Construction is her passion

Ngoni Dapira Talking Entreprenuership
HER passion for the construction sector made her face the odds and make inroads at a time when women were not bold enough to venture into the industry. Recently she was chosen as the second runner-up at the second edition of the Women In Enterprise national awards, in the construction category.

She is none other than Mrs Nancy Saungweme-Muchenje, who hails from the eastern border city of Mutare.

Organised by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Women Alliance of Business Association of Zimbabwe, the awards recognise and celebrate Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs’ contributions and achievements in agriculture, manufacturing, construction, education and training, banking and finance, tourism, mining, service industry, arts, sport and culture, Small to Medium Enterprises and the corporate sector.

The nominees are usually women entrepreneurs who own formally registered businesses or head a large-scale corporate for the corporate category.

From humble beginnings, Mrs Saungweme-Muchenje, the Aloe Enterprise managing director, now celebrates 24 years in the sector since establishing her land development company in 1991. Mrs Saungweme-Muchenje, however, said her journey has not been easy, especially as a woman in the construction industry, highly dominated by men.

The ex-combatant and former diplomat said she initially entered the industry by default but since then, land development is her passion and the sky is the limit for her company, which is currently working on two land development projects in Mutare, namely the high-density Triang project in Dangamvura and the low-density Drumfold project near the Mozambican border.

“In 1991, I started off as a mere small sub-contractor of asphalt or bitumen competing with the major multinational suppliers such as Trinidad. When the Zimbabwe Building Society housing projects began in 1993, I experimented and diversified into housing schemes and ever since, it has been my passion to develop land and build houses. There is so much pride in knowing that I have played a part in building some of the country’s biggest high-density projects and I intend to do more big projects in the near future,” said Mrs Saungweme-Muchenje.

Aloe Enterprise started off with the Runyanyaro high-density scheme in Masvingo in 1993 where they built 700 houses ranging between 150 square metres to 300 square metres.

This was followed by the Nyamauru (Founders) housing scheme in the high-density suburb of Dangamvura, Mutare, where they serviced the land and built another 700 houses.

Aloe Enterprise’s first private land development project was Jelf Estate (former Drive-Inn) which they bought as private land and serviced for high- density housing construction for 135 stands.

In 2008, Mrs Saungweme-Muchenje said they decided to step up their game and venture in low-density land development projects following the discovery of diamonds in Chiadzwa.

That is when Aloe started the Greenside Extension project where they serviced land for 57 stands averaging 2 000 square metres. The area now houses some of the upmarket houses in Mutare.

Aloe Enterprise also bought private land in the hilly Christmas Pass area where they want to service the land and attract those that want to build there and start their own little “Beverly Hills”. The company is also servicing the land.

“We realised that the housing backlog was not only for those in the high densities but also those in low densities that were renting and in dire need of housing in the posh suburbs,” she said.

Mrs Saungweme-Muchenje, who is also the Zimbabwe Property Developers Association vice-chairperson, said the rise in cases of bogus land developers was worrisome.

She said the association, ZPRODA, was currently working on the proposal of a Bill to the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, which can give them more power as the mother body of land developers.

“There are now a lot of bogus land developers not registered with the association and they have been the major headache in the cases countrywide which has seen thousands of desperate home-seekers being duped. However, we are now aiming to become more visible as an association,” she said.

In celebration of the recent World Habitat Day, Mrs Saungweme-Muchenje said it was important for Government to expedite the earmarked projects of low-cost blocks of flats to meet the country’s housing backlog.

“As private land developers we want to assist Government to meet its target of providing stands but going up (blocks of flats) is the way forward especially in our high-density suburbs where there is not much land,” she said.

The country has a housing backlog estimated at 1,25 million, with Harare topping the list at 500 000.