Regulated by the Capital Markets Authority
Overview
“Vuka” which means “Crossover” in Swahili, is a pioneering and innovative solution that makes investment into Acorn’s profitable student accommodation portfolio by qualified retail investors possible. An invite only investment club – “Vuka” – enables retail investors to buy units of the ASA I-REIT, Africa’s first student housing REIT managing multiple properties operating under the brand names of Qwetu and Qejani. The qualified retail investors make their returns by owning REIT securities that entitle them to dividends and capital appreciation of the underlying income generating portfolio.
Market Leadership
With more than 240,000 students studying in Nairobi from various universities and colleges, roughly 10% are accommodated within their campuses, with the rest forced to seek alternative accommodation in nearby private housing not conducive for student living. Our Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) properties provide the most sought-after student housing in Nairobi in excellent locations. We are positioned as the market leaders in the PBSA market in Kenya.
Our Credibility
At the inception, the opportunity to invest in the PBSA sector was only offered to institutional investors through the Acorn Student Accommodation Income and Development REITs (ASA D-REIT and I-REIT), which was successfully launched in February 2021. However, Acorn has subsequently seen an increased interest in retail investors to participate in owning these REIT securities.
VUKA – The Opportunity for You
We all love real estate. It provides emotional comfort when securing our future.
It is estimated that an excess of KES 12 trillion, which is more than Kenya’s annual GDP, is tied up in undeveloped land or in properties within the Nairobi Metropolitan Area. This land and properties are highly illiquid and, in most cases, not income generating. This greatly robs ordinary Kenyans of hard-earned capital that could be deployed to other alternative investments to improve their wellbeing and provide liquidity as and when the need arises.
Vuka is a unitized solution that allows you to continue investing in property as you derive long-term sustainable returns.
Investor Behavior
A vast majority of individuals work hard to save but their investments do not allow them to realize their objectives. They need a product that marries their need to build a nest egg with their love for real estate. Vuka is here to meet this need, allowing you to experience a product that is:
The Vuka platform is an investment club model that aggregates and facilitates retail investors into real estate within a supervised environment, regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). The investor can invest more each month or exit, with visibility of the units held and any credits/debits in investor accounts.
The ASA I-REIT is listed and will be trading through the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) Unquoted Securities Platform (USP) making it sufficiently transparent and liquid.
Vuka offers investors ownership of units under an I-REIT framework. This allows profits generated from the I-REIT net income to be distributed as dividends to investors every year. The investor can then decide to buy units for accumulation of wealth in the medium to long-term while gaining an attractive return profile that enables capital to compound in the shape of dividends and capital appreciation value per unit based on property valuation.
Benefits of Vuka
Vuka has been created for investors like you to own a piece of Qwetu and Qejani. Vuka is licensed and regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and provides an opportunity to invest in a product that is regulated, tax friendly, low-risk and can be easily traded to unlock liquidity as and when required.
