Member Article

Former RICS boss paves the way for North East firms to expand into Africa

The RICS’ former Regional Director, responsible for supporting chartered surveyors in the North East, has taken on a new challenge to establish property standards in Africa’s real estate market, which she says, will present more business opportunities for North East firms.

Prior to leaving her role as Regional Director, Jennifer Welch undertook a six-month secondment in Ghana as Director of RICS West Africa, which saw her promoted to Director of Business Delivery, responsible for working on assignments to help support and deliver RICS’ global strategy.

Yet her main focus for the next 6 to 12 months will be driving RICS’ growing presence in Sub Saharan Africa and encouraging regional firms to grasp opportunities available on the continent.

Originally from Horden in County Durham, Jennifer says that with Africa’s economic growth predicted to outpace all other continents in the next five years, RICS has committed to expanding in three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

Jennifer said: “Over the past two decades Africa has experienced the highest rate of urban growth in the developing world at an annual rate of 3.5 percent, which is expected to continue until 2050. It also has the fastest growing middle class population of anywhere on the planet; numbering 120 million and predicted to reach 1.1 billion by 2060.

“This rapid urbanisation and population growth represents vast market opportunities for consumer goods and services, not to mention the overwhelming need for more housing, retail and commercial space.

“However, the construction industry is facing a skills shortage, so it’s imperative that we work together with other professional bodies across all areas of the built environment to ensure we have enough skilled professionals to deliver the real estate and infrastructure that Africa urgently needs.

“Our aim of working with such bodies is to implement and regulate property standards across Africa, in conjunction with ethical standards to create market conditions in which investors, clients and the public as a whole trust and in which growth is sustainable.”

Over the years, investors have expressed concerns about high risks of undertaking investments in Africa, partly due to the unfavourable business practices such as faking of reports, corruption as well as bribery. This is why, Jennifer says, regulated property standards and business ethics are essential.