It’s now possible to buy property and invest in Kenya from diaspora. If you are living in the UK,German,USA,Canada,Dubai or any other country outside Kenya, we are giving you tips on how to invest in Kenya without being conned by individuals. But before we provide simple steps to follow, here is what happened to Albert.
Alex was living in USA and wanted to build a house in Thika.The hard working Kenyan had saved over $100,000 for the project.
In 2013, Alex started to build the house through his brother who was living in Nairobi. Every weekend, the young man would send $5,000-$10,000 for the construction of the house.
In six month, the brother in Kenya sent him pictures of the house, which consumed a total of $8,500.Alex became grateful, and to appreciate he sent his brother $5,000 as a reward.
Alex came last year December to see his project. To his shock, he found his brother had just built a mud house and had disappeared with the money to South Sudan. The pictures he used to send to Alex were sourced from the internet.
To avoid such a scenario, you have to invest your money wisely. Here is what to do.
The best investment to make in Kenya is, buying assets. Since real estate is booming, you simply need to approach a bank or a real estate company for a viable project. I suggest you open a diaspora bank account where you will be depositing the money and the bank does everything for you.
The second option is to invest in insurance products such as annuities and unit trusts.
We first start with mortgages and real estate property
When you are in diaspora, chances of you getting time to visit your project are minimal. The best thing to do is to contract a real estate company to build a house/apartment for you. In Kenya Cytonn investment is the best real estate company to approach for Real Estate Property. This Company has grown to emerge the best in real estate sector.
The second thing to do is buy a home through morgages.The easiest process to follow is to approach KCB, NIC, Barclays, Standard Chartered Bank or Housing Finance for mortgage facility.
Equities / Stock Exchange:
You can also invest in Kenya by buying shares and other securities as the Nairobi Securities Exchange. You will do this by opening a CDS account at Stanbic Bank, which will request you to deposit money on this account
Money Market / Government securities:
You can also trade in money market and government securities. You will do this by either opening an account with a local bank or buying government bonds whenever they are advertised.
We discourage you from starting businesses that require your presence. Never make a mistake of operating businesses like general shop, MPESA shop, AGROVET,Hotel,Pub and electronic shop.
