Our Mission
To address the backlog of 50 million homes in Africa.
We do this by enabling:
Affordable lease-to-own home loans for African consumers, and Competitive returns to capital providers
Through an innovative financial technology platform cost-effectively linking the two.
Empowa was designed in direct response to the systemic failures that have resulted in financial exclusion plaguing the African continent. It is often assumed that the backlog of affordable housing is due to poverty. It is not. The current financial systems and infrastructure are not fit for purpose and simply do not work.
Through innovation in thinking and technology and enabling decentralized financing, Empowa is the key to unlocking the potential of the under-served home-loan market, unlocking affordable and greener homes for more Africans.
DeFi Enabled Affordable Housing in Africa
Empowa is seeking to be a large property developer but not develop properties. By providing decentralized financing, Empowa is the key to unlocking this market.
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Existing systems just don’t work!
Africans struggle to buy a house. Who could afford to buy a house at a mortgage rate of 45% – the mortgage rate in Zimbabwe? The cost of finance is extremely high in many African countries, leading to a housing supply vicious cycle.
Photo: Bill-Wegener-Unsplash
Decentralized financing
leads to RealFi impact
Empowa is on a mission to build that decentralized financing platform for affordable housing in Africa.
To do that, Empowa follows 3 key principles:
Building
Building a house
improves:
• Safety
• Health
• Wellbeing
• Education
• Resilience to climate change
• Creates jobs (1 house = 8 jobs)
• Creates wealth
Community
Prosperity through
community:
The Empowa Community is an ecosystem of customers, developers, partners and service providers. Empowa leverages the resources, knowledge and wisdom of the community to economically empower people through property.
Impact
Impacting people
Impacting the planet:
The inequality of wealth in the world is not sustainable – it must change. Empowa creates value by creating wealth for those who need it most – women and the financially excluded.
Economically empowering people and protecting the planet.
We empower people
where current systems fail
Photo: Casa Real project planning
Reducing home shortage in Africa
There is a massive home shortage in Africa. Currently there is a need for 50 million homes.
Empowa enables local partners to work on this enormous backlog.
No more mortgages with high interest rates
Mozambique has 600 mortgages in a country of over 30 million people. Mortgage interest rates can be as high as 32%
Empowa wants to make house ownership more available by enabling decentralized funding models.
A special client contract signing moment. This Casa Real client was blinded in a work accident. Fortunately, the company paid some insurance money, which enabled him to buy one of Casa Real’s starter homes for $10,000.
As he is blind he signed the contract with a thumb imprint. Empowa is on a mission to enable more people access to such opportunities by supporting entities like Casa Real and affordable financing for end users.
Photo: Kenex Media – Pexels
Providing Africans a permanent roof over their heads
84% of Africans don’t have a permanent roof over their heads. That is more than 1 billion people.
Empowa will reduce this backlog through DeFi enabled affordable housing.
CO2 reduction through circular building.
Building 50 million homes without environmental construction solutions will be catastrophic for the planet.
When cost is the overriding factor in affordability, change is difficult. To support this change, Empowa needs to help reduce costs, and develop models and processes that enable the testing and use of new materials that are climate friendly.
Empowa is on a mission to do this.
Photo: A CO2 Negative house by Easy Housing. Finding ways to enable affordable CO2 negative housing in Africa.
Making an impact with the right partners
Empowa works with tech organisations and property developers on the ground. These companies know the local markets, local conditions and are sitting on significant business opportunities.
60 Decibels Report on Mozambique & Macroeconomic Outlook
At Empowa, we are always excited to share tangible evidence of the impact we’re making, and one of our most rewarding milestones this year is the recent 60 Decibels (60DB) report on our collaboration with Mercy Corps Ventures in Mozambique. Positive Impact in...
Exploring the Maraza Project & Growing Global Awareness
In addition to our projects on the ground, Empowa is making significant waves globally, thanks to our participation in high-profile industry events. Recently, Glen represented Empowa at the Tech For Impact Summit in Japan, where he had the opportunity to share our...
Empowa NSE and Catalyst Update
It’s been an exciting few months at Empowa as we continue making strides with our Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) project. Since securing Catalyst funding, we’ve been hard at work with the Catalyst team to finalize our funding milestones. While the complexity and...