his ministry was in talks with the National Treasury to increase its shareholding in Shelter Afrique.
“My ministry is already in talks with the National Treasury to explore ways of increasing Kenya’s shareholding in Shelter Afrique. We would like to see a stable and prosperous company capable of supporting the housing agenda not only in Kenya but across Africa,” Mr. Macharia said.
Kenya’s current shareholding in Shelter Afrique stands at 14.87 per cent ahead of Nigeria’s 14.77 per cent (after paying USD9.4m recently as part of USD29.3m commitment in additional capital), and African Development Bank’s 14.28 per cent.
High on the agenda will be the onboarding of ‘class c’ shareholders. The second AGM held in Morocco in 2017 had approved the creation of ‘class c’ for non-African institutions and private companies to invest in the company. In recent years, the company has embarked on a determined course of fundraising and expansion of its capital subscription base with positive response from existing members. The housing development financier confirmed that it had also received further US$6.6 in additional capital from Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho, Mali, Namibia, Togo, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.
