Are you a Kenyan citizen living abroad? Well, if you are, you are part of a group known as Kenyan Diaspora. There are many reasons behind Kenyans traveling outside the country including but not limited to tourism or vacations, education, work and business opportunities, and visiting relatives and family. Nevertheless, a large number of Kenyans who go and live abroad often do so searching for education as well as work and business or economic opportunities. Most of these Kenyans live and spend time abroad in countries like Canada, United States of America, Australia, Germany and United Kingdom and other European nations, Middle East nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, among others, than they do in Kenya. With dual citizenship being allowed in Kenya, they even become citizens of those nations. However, investing back at home in lasting legacy assets remains their key agenda.
If you are part of Kenyan Diaspora, as described above, and you intend to invest in construction projects back at home. You should know that you are likely to face the following ten glaring challenges in your endeavor, and where applicable possible solutions to adopt.

1. High Forex Rates

When operating from abroad, one of the biggest challenges of sending money back home to invest in construction challenges is foreign exchange (Forex) rates between the resident nation currency and the rather unstable Kenyan shilling. For example, if you live in the United States, the US dollar is likely to be more stable than the Kenyan shilling over time. Transaction costs change with the fluctuations in value of the local Kenyan shilling versus the resident nation’s currency.

2. Taxes and Levies

Although it is accepted and expected in international laws and laws of different nations that double taxation should not be practiced, you are likely to pay more taxes when seeking to invest in Kenyan construction projects from abroad. For example, you might pay income tax and other deductions like healthcare insurance abroad but still pay for occupational and safety (OSHA) insurance taxes and other environmental impact assessment (EIA) costs when undertaking construction projects in Kenya. This scenario is because the healthcare insurance cover you paid abroad does not apply locally in Kenya and so do other levies. However, income tax should not be paid again in Kenya because you generated the income abroad.

3. Project Management Costs

Even when you have great project management firms that you consult abroad, you still have to work with locally registered construction companies in Kenya so that you can accomplish your projects in the nation.

4. Land Purchase Costs and Land Rates

To accomplish a construction project in Kenya, you have to use land acquired either through leasehold or freehold titles or agreements. To earn such documents you have to pay various costs like agreement fees, document processing fees, stamp duties, surveyor fees, and lastly, land rates to county government in-charge each year. All other costs, apart from land rates, are incurred once at the point of acquiring the land to use.

5. Securing Land or Project Site

Once you have bought or leased your piece of land, you have to secure it physically and at least perform some development activities. Being far away from your land, as some Kenyan Diaspora members visit annually, biannually or even after many years like five to ten or more years, means it is susceptible to misuse by locals. You have to secure your land through physical fences, undertake some development activities like short-term tilling and planting of some crops or construct some temporary shelter, not a must but it is better to be safe. These activities truly guarantee your land ownership in case of double land sale, trespass or wrongful occupation cases.

6. Project Approval Process

The process of getting construction projects approved by different government entities like the National Construction Authority (NCA) and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) requires both professional documentation and constant follow-ups. Generating such documents requires the right team of professionals and dedicated project partners, like what we have in Francsoft Construction, to realize the project.

7. Communication Challenges

Most nations where Kenyan Diaspora live and work occur in different time zones, meaning they are either ahead or behind some hours compared to Kenyan time. Therefore, matching office hours of most locally registered construction companies with your time in the resident nation might be a challenge. That why you need a team that is ready to work with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. This scenario means a team that is ready to respond to your needs all the time despite weekends, night time and holidays.

8. Trust Issues in Financing

While some Kenyan Diaspora members have trusted their close family members and friends to run or handle the financial and operational aspects of their construction companies successfully, others have faced serious trust issues. Objectivity required to handle construction projects, which are often costly, requires an impartial partner like a registered construction company and its professional team, like Francsoft Construction. That way you can have peace of mind that your money is not being misused when your project is ongoing.

9. Design Options

Being away for a long time and communicating with your construction project partners over the internet can be rather challenging when selecting the right design for your project. At Francsoft Construction, we pride ourselves as walking with you from conception to creation meaning we offer a large number of design options depending on your specifications and budget using latest technologies so that your dream becomes implemented.

10. Adhering to Project Schedule

Another disadvantage of depending on family members and friends to run your construction project is that they might not have the professional expertise to create a proper project management schedule and adhere to it. Any challenges and change orders noted in such projects might not be implemented as you expect. Also, you might experience unexpected financing challenges for your projects that might delay them. At Francsoft Construction, we have a team of professionals who are able to break down a project into key and smart deliverables that are implemented on a carefully planned schedule so that your work runs smoothly accommodating any new challenges and implementing change orders properly.

Final Advice

Whereas challenges like currency fluctuations and additional taxes or levies are generally unavoidable in construction projects, other challenges in the list can be alleviated by partnering with a professional project team. At Francsoft Construction, we dedicate a professional construction project to you including project managers, quality evaluators, quantity surveyors, lawyers and land surveyors, civil and construction engineers, accountants and others. You work with this team flexibly each member playing his or her role to ensure that your project runs smoothly despite being away for a long time. We depend on core values like transparency, communication, reliability, dedication and client-centeredness to achieve the goal. We go beyond offering you advice about your construction project to including other experts such as Financial Advisors, Lawyers and local laborers to safeguard your interest. When you work with us, expect a total package that covers all your needs and helps you solve the ten most common challenges listed and explained above, and any others that might emerge.

Thanks for reading!