Kenyans continue to soar beyond our borders and adding to the list is Festus Mutia, a real estate professional with a footprint across East Africa. He is the founder and lead consultant at Mirage Real Estate Limited.
Mutia is also the senior leasing manager and mall expert at Market Shopping Mall – M.Peace Plaza in Kigali, Rwanda, a job he was offered in 2017.
The Mall was reportedly constructed for US$25 million (approximately Ksh2.5 billion) at the time. It is located within the Central Business District (CBD) area of Kigali City.
“Being the manager of the mall, my work involves meeting with prospective tenants, drafting contracts, ensuring smooth operations of the mall amongst other responsibilities,” Mutia told a local tabloid during a past interview.
On a day to day, the young realtor oversees the processing and approval of client applications and drafting of lease documents, coordinates lease negotiations, lease renewals, lease extensions, sets terms of the lease and signs off and approves the terms of all leasing deals within the parameters of the shareholders’ mandates provided.
Festus Mutia attended Lenana High School between 2007 and 2010 before proceeding to the University of Nairobi from where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics & Statistics in 2017.
He is also the holder of CPA-K, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a post-graduate diploma in Project Management.
“Besides my work, I also run a small real estate consultancy firm that covers East Africa region dealing with feasibility studies, market research, and property consultancy as a whole,” he said.
Mutia noted that real estate and the construction industry in Rwanda contributes to about 14.8 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and has higher rental incomes compared to Kenya.
“Rwanda’s real estate market is a very young market and historically challenging due to the low purchasing power of its citizens hence selling out spaces is not a walk in the park.
“However, the rate of growth of the market and the economy at large is the highest in the region,” he explained.
Festus Mutia highlights language issues living in Rwanda since the locality predominantly communicates in Kinyarwanda and French. This has forced him to learn a few words to be able to communicate in both.
He notes that Rwanda has become a coveted investment destination for multi-nationals, and refers to the EAC country as a second home.
“Rwanda has been ranked highly on the easiness to do business and hence it is an ideal place to invest, so yes, I wouldn’t mind investing in Rwanda and settling here as well,” he states.
