Using Data to Mitigate Affordable Housing Risks in Emerging Markets
Empowa acknowledges the pivotal role that access to relevant and trustworthy data plays in facilitating investments in affordable housing within developing markets.
In numerous developing markets, the informal nature of income leads to a dearth of credit information and informative data on affordable housing, impeding well-informed investment and business decisions. To navigate this intricate market landscape, both emerging affordable housing developers and potential investors require comprehensive data. The absence of such data fosters uncertainty among investors, elevating risk and the cost of capital, while also limiting developers’ ability to secure construction finance and off-take agreements.
Moreover, the lack of data poses challenges for developers in determining the optimal market, identifying potential customer profiles, and establishing competitive pricing strategies. This impedes developers from accurately assessing the value of their business and projects, thereby restricting their capacity to attract funding. Additionally, developers may fail to gather the increasingly vital data desired by potential investors, such as environmental impact details or gender profiles.
To effectively address these challenges for both developers and investors, Empowa has introduced Empowa Pay—a tailored Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution for affordable housing. Empowa Pay serves as a technological tool that empowers developers to offer and manage payment plans for their customers, as needed, while facilitating efficient and relevant data collection to support these processes. This data, in turn, equips local developers with the means to substantiate their product and market offerings more effectively, thereby reducing risk for investors and enabling them to make better-informed investment decisions.
Empowa Pay Data and Benefits
Empowa understands that tenants in developing markets are not likely to make rental payments in cryptocurrencies anytime soon. Therefore, a crucial aspect of our success lies in seamlessly integrating with traditional payment on-ramps. This is where Hedera’s relationship with key industry players is a game-changer.
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BENEFIT |
Customer Applications |
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Creates a comprehensive profile of potential customers, encompassing key details such as current living conditions, including but not limited to the amount of rent currently paid, availability of essential utilities such as electricity, water, and internet access. |
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Customer Details |
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Profile of customers |
Mitigating project and investor risks, Empowa Pay offers timely and verified cash-flow information for customers, developers and investors. The platform adeptly records various types of payments, encompassing both formal and informal transactions. Furthermore, it plays a crucial role in helping customers to better understand their payments and ownership while establishing comprehensive customer credit histories. Empowa Pay goes beyond mere transaction records; it actively develops detailed payment profiles categorized by customer, project, developer, suburb, city, and country. This multifaceted approach not only enhances risk management but also provides a nuanced understanding of payment behaviors, fostering a more informed and secure investment environment for all stakeholders. |
Property Details |
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| Profile of properties |
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Empowa’s data is categorised into three main types. The below has been collected in the first 6 months since the launch of Empowa Pay (June – November 2023)
Third-Party Industry Research:
Where possible, Empowa Pay collates data from various third-party sources, providing the ability to cross-reference and compare data, facilitating better industry benchmarking.
Size of the current data set:
Developers: > 1 000
Properties: > 75 000
Historic Developer Data:
Empowa Pay facilitates the seamless onboarding of new developers by allowing them to import their historical data. This crucial step ensures that all their data is securely stored in a protected environment in the cloud, empowering developers to benchmark themselves against industry standards. This process not only contributes to enhancing the overall data structure but also aids in identifying any gaps in the dataset, such as adherence to environmental standards in constructed homes. Recognizing and addressing these gaps significantly boosts the developer’s capacity to attract funding from a broader range of investment sources.
Size of the current data set: Payments: 1 731
Ongoing Recording:
Leveraging Empowa Pay for customer and payment management not only empowers developers to enhance their operational efficiency in these areas but also plays a pivotal role in accumulating crucial data vital for future investment decisions. The real-time data collection facilitated by the Empowa Pay system eliminates the necessity for developers to dedicate months to compile data for an investment data room. This shift to real-time data not only expedites the decision-making process but also enhances project evaluations, establishes robust business practices, and ensures the delivery of accurate, regular, and validated reports.
Size of the current data set: Clients: 564
