Ugandans love their country. It’s an African thing.
We encountered a very frustrated African man last week. He has now come to the office; he looks skeptical, keeps looking left and right as he sips the coffee we have offered him.
He waits in the reception as a meeting room is being prepared for him. And in a few minutes, our receptionist ushers him in to find our property consultant, Alex, with the presentation ready for him.
A True Story: From Burned Investor to Proud Ugandan Property Owner
This particular gentleman was on holiday, seated in the Serena sun by the pool. He had somehow entered into conversation with Alex over their mutual love for golf, as he’d seen the limited edition Tag Heuer watch that adorned his wrist!
And on learning that Alex dealt in property, he couldn’t help but express his utter disappointment, bordering on disgust, concerning investing in Uganda. He had been burned multiple times before.
He was actually in the country to process visas for his children to permanently relocate them to the US. He had no trust in the locals anymore and, regardless of how much he wanted to build something back home, he had tried and failed.
Why He Said He Would Never Invest in Uganda Again
His brothers weren’t as trustworthy as he thought: he loved them, rightly so, and he trusted them, but not with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Money truly can be tempting sometimes. The land back in the village was already being disputed over – his own father’s land – he didn’t bother fighting over it.
But his own hard-earned money too, that he had been sending back home over the years to build a future for his children, he came back to nothing, not stories. No land, no houses – the pictures were fake!
“Never again,” he swore.
And after a few golf sessions and an intimate conversation, this gentleman finally decided to give Alex an ear. Alex understood him. That’s why he was in real estate.
Why He Finally Came to See Us
Alex wasn’t a realtor or a broker. He was a property consultant. All he had for his new friend was some good old advice. And at the end of the conversation, the realisation was that the only place that offered such a 360° solution was VAAL.
So now he’s here, created time off the next few days he has in the country, to come and listen. To see if Alex’s advice was rightly so. If so, his wife and children will be coming to listen too. Maybe the scars of the wounds they carry could be nursed.
The turning point that convinced him to buy
Little does he know that, even though he might get a little skeptical about the presentation, the numbers and logic do hold water. They are promising monetary security, they are here to last, they have a trusted reputation, the returns look a bit too high.
Little does he know that once he visits the property showhouse and sees the site, his face is going to suddenly gleam with hope. He’s going to smile at the thought of putting money back home for the first time in a long time. He’s about to realise that a door is open again – investing in Uganda is safe.
As we write this, his wife and children have come to the showhouse and love it: they love the unit layout. His son says it looks just like the hotel room in Toronto that they stayed in a while back.
His wife was impressed by the 6-interlocking mechanism of the steel-reinforced door, the marble kitchen slab, and the impressive views that they might get to enjoy. And as for him, he is glad to have found a family to be part of – a family he can trust to invest with.
He has purchased a two-bedroom unit for him and his wife, for when they are in the country, and two additional units for his two sons.
And he’s given us a promise to give him a call once our next project launches (which is right around the corner).
Restoring Hope and Confidence for Diaspora Buyers
For once in a long time, he is going to own a piece of Uganda, and every time he stands and looks out of his balcony, he will be able to see as many Ugandan landmarks with one gaze – the Parliament on one end and Lake Victoria on the other, just with the slight turn of his neck.
We deal in property. People come and buy units all the time, but it is stories like these that remind us why we do what we do. Why we are called Africa’s gate to real estate.
The glimmer of hope in their eyes, the little smile across their faces, the stares of joy they give their families – that hope is why we do what we do, and why we will do so across the entirety of Africa.
We know you are out there. We might be the family you are looking for.
If you have any questions and reservations concerning investing in Uganda, or if you just need assurance, our property consultants are just a call or a meeting away.
Give us a call on +256 765 500000 or come to our offices to book a private consultation with any of our team, to have a better understanding of the right ways to invest in real estate in Uganda.
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