Tsavo is one of the leading real estate firms in Kenya that has heavily invested in residential properties for the middle class in various parts of the city.
The firm owns apartments in Athi River, Embakasi, Thindigua, Rongai, Dagoretti, and Roysambu, with others under construction.
Tsavo founders Leonard and Emily Mcharo revealed that the journey to start the real estate firm started way back in 2004 when the two set up an ambitious 15-year financial goal to find economic autonomy and earn Sh500,000 passively.
At the time, Leonard worked as an architect while Emily worked in finance, earning entry-level salaries.
“I was earning about Sh30,000 monthly, and Leonard didn’t have much either. Fortunately, at the time, my husband had just finished a project and had about Sh400,000,” Emily narrated.
The two used the funds to acquire an acre of land near Daystar University in Athi River, with the vision of building student accommodation.
While the land was going for Sh1 million, the two did not have the amount, thanks to the seller who allowed them to pay for the land slowly, at Sh27,000 per month.
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“We made installments of Sh27,000 a month. I had to work extremely hard to pay it off. We had to live a simple lifestyle, earning little, paying that loan, saving in a Sacco, and still meeting our needs. In two years, we were done with the loan and started to think about building. We decided to seek partners and start construction,” she added.
With Leonard’s Salary increment, the two were able to access higher loans, which enabled them to build their first house, a 23-room apartment.
The two continued to expand their investment using loans, thanks to their financial discipline, as they had 100 rooms after 12 years of consistent saving and investments.
“23 rooms were good, but they were not enough. We wanted enough to be able to take our kids to Harvard and live a financially free life. I took more loans and built more rooms, over and over again. We did not diversify any of our investments.”
“We decided where we live, what car we drive, and how much we spend which was not to change regardless of how much we earned. All the money would go to the investment. For about 12 years, we built on this until we got to 100 rooms.”
The couple later shifted to the property sale business and launched their pilot project in Embakasi, which consisted of studios and one-bedroom.
“People in their 40s, our friends mostly, were our first customers. And they took up the one-bedroom units quite fast. We then did market research and found out that studios and one-bedrooms were the most in-demand,” Leonard said.
They continued reinvesting the money into other projects bolstering their presence in various parts of Nairobi.
The price range for their studio apartment is about Sh1.4 million, and a one-bedroom costs between Sh2.1 to Sh2.6 million.
Leonard and Emily retired from their careers in 2016, aged 42 and 37 years respectively.
“We knew each other in college back in 1998. I was at the University of Nairobi (UoN) studying architecture while she had enrolled in a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) course,” Leonard said.
“When both of us were getting into college, our families were supporting us. We weren’t doing too well financially. Both our families had a rags-to-riches story, so we started out life planning very seriously for our future. I wanted us to start something that if we lost our jobs, we had a passive income to fall back on,” he added.
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