Business Desk 
Real estate sector in Kenya has seen a boom that began somewhere in mid-2000s as the property market continues to respond well to increase and consistent demand.
Every time, a debate on real estate is held, Optiven always find itself being mentioned a thousand times due to their honesty and transparency in this space, for the two decades plus, that they have been in business.
The company is captained by its Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr George Wachiuri, and is rightly living up to its mission, which is to create an environment that positively transforms its staff, customers, and all its stakeholders through offering state of the art products and services that have added values.
The company is living its dream in the region of transforming the society and it has become a leading brand in the East Africa region and has several flourishing Strategic Business Units (SBUs) that include Optiven Real Estate, Optiven Construction, Optiven Insurance, Optiven Homes, and Optiven Water among others.
Under the stewardship of Mr Wachiuri, Optiven Group has won many coveted awards amongst them: Winner, best in use of Digital Solutions by Land Agents – 2ND Annual Digital Inclusion Awards (2018), The Most Outstanding Innovation in Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies (2017/2018), Exceptional Human Resource (HR) Practices in Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies (2017/2018) among others.
As a Person, Wachiuri has over the years, scooped many awards and appreciations including 1st Runners Up – National Diversity & Inclusion Awards (DIAR Awards) (2014/2015); Best Entrepreneur – Africa – Diaspora Entertainment Awards & Recognition (D.E.A.R) awards (2017); Executive Leadership Network Appreciation – Business Leaders Forum (2016) among others.
During an interview, Mr Wachiuri said that the Kenyan property market has grown exponentially as evidenced by its contribution to the country’s GDP.
National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Q3, 2021 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report recently shown the real estate sector grew marginally by 5.2 per cent, 0.3 per cent points higher than the 4.9 per cent growth recorded in Q2, 2021.
He said that the sector’s grow can be attributed to the clientele changing its preference and international firms creating demand for something that is of world-class standards.
“The rebirth of property development in Kenya has attracted global attention creating an opportunity for the sector to grow tremendously,” he said.
He said that the firm aims at creating over 30, 000 direct employees by the year 2030, while at the same time the company has empowered more than 10, 000 Kenyans to own property and also directly and indirectly employed about 2, 000 personnel across the real estate and hospitality sector.
“Optiven is a one-stop-shop offering investment solutions to you. Our projects are suitable for immediate residential settlement, commercial purposes, or futuristic capital gain,” he said.
He added that they have prime plots in Kiambu, Thika, Gatanga Road, Machakos, Kitengela, Nyeri, Nanyuki, Naivasha, Naro Moru, Malindi, Konza and Kajiado.
“As we think of you getting VALUE in our properties, we have also made them very affordable, hence you can find a project from as little as Ksh349, 000 with affordable installments,” he said.
These includes projects such as The Great Oasis Gardens Nanyuki
He said that the company is currently one of the most sought-after real estate firms that sells value-added plots with emphasis on conserving the environment, which includes planting of trees within the residential estates that it develops.
The firm also emphasizes on providing security, piped clean water, and basic infrastructure such as internal roads among other facilities.
Mr Wachiuri gave a case study of one of their new projects in Kitengela dubbed Happy Gardens. View more about some of the available properties in Kitengela.
This gated community is now already taking shape as the state-of-the-art estate that it is meant to be. A magnificent gate is already coming up. This is besides compacting of internal roads. All these value additions are indeed giving this place an ambiance of a kind.
Upon completion, the gate will further enhance the security of this gated community that is only 1.5KMs from the busy Namanga Road.
“The transformation in this ideal address also involves storm water management, which has been done along the internal roads.
“The gated community also neighbors great institutions of higher learning such as the KAG East University Kitengela Campus and the popular GMC Place Kitengela, which is only 12KMs from Happy Gardens,” he said.
He further noted that Optiven conducts free site visits and open days for their clients to get an exclusive first hand feel of their projects.
About a month ago, the company, in a move to empower its current and possible customers launched a payment plan dubbed Lipa Mdogo Mdogo to ensure that Kenyans acquire properties by only paying a deposit and settling the balance in a reasonable time frame.
Wachiuri said that many Kenyans have continued to purchase property despite the Covid-19 pandemic that is now diminishing, and that it was only appropriate for them to be rewarded with a payment plan that will help them clear any outstanding amounts and even get a chance to add to their property portfolio.
“Lipa Mdogo Mdogo or Lipa as you earn platform is very unique to us at Optiven as our customers will only pay the commitment amount (deposit) then for the balance, we will enter into a payment plan with our valued customers or with their banks as they pay up and own land, where they can then build their dream homes,” Wachiuri said.
