Parents
Date: 30.05.2015
Page 51
Article size: 998 cm2
ColumnCM: 221.77
AVE: 465511.55
BRIAN GACARI
The real estate connoisseur
Brian Gacari is the brain behind Property Reality Company (PRC) whose real estate
deals have earned glowing endorsements from entertainment and media bigwigs.
ESTHER AKELLO has a one­on­one chat with the 30­year­old entrepreneur. He talks
about his rise in the real estate business and dreaming big.
Brian Gacari is a dif icult man to
pin down. Aligning our schedules
for this interview was not easy. Wc
had to defer the first appointment
when he was called for an emergency board
and is laid back ­ he sports a rugged look,
his hair a tad seruffy and is dressed down
recounts Brian.
in blue jeans and a t­shirt. He jokes his HR
experience was the foundation of Property
manager may have something to say about
his dress code. However, it's the size of his
meeting minutes before the interview. When
dreams, coupled by his hunger to win, that
wc finally met a week later at his Westland's
offices, the interview mercifully took place,
but three hours late. He explained some
tough negotiations for a land deal and
impromptu liallwav meetings with members
of his staff spilled over into our appointment.
Money, it seems, never sleeps,
Brian is big in more ways than one.
There's a willing openness to him (lit agreed
to this interview through social media).
have made liiiu the man lie is today. He
Brian says he believes his childhood
Reality Company (PRC), as he grew up with
the dream of making property and home
ownership for families affordable.
"Property pricing is a big deal In many
Kenyan families and so is owning land. We
Irv to deliver on both," says Brian.
is part of a generation of unapologctie up
and coining young CEO's stilling the local
entrepreneurial scene.
"I grew up in a comfortable middle class
family in Nairobi's I .ang'ata estate, but
things changed when my parents retired
when 1 was 16. Thev struggled to look for
and marketing at Strathmore University and
work to support us as they had lost most of
instilling in him an appreciation for art (he
their investments, particularly property,"
Brian studied business administration
although it was his father's idea (he wanted
to study law), he says it gave him a strong
foundation. He credits the university with
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya
Parents
Date: 30.05.2015
Page 51
Article size: 998 cm2
ColumnCM: 221.77
AVE: 465511.55
started the first art club in the university)
and some much needed discipline and
mentorship.
It was also at this point that Brian, who
describes himself as competitive (he was
the captain ot hij high school basketball,
swimming and rueb) teams), took over his
family's upkeep, having landed himself a
job with Suntra investment Bank, as he was
preparing for his final year exams in 2(108.
"I started applying for all manner of jobs
'¦ilh.ii I was in [bird year. When people tell
me there arc no jobs 1 always ask ii thev have
applied for all the jobs advertised or are out
there to back up their claim. My advice is. do
not give up and do not be picky! All vou need
is a start," he emphasises.
In the following one and a half years,
Brian had worked as an intern at the US
Embassy, Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA),
anti as a sales and marketing coordinator
at Subaru Kenya, introducing Ihe pay­bill
number mode of payment at the company in
2009, wav before it became fashionable.
the business is today. In fact, he says the first
1 lis itch for adventure kept him moving
.iiid in mid 2009, he accepted an internship
of his life.
position Willi Health Life Beverages
Company in Accra, Ghana. Phis was no
normal internship. He had iu tact been
brought in to lead a sales team full of total
>i rangers. With virtually no experience of the
market, Brian acknowledges he made some
mistakes, notabh when he tried to be more
of a friend than a boss to his team. This led
to poor results and consequently a demotion
to the company's fai off branch in Kuma.si,
south of Ghana.
This experience taught him ;i bit; lesson
which lie took to heart particularly when
he .started his own firm. I fe reckons every
business needs proper structures to function
effectively. Still, in no time, his Kumasi team
three years of PRC were the loneliest years
"I dealt with sceptical family members.
lost money to conmen, and gave up lots
of friendships and reheated into mvself ­
something thai affected me deeply as I am
naturally very outgoing. Very few people
understood and believed in my vision," he
says wistfully.
Bui giving up was not an option, Brian
client. With an eighth of an acre of the land
going for as little as Ksh 65,000 the land sold
out within a month. After that, PRC never
looked back and lo date has sold oil laud iu
l,amn. Nanyukt, Machakos, Naivasha. Tliika
and Nakum among other regions.
In 201 s. Brian made the difficult decision
to give up his plan to develop Cape Gardens
and paid hack all the money owed to clients.
"It was heart­breaking being unable to
deliver on our promise. The take­away here
had long substituted the artsy streets of
Venice for the patchy grounds of Syokimau,
is ­ in life you will win some and lose some."
sinking his entire savings into the housing
To balance business with pleasure, Brian
reads, a lot, attributing it to his can­do
attitude and part of the reason he survived
the PRC lows. .Among his favourite pieces
development project, then dubbed Cape
Gardens. Its development, however, was
anything but rosy.
"The first year things moved along fine
says Brian,
of literature is 'The Economist' magazine
which he reads every week without fail.
emerged best performing, prompting his
bosses to put him iu charge of opening office
and we even managed to build two units. But
after that, the money dried up," says Brian
branches in Togo and Nigeria.
Despite enjoying success with I he
Making money has not been without its
challenges and Brian admits that once the
his partner opened two show houses, and
company in his one and a half year stay,
made deposits. But even that was not
and focus for the future, he assures mc,
enough to sustain the project. PRC tried to
obtain a loan from banks and to partner with
even looking forward to settling down and
welcoming the pittei patter of, preferably,
four little feet ­ once Mrs Right agrees.
he accepted a job otter at Telecom Italia
in Venice, I tab, in their research and
in
development department. Brian was poised
to
to move to Italy except for two things.
As he was waiting to transfer to Italy, an
¦enlightening' chat with a friend in Kumasi
convinced him to think critically about
remaining iu Africa. Also, in order to get his
documents processed in readiness to move
to
to Italy, Brian came back home and simply
nevei left.
"When I came back home, the properties
market was heating up. A friend had just
inherited 10 acres of laud in Svokimau
'ml dn.l not have money lo develop it. Wc
partnered to make 31 development on the
property a reality. A few discussions later and
PRC was born," says Brian.
hi a bid lo generate income, Brian and
potential house buyers took the bait and
mote established real estate companies but
none was forthcoming. His clients got fed up
with the slow development oi the project
and sued him.
To survive, Brian moved to a smaller
house, sold his household goods and got
comfortable sleeping on the floor. 'Ibday,
Brian considers his bed his most prized
possession, lie also took to doing odd
jobs like installing and supplying Interne!
connections, packaging and selling rice and
setting up websites for clients. But over time,
these too, became a flop.
Not one to give up. Brian tried his hand at
land brokering deals, connecting landowners
to potential buyers. In 2015, PRC got its first
to
The success of PRC, which employs 11)0
people and has four offices in Kenya and
hopes to expand to Uganda. Rwanda and
big break when a landowner at Kon/a, the
big
Ghana by next year, reads like a Dickcnsian
novel. Brian attests that it has definitely
2050, agreed lo let him broker his land.
His efforts paid off and PRC started
been Ihe best mm\ niiht of times, I laving
started from virtually no point of experience
in the properties market, he savs it took sheer
in
tenacity, sacrifice and hard work to get where
area identified bv the government for the
area
flagship technology city in line with vision
uionev started flowing freely, so did the
fun. He has since regained his composure
J lis pet peeves include what he terms
as the misconceptions people have about
his financial stature. He adamantly refuses
to he identified as a millionaire saving
he just lives comfortably. I le is also a big
believer and invests in young people, his
staff teeming with the lot whom he says
are just as competent as any of their older
counterparts and deliver on their targets. His
inspiration stems from the fact that he faced
a lot of resistance because of his age when he
approached banks and real estate companies
when he started PRG
As for PRC, the company hopes to
venture into agriculture with the hope
of developing fanning communities to
increase food product ton. Brian concludes
by saying that there is need and room
emerging from the red. The pot was further
for more sustainable and responsible real
estate businesses. He hopes to give low cost
property development another go in the near
sweetened when Brian negotiated to sell <>il
100 acres of land in Kajiado for yet another
100
akello@p aren ts.co. ke
future .E
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