WestProp Holdings founder and chief executive Ken Sharpe says his long-term property development plans are driven by a desire to create opportunities for millions of young Zimbabweans, as the company accelerates construction across its growing portfolio.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Millennium Heights, Sharpe said the company's developments were about more than putting up buildings, arguing that large-scale property investment could help create jobs, stimulate economic activity and give young Zimbabweans a reason to build their futures at home.
"They're my inspiration. They're the reason why I get up every day in the morning," Sharpe said.
"If I don't do what I'm doing, then I have to ask myself the question: who will do it? If not me, then who? If not you, then who? If not now, then when?"
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Sharpe said Zimbabwe's large pool of educated but unemployed young people remained central to his vision, which he described as a decades-long project rather than one that could be achieved within a few years.
He said the company's ambition to produce one billion bricks by 2050 was symbolic of a much bigger objective -- creating homes, businesses and economic opportunities for millions of Zimbabweans.
"It's more than a billion bricks. It's about what those bricks represent. Those billion bricks represent people, millions of Zimbabweans, young people, that I can bring hope to," he said.
Sharpe said developments such as Millennium Heights were intended to demonstrate that Zimbabwe could offer world-class living environments, potentially reducing the incentive for skilled citizens to leave the country in search of better opportunities elsewhere.
"When they see this building, they say he's brought Dubai to Zimbabwe. We now have a reason to stay in Zimbabwe," he said.
WestProp targets 100,000 properties
Sharpe said Millennium Heights was already relatively advanced, with four of the development's 10 buildings under construction and Blocks 5, 6 and 7 currently progressing.
The project comprises about 1,000 apartments, with Sharpe projecting that roughly 80% of the development could be sold by next year.
Block 9 has already been sold, while the company expects to begin selling Block 8 before turning its attention to the final building.
However, Sharpe said Millennium Heights represented only a small part of WestProp's broader ambitions.
The company has sold about 1,500 properties to date against a long-term target of 100,000, putting it at roughly 1.5% of its overall property goal.
On the construction side, WestProp is approaching 100 million bricks produced towards its billion-brick target.
"We're just beginning," Sharpe said of the broader vision.
Affordable housing expansion
While Millennium Heights targets a relatively affluent segment of the market, Sharpe said WestProp was also preparing projects aimed at lower-income households.
The company recently launched a development in Chivhu, where it plans to develop more than 20,000 homes, with the potential to scale the project to 50,000 units across approximately 5,000 hectares.
Sharpe said the project would incorporate an eco-reserve and game park, creating a residential development designed around its natural environment.
The development is also expected to target Zimbabweans in the diaspora and lower-income households through mortgage payments ranging from about $100 to $300 a month, depending on the property.
Sharpe said groundbreaking was expected within the next two months.
Projects create thousands of jobs
The construction programme is already generating significant employment, with Sharpe saying more than 1,000 people were directly employed across WestProp's construction sites.
The wider economic impact, he said, extended to suppliers, contractors and other businesses within the company's supply chain.
"Indirectly it's several thousand because we use suppliers, the supply chain, and then the indirect impact on the economy can be multiples of thousands," he said.
WestProp is also progressing with construction of its Radisson hotel project, which experienced delays due to design requirements imposed by the international hotel group.
Sharpe said the project was now back on schedule, with the ground-floor slab already poured and the building expected to rise significantly before the end of the year.
Smart infrastructure to ease pressure on utilities
Sharpe said WestProp's developments were increasingly designed to operate with infrastructure that reduces pressure on existing public systems.
Millennium Heights, he said, was being developed around smart infrastructure, including independent electricity generation and water and sewerage systems.
"We cannot rely on local government because their infrastructure is at maximum capacity," Sharpe said.
"We have to be innovative and think of ways outside of the box that we can support what they've got but alleviate the pressure on the system."
He said the company was now able to generate electricity independently, while regulatory changes had created an environment where private investors could sell electricity directly to customers.
At Pomona City, WestProp has also installed biodigesters to process sewage, providing an alternative to relying entirely on municipal infrastructure.
Billion-dollar mortgage fund
Sharpe said access to long-term mortgage finance remained one of the biggest obstacles to unlocking Zimbabwe's property market.
He said WestProp was working on a bank that would target a mortgage fund of up to $1 billion, allowing homebuyers to access 10-, 20- and 30-year mortgages.
The bank is currently being capitalised, with several potential investors involved in efforts to raise the targeted funding.
Sharpe said no single investor was expected to provide the entire $1 billion, with the capital instead likely to be syndicated among several strategic investors.
He said the funding process was expected to be finalised by the end of the year.
WestProp currently has a mortgage book of about $30 million.
Sharpe argued that expanding mortgage finance could help unlock significant wealth among Zimbabweans who own property but lack access to liquidity.
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"There's $100 billion of bonds, no mortgages. So people are rich on paper but poor in the pocket," he said.
He pointed to Switzerland as an example of how mortgage financing could help transform property ownership into economic capital, allowing homeowners to borrow against their assets and invest in businesses or other productive activities.
For Sharpe, the broader objective is therefore not simply to build houses but to establish a financial system that allows property ownership to contribute to wider wealth creation.
'Don't give up'
Despite the scale of his ambitions, Sharpe said young Zimbabweans should be prepared for the long timelines required to build successful businesses and careers.
At 53, he said he remained impatient to see his projects completed, but had learnt that major achievements required persistence and patience.
"You can't give up, because if you give up then you have no chance ever of succeeding," Sharpe said.
He urged young people to avoid shortcuts and remain open to opportunities while building their skills and businesses.
"There are opportunities out there. You just have to wait and find the right opportunity. Don't be desperate. Don't take shortcuts," he said.
Sharpe said Zimbabwe's future would ultimately depend on people willing to commit themselves to building the country over the long term.
For WestProp, that commitment is being measured not only in properties and developments, but in the jobs, infrastructure, financing and economic opportunities that Sharpe believes those buildings can create.
