adminFrancis Chinjekure
It’s that time of the year again, when real estate professionals from across Zimbabwe gather at the Winter School to share ideas and to discuss opportunities the sector presents and the challenges they face as they conduct their day to day business.
Winter School is an annual event on the Institute calendar. The platform gives real estate players an opportunity to congregate and put minds together in pursuit of ideas, innovations and solutions that can take the sector to the next level.
Government officials, institutional investors, pension funds, insurance companies, fund managers, bankers, property developers, estate agents, valuers, town planners, analysts, lawyers, project managers, property managers and other real estate stakeholders are the audience that makes part of the Winter School year in year out.
The Winter School will be held in Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and the main agenda is to discuss the issue of sustainability which has been topical globally at policy, development and investment levels, hence our Theme “Integrating Sustainability in the Real Estate Sector for Economic Transformation”.
To discuss the theme and other important aspects relating to real estate on global scale we have invited Professor Samuel Azasu who happens to be an Associate Professor of Real Estate at Wits University to be the keynote speaker. Innocencia Tigere, Alleta Nyahuye and Louis Taderera are the other confirmed speakers to join him in discussing various topics in nexus with the subject of sustainability, respectively they will speak about town planning, environmental issues and the transformative role of structured data in real estate for sustainability in land-use management.
Sustainability is a subject we cannot afford to ignore if we are hoping one day to solve the problems of rapid urbanisation has brought in most African cities. Water pollution, air pollution, poor waste management, poor public transport system, wetlands encroachment, urban sprawling, high energy consumption, squatter camps and vending at undesignated places are some of the problems cities across Zimbabwe are facing. What should be done to make our cities habitable, is the question we seek to answer, hopefully our experts have the answer.
The World Bank believes that over four billion people around the world — more than 50 percent of the global population live in cities and that number is still fast growing, most rapidly in Asia and Africa, as individuals and families continue migrating to urban areas to seek better livelihoods.
By 2050, with the urban population doubling its current size, nearly 70 out 100 people will be living in cities.
Rural to cities migration is a reality and our cities have to be ready to accommodate ever-increasing populations sustainably going into the future.
Last year we had a great experience at the Troutbeck Hotel Resort in Nyanga and this year we are not promising anything less, so join us at Rainbow Hotel in Victoria Falls for another great experience as we discuss sustainability issues, for we have the future in mind!
Disclaimer Francis Chinjekure writes in his capacity as the Research Officer of The Real Estate Institute of Zimbabwe (REIZ). For feedback on this article you can get in touch with him on [email protected]
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