The Greens: Affordable housing, luxurious living

In construction, there is one thing that can define the quality and integrity of a contractor or organisation – delivering on a promise.

The blend of quality and affordability in a real estate development is often hard to find, and not many property developers have been successful at executing this combination without compromising someway, somehow. That notwithstanding, some property developers start off by first considering their target market and what kind of homes their prospective clients can afford, but in many cases, there can be a number of roadblocks along the way that haven’t been taken into account.

For The Greens, the promise of a carefully crafted, gated and secure community with amenities and conveniences of modern living within Tema, Southern Ghana, is more than simply a property development promise: it’s a commitment.

“The Greens and the people behind it, we are here for the long term,” says Kiran Daswani, Founder of The Greens.

“What satisfies me the most is meeting and understanding the clients’ needs, it gives me pleasure to witness the achievements of my team and making a real difference. I want to see people fall in love with their homes, and truly desire them.”

Daswani has a close relationship with the African continent, having lived in the Ivory Coast for a number of years. In 2014, Mulk Holdings, the multi-billion dollar conglomerate and Daswani formed Alubond West Africa in Ghana.

“Last year, we acquired seven acres of land in Tema,” says Daswani. “The community for our housing was designed to provide quality living space that users and homeowners will truly cherish, at an affordable price, which is a real gap in the market we are looking to tap into.”

In the first phase of construction, The Greens will see the construction of 12 houses which will be handed over in December this year. The overall masterplan for the development will see a fully completed community of 164 duplexes by the close of 2019.

Usually, with a construction development of this size and scope, the developer will subcontract various elements of construction to a number of third parties. The Greens will stand tall and do things a little differently, completing all construction responsibilities completely in-house.

Daswani feels this is a testament to the integrity of The Greens and a sign of the quality assurance that the company is offering to its clients.

“The construction industry is one of the easiest spaces to cut corners,” she says. “We are more than developers: we are the contractors and the builders. It provides us with an added value because at the end of it all, it is our reputation, our responsibility.”

This added value allows The Greens to not only differentiate itself, but to ensure that it will do everything it can and pride itself as a business on its ability to deliver on its promise.

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“We control the quality as much as possible to ensure that we are delivering what we are projecting to our clients,” Daswani adds.

This personal quality control approach to the development transcends throughout the entire organisation. Daswani, the members of her team at Alubond West Africa, Pre-Engineering - the contractor company that The Greens works with, and everyone leading The Greens are all based in Ghana. This allows the company to provide a much more personal touch to the development. It provides The Greens, as Daswani points out, with a significant sense of credibility, which makes all the difference.

“We are the faces of the company, and we are out there meeting the clients and developing relationships,” she says. “In property development, to see the leaders right there on site, actively on the ground, gives credibility. Property buyers don’t always want to go through salespeople - they want to meet the leaders and the people at the top and it plays a huge role.”

Daswani noted a gap in the affordable housing market, one that she feels The Greens can fill perfectly as Ghana and the region continue to grow and emerge as an attractive investment destination.

The typical buyer has changed - it has now become younger professionals and first-time buyers with two incomes. This has shaped the entire decision-making process of The Greens.

“People need affordable housing that looks and feels good, not housing that is out of their reach,” Daswani states.

The Greens offers two and three-bedroom houses from an initial starting price of $69,000 to $100,000. Consider the same properties, but in Accra, the closest city to Tema, and that price range rockets to a much heftier price point of $300,000.

Daswani, though, believes what The Greens will offer alongside an affordable price is an added value of creating and nurturing a community like no other.

“I believe that when you invest in property, it’s not just the property you’re investing into, there’s the life beyond that,” she says. “We will do what we can to ensure that the community runs and prospers, as it should.”

Daswani has an unrivalled passion for enriching a life which will, in turn, enrich the lives of the many that choose to find their home in The Greens.

For her, it is about developing trust.

“What would success mean for me? Manifesting the reality of our promises,” she says. “Delivering comfortable homes at an affordable price."