Midlands property firm rebrands
RISING Midlandsbased property firm, Luxury Living International, has re-branded to Prime Mutual Properties (PMP), in line with its new thrust which includes land development, servicing of residential stands and construction of houses.
MORE importantly, the company has spread its tentacles to Zambia where it has been registered as property house in Zambia with the Patents and Companies Registration Agency.
The company started operating as Zimbuild Properties and had sunk almost $3 million in acquiring land for houses and civil works over the last five years.
Almost 4 000 low cost stands have been delivered with beneficiaries at different stages of constructing their houses.
The re-branding has been informed by the need to move in tandem with President Mnangagwa’s mantra, ‘‘Zimbabwe is open for business’’, particularly as the country has launched the Command Housing programme.
PMP — a subsidiary company of TM Group which has interests in a number of businesses including property, health and finance — initially specialised in general property subdivision work and town planning.
However, following the re-branding, the firm has now expanded the scope of its business to include purchasing land with title deeds, town planning, surveying and engineering designs.
PMP chief executive officer Dr Tinashe Manzungu last week told The Herald Property that: “The new mandate now involves purchasing of land with title deeds; town planning (the subdivision of land and getting it approved by the local authority); surveying, pegging and demarcations; engineering designs for all services that include sewer water and roads; and on-site civil engineering works for the sewer, water and roads.
“Once this process is complete, a certificate of compliance is issued from council showing our compliance to all the project rules.
‘‘So this is the new direction that PMP is following.”
Dr Manzungu said PMP has already invested into a land bank measuring 300 hectares, a huge vote of confidence in the economic trajectory that the new dispensation has set in motion.
He said equipment to expedite the projects is expected in the country by the end of the second quarter.
Said Dr Manzungu: “Zimbabwe is embarking on a massive branding exercise and turnaround of the economy.
The drive is to make Zimbabwe an investment destination of choice.
“To move along with the new dispensation’s trajectory, we have re-branded to PMP. “With Government’s ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra, the company takes pride in investing to this cause because of its large capital investments offshore.” PMP’s Zambian venture has a balance sheet of ZMK100 million (US$10 million). Dr Manzungu explained that the re-branding comes strategically to accelerate growth, promote and energise momentum both internally and externally, as this is supported by Command Housing programme.
Recently, the firm was purchasing agro-residential plots in Gweru after realising that people want some bigger spaces especially for retirement places.
Dr Manzungu said there has been a jump in demand for both low cost stands and one hectare plots, largely beginning March this year when the company diversified and set up a microfinance institution.
Tinrue Financial Services offers mortgages to beneficiaries of stands mainly low income earners.
The microfinance institution was licensed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and offers mortgage finance to home-seekers over 15 years.
Tinrue Financial Services targets people predominantly in the informal sector who are financially excluded by the mainstream financial services sector.
In the past, the property firm had an arrangement with CBZ through which the latter provided insurance so that contributors did not lose their stands in the event of unforeseen circumstances causing them to default.