A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed recently by Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and Alpha Mead Development Company (AMDC), a Strategic Business Unit of Alpha Mead Group in furtherance of their quest to improve access to quality affordable homes and deepen Nigeria’s mortgage market.
The MoU, which was signed on the side line of this year’s edition of Abuja Housing Show, will allow AMDC and NMRC to work together on housing finance, training, research, advisory and project structuring to increase the stock of affordable housing in the country. It will also provide and permit relevant technical support and advice to Alpha Mead in relation to the residential real estate market.
Expectation is that the partnership will make it easier and faster for customers pre-qualified by AMDC to access mortgage from the member financial institutions of the NMRC.
“This is a remarkable move; we decided to work with Alpha Mead because of its innovative and technology-driven approach to increasing affordable housing stock in Nigeria and the facilities management expertise of the company to also maintain the projects after construction”, said Charles Inyangete, MD/CEO of NMRC.
The CEO was of the view that the combination of these capacities that Alpha Mead brought to the partnership would give the market the assurance that property prices could be sustained, going forward, and that they could all deliver to the specific needs of the customers.
“So, we at NMRC keyed into this relationship because we will like to see this Alpha Mead model succeed. We believe it is a model that will allow more and more transaction in the housing development value chain and feed our member institutions with more projects to finance”, he added.
Femi Akintunde, Group Managing Director of Alpha Mead, expressed delight at the partnership. He described the partnership as a demonstration of NMRC’s commitment to reducing the nation’s increasing housing deficit and an encouraging recognition of Alpha Mead’s innovative approach to delivering quality and affordable housing to Nigerians.
According to him, “it is becoming increasingly obvious that the conventional building methods cannot bridge Nigerian housing gap, especially in the midst of challenges that face the affordable housing value chain”.
“What we bring to the market are the possibilities of addressing the challenges of affordability and quality which are two critical issues inhibiting the nation’s affordable housing market”, he explained.
Akintunde noted that the current structure of the market makes it a tall order for people in the middle-income bracket to own homes because of the high entry barrier. He also pointed to the challenges of lack of skilled artisans, the high cost of building materials, and lack of standardised building and quality processes as challenges to quality building in the market.
“On the one hand, we are addressing the issue of quality by using technology that guarantees repeated quality, straight edges and structural integrity; and on the other hand, we are addressing the challenges of affordability by using our technology to achieve up to 15 percent saving for our customers”, he said.
FirstBank Fetes Customers with Bouquet of Dollar Denominated Cards for Summer Holiday
Holiday revelers are in for a more exciting time this summer with FirstBank’s bouquet of Dollar denominated cards. Convenience, security, flexibility and improved spend are the key defining features of these Dollar cards. To delight customers, wherever they travel this summer, FirstBank offers three Dollar card products namely – Visa Gold, Visa Dollar Prepaid, and Visa Dual Currency Card.
FirstBank Visa Gold Card is issued either as a self-funded or a cash backed revolving credit card. This premium card, gives the flexibility of defining your spend limit and is eligible for discount on purchases at selected Visa partnered merchant locations, worldwide. The revolving credit variant offers up to 45 days interest free period on utilised funds.
The Visa Dollar prepaid card is the perfect travel card for secure and controlled spending. What you spend is limited to your pre-defined budget, which is paid into a dedicated card account. It is an ideal card to empower children and young adults to shop independently while on vacation and also suitable as an internet shopping card or international gift card for friends, associates and loved ones.
With FirstBank Visa Dual Currency Card, both Naira and Dollar accounts are linked to a single card for direct spend, home and abroad. The card gives access to spend from domiciliary account while out of the country and Naira account when customers are back in Nigeria.
According to Chuma Ezirim, Group Head, E-Business, FirstBank, the Bank’s dollar denominated cards are positioned to support the life style and convenience of its customers, putting them first. FirstBank’s Visa Gold, Visa Dollar Prepaid, and Visa Dual Currency Cards are acceptable for payment and cash withdrawals on Web, POS, and ATMs at over 118 merchant locations in over 200 countries and territories of the world.
CHUKA UROKO
