‘Increased women access to real estate guarantees 40% sector contribution to GDP’
Gender inclusiveness or representation in almost every sphere of human activity is today a global phenomenon and it is such that even in real estate investing, advisory services and advocacy, which are traditionally men’s tuff, have a sizable number of women players.
In spite of this, experts still say that the number is not yet enough to make appreciable impact which is why Ruth Obih, the CEO of 3Invest Limited, believes that increasing women’s access to resources for investment in real estate could guarantee the sector’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as 40 percent.
“If more women had access to the resources to own, invest in, develop and manage properties whether for private or commercial use, the industry would be well on its way to hit 40 percent contribution to gross domestic product (GDP)”, she reasoned.
Obih is of the view that any business sector that is not enabling to women is not on a sustainable track, pointing out that gender diversity and inclusiveness ensures better outreach for products and services. According to her, “real estate and, by association, construction and development, is a core investment avenue as well as a strong indicator of economic progress for any nation”, lamenting that women are grossly disadvantaged and underserved whether in ownership, access or entrepreneurial opportunities within the sector which has led to “disparity and unsustainable growth”.
To address this imbalance, she disclosed that an African Women in Real Estate (AWIRE) network was launched at the Real Estate Unite Conference organized by her company in Lagos recently, describing the network as a first of its kind platform to promote inclusion and participation of women in the real estate industry.
“We considered this time opportune to launch AWIRE as a networking platform for African women in the industry to come together to share best practices and promote its growth”, she said, emphasizing that “when you invest in women and in real estate, you invest in a community”.
Obih believes that real estate sector is the best indicator of growth in the economy, noting that the sector accounts for just 7.6 percent of the nation’s GDP because it is not fully leveraged. “If it were, I can assure you it could contribute much more because there is no sector that does not have a real estate component”, she explains.
Though she hopes to see the sector singing a new song based on some of the changes happening now, the sector is not without challenges especially with its scale of demand- supply gap.
“We have a population that is youthful and entrepreneurial, yet access to affordable retail/ commercial space for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is dismal, meaning that if a startup is spending up to 60 percent of its operating costs on space, it is losing resource it would have put into marketing and building the business”, she notes.
CHUKA UROKO