Rent4Less Raises $1m to Entrench Monthly Rental Culture in Africa

Emma Okonji

To entrench the culture of monthly rental in Africa, Rent4Less by Alpha Mead has raised a fixed-rate series one $1 million private placement bond. The Senior Secured Private bond, issued by Alpha Mead is another milestone in the series of the company’s expansion strategies to increase access to shelter and perpetuate the culture of monthly rent payment across the continent’s housing and office markets.

Rent4Less by Alpha Mead is a rental scheme designed to support individuals and small businesses with flexible, monthly pay-as-you-use rent for homes and offices.

According to Managing Director of Alpha Mead Development Company (AMDC), the subsidiary of Alpha Mead Group that oversees Rent4Less, Damola Akindolire, said: “The funding is coming as a result of an outstanding early growth of the product and the trust that the investment community reposes in Alpha Mead.

“Rent4Less has proven over the last 12 months that it is a product that has been designed as a response to the economic challenges that came with the pandemic. Since we are a member of a large Real Estate group, we have the opportunity of drawing insights from the experiences of other businesses within our group.

“One of those insights is the fact that the pandemic reduced the pocket size of most people and businesses and everyone has to reprioritise. So, we thought about how we can demonstrate to the market that our ‘We Care’ brand essence is not just platitude.”

Akindolire further said: “Over 80 per cent of our growing population live in rental accommodation and we are happy that we have not just solved a major problem with Rent4Less, we have even proved within a very short time, that we can accelerate growth and replicate this success across Africa, and we thank CardinalStone Partners Group for getting on this journey with us.”

Speaking about the impact of Rent4Less on developers and investors in building development, Akindolire noted that as a company with a deep interest in Real Estate development, AMDC was also conscious that the product must also be beneficial to landlords and Real Estate investors.

According to him, “Under our Guaranteed Rental Income Programme (GRIP), Rent4Less will also ensure that landlords enjoy early and consistent economic benefit on their assets, increase occupancy levels, and also leverage its group’s expertise in facilities management to ensure that landlords’ assets remain in valuable condition.”

Head, Marketing and Corporate Communication, Alpha Mead Group, Olusesan Ogunyooye, explained that the company’s goal was to demonstrate that monthly rent is also possible in Africa; and safe, secure and comfortable homes or offices should not be the exclusive preserve of those who have huge funds to either buy or pay annual rent for their homes or offices.

According to him: “As basic as shelter should be, and despite its immense impact on our social architecture, not everyone in Nigeria, and indeed, a significant part of Africa, can afford a safe, comfortable and secure accommodation. This is not because developers have stopped building. In fact, a drive around some of our cities will reveal an interesting paradox of scarcity amidst plenty, with low occupancy rates on the one side and unmet demands for housing and offices on the other.”

Speaking on the product offerings, Business Manager, Rent4Less, Nelson Nlemuzor, said: “Our product is not just about the rent payment cycle; it is also about space utilization. We all know that real estate is a location-driven investment asset class, and that makes it difficult for an average income earner to stay in prime locations close to Central Business Districts (CBDs), primarily because of the rent structure in these locations.”