The emergence of new technologies and the adoption of new habits make it essential to digitise all sectors.
Real estate is no exception. In a market where trade is based on trust, digitalisation represents more than the use of technology in processes. Security becomes crucial when it comes to closing deals. This is what Casa Mozambique endeavours to ensure.
Casa Mozambique (www.casamozambique.co.mz) is owned by Tech Africa, a leading digital market operator founded in 2015 in Angola by Danish entrepreneur Kenneth Hogrefe. It is a platform that provides an easier and safer way for buyers to connect with trusted sellers. Its main focus is on real estate agencies and professionals and private users who can take advantage of all the platform’s potential to promote their property deals. Not forgetting buyers, who have the opportunity to evaluate, choose and negotiate the property that best suits them.
With the success of AngoCasa (www.angocasa.com), a platform developed for the Angolan market, Tech Africa saw the need to expand its services to Mozambique. “After consolidating our position in Angola, we felt the time was right to expand. Mozambique was an opportunity because we felt it was one of the countries where we could make the most difference. There wasn’t a platform with the characteristics of our projects and the fact that Angola and Mozambique share a language also weighed on the decision,” the company’s founder and CEO, Kenneth Hogrefe, explained to E&M.
The platform has been online since January 2023, initially only available to a limited number of users who were invited to test the different functionalities and provide feedback. This was a decisive step towards making Casa Mozambique more suited to the habits and reality of Mozambique. The official launch took place on 1 July and it already has around 600 verified and approved listings.
Compared to your experience in Angola, how do you assess the Mozambican market in this field?
As the main player on the marketplace scene in Angola, our technology company is ready to expand its horizons. We intend to use our experience and expertise to strengthen and expand our business lines, focusing on replicating our most successful models in emerging markets with high growth potential.
Gaining the trust of B2B and B2C consumers is essential for business development on the African continent and Casa Mozambique sees this factor as the driving force behind its growth.
Right now, we see Mozambique as one of those markets full of opportunities. The pace of the country’s economic recovery has been accelerating, with growth of 4.1 per cent in 2022, despite global economic challenges marked by rising oil and food prices. According to the Mozambique Economic Update 2023, released by the World Bank, the medium-term economic outlook is promising, with growth expected to accelerate to 6% between 2023-2025.
In Mozambique, we are endeavouring to adopt the same principles that have enabled us to win the trust of the Angolan people. Our first step is to build a positive image, always maintaining transparency as a fundamental pillar so that we can then grow and make a significant contribution to the market.
And how do you see the digital property market in Africa?
We are convinced that digital markets have great potential to transform the landscape on the African continent. Digital marketplace platforms, which facilitate the connection between reliable buyers and sellers, have the ability to increase income and promote inclusive economic growth, without causing any noticeable disruption to existing businesses and current labour standards.
Considering that much of the continent still lacks an effective distribution infrastructure, digital marketplaces can generate millions of jobs. However, in order to maximise their potential, the public and private sectors must collaborate to build an appropriate digital environment. Challenges to the sector’s growth include underdeveloped infrastructures, a lack of regulatory clarity and restricted market access.
Online marketplaces and government organisations can collaborate to create a healthy digital environment by implementing initiatives to eliminate the obstacles they face and to alleviate the concerns of the public sector.
For example, they can develop skills training programmes and technological infrastructures such as digital identity systems to guarantee transparency on the platforms. The public and private sectors can also develop a bipartite regulatory system that balances social and political risks with the promise of additional value that online marketplaces can provide.
But how can security be guaranteed?
One aspect that cannot be forgotten when talking about digitalisation is data security and privacy. False information and crimes involving tenants and landlords are part of the dark side of the property sector, but the trend is to bet more and more on solutions and technological partners that guarantee the security of the whole process. In this sense, Casa Mozambique sees security as a priority in its activities. The company recognises that it has become increasingly difficult to navigate misinformation and sales fraud on social media platforms.
Casa Mozambique provides a more regulated and secure environment for property deals. We ensure that our website only contains quality adverts and that each posting is verified by a member of staff, which contributes to our platform gaining a reputation of trust and legitimacy. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of an advertiser, we ask you to send us some documentation. We also systematically endeavour to implement additional security mechanisms.
