Fashola kicks off Real Estate Unite 2014

3Invest Ltd recently held a media conference to officially launch Real Estate Unite 2014 – the international business-to-business event that convenes players from across Africa’s real estate industry.

The annual event in its third year is scheduled to take place between October 2 and 3, 2014, at Intercontinental Hotel in Lagos.

Speaking at the press conference, Ruth Obih, CEO of 3Invest, said with Nigeria’s rebased GDP, “the sub-Saharan real estate market presents an attractive investment opportunity; a portfolio which currently accounts for about 7.6 percent of the nation’s GDP, but can be as much as 40 percent if better mobilised.

“This is what we are seeking to do at this year’s event through the theme, ‘Igniting the F.I.R.E, where lies the key? The theme represents key factors 3Invest has identified over the years as having the potential to catalyse the industry’s growth. The ‘F’ represents Finance, the ‘I’ represents Infrastructure, ‘R’ represents Red-Tapism while ‘E’ represents Education.”

Real Estate Unite 2014 will answer pertinent questions like how finance can be raised for building projects; why infrastructure investing should be addressed; how red-tapism can be eradicated from the housing sector; and what the way forward is for the education sector in terms of investing and security.

The event would be opened by Governor Babatunde Fashola giving the keynote address. Also expected to keynote is Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance and co-ordinating minister of the economy. Confirmed speakers include Hakeem Ogunniran of UPDC; Simon Walley of World Bank; Kunle Osilaja of Ecobank; Hassan Usman Hassan of ASO Savings; Femi Adewole of Shelter Afrique; Olumide Olusanya of UNILAG; Chii Akporji of ministry of finance, an Sonnie Ayere of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company.

Obih went on to present new agenda items slated for the event with limited access roundtables on Housing Finance and Healthcare Real Estate. “As a forum that is responsive to growing trends in the industry, we knew it was time to bring to the forefront a new market opportunity when we were suddenly faced with the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Lagos and West Africa at large,” Obih said. “With the infrastructural challenges of providing medical services to the infected, exposed and others, I knew that at Real Estate Unite, we had to focus on healthcare real estate or simply put, the future of care from the real estate perspective,” she said.