A Kenya-based international company, iBuild has rolled out a mobile-enabled construction platform in efforts to implement housing agenda.
The company with headquarters in Washington DC will enable workers track their work history, homeowners and contractors find projects, place bids, hire workers, manage project details, make and receive payments.
The fintech solution facilitates collaborations between stakeholders in the construction sector that had experienced a slowdown in 2018.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicated that cement consumption in the first six months of the year stood at less than 2.75 million tonnes, down from 2.98 million in 2017.
Cement production also reduced during the period to 2.84 million metric tonnes from 3.18 million metric tonnes.
Real estate contribution to the GDP has also been on the decline marking 6.8 per cent, 6.6 per cent and 5.8 per cent in the first, second and third quarters of 2018 respectively.
KNBS report on Leading Economic Indicators indicated a 21.5 per cent year on year decline in the total value of building approvals by the Nairobi City County for the first 10 months of 2018.
“Although large scale construction may be trending downward, there is continued demand for incremental building projects by individual citizens paying out of their own pockets,” iBuild co-founder Ronald Omyonga said.
Currently, it is only embedded in the mobile-money service M-Pesa.
The Company has invested nearly Sh100.6 million ($1million) over the past years for test marketing.
“We have found Nairobi to be a world class vibrant tech centre. Kenya has one of the highest smartphone penetration rates per capita rivalling that of even more developed countries,” he added.
Mobile innovations in the industry have been minimal with a recent app, Dial-a- Fundi, launched in Mombasa to connect clients to masons, plumbers, electricians or carpenters.