The Property Revolution with Andile Fulane: Recent Episodes
Finlite
The property revolution podcast is an unconventional, radical and inspirational space to drive an intentional conversation about economic transformation to Africans by Africans through property. Hosted by Andile Fulane, one of the pioneers and advocates of financial literacy as a tool to emancipate and uplift Africans from socio-economic challenges. Andile built his wealth and other businesses through a property portfolio that not only gave him 160% gross returns in the past 12 years but also taught him invaluable lessons about entrepreneurship, running a small business and investing beyond properties. He currently serves as group CEO SOP Holdings, and believes the R 5.9 Trillion property market in South Africa holds incredible potential.
In this podcast he interviews captains of industries, influencers and ordinary people doing amazing things in the property space, from backyard rooms, stokvels, JSE listed property fund managers, property developers, government representatives, and other stakeholders.
The objective is to share ideas, lessons, create wealth and build a legacy.
The podcast is sponsored by Finlite Financial Education through their amazing accredited course in Property Investing. Check out their website www.finlite.co.za/property-investing.
Milan and Sylvia Milosevic are a power couple that has dominated the real estate investment coaching scene for a very long time in SA and now expanding to other countries.
In this episode, my intention was to bring the real juice of what makes such partnerships work considering the family, cultural and gender dynamics this couple had to face.
First of all, I had to ask the interesting question that most of us are silently curious about when we see mixed-race couples - so yeah, did brother Milan pay lobola? And the studio went blast with laughter, I guess no one saw that coming - you will have to listen to the podcast to find out (-:
Why Milan and Sylvia's story is beyond inspirational besides the fact they met in the US where both of them were searching for the "American dream" is that they both come from humble backgrounds. I have interviewed Milan before so you definitely know that he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Then there's Sylvia, a Tswana lady that hails from the dusty roads of Grankuwa with big dreams of conquering the world!
I was so fascinated to know Sylvia first learned about property investing from a book her parents bought her in her teens. You and I know how rare this scenario is because generally parents, especially African parents never bring the conversation of money to the dinner table, a mistake that continues to haunt many of us generations later.
From this conversation you will learn and be empowered about:
- How this power couple balances family and business
- The dynamics of having Sylvia as a boss at work as CEO and as wife at home
- Why they chose Real Estate to unlock a wealth of opportunities they are now sharing with thousands of their students
- What mentorship has meant for their growth and why they believe in it so much that they would spend hundreds of thousands for good mentorship
- How they rose from what was supposed to destroy their business
- What the couple believes about leaving a legacy & more
In this episode, I interview the charismatic Jason McCormick, CEO of McCormick Properties and Exemplar ReitTail about their 38 years journey of building a retail real estate portfolio focused on often neglected rural and township communities that is now worth billions and listed on the JSE. It's an inspiring story of a family business that was started in a home office on a single teacher's salary driven by a passion to drive economic development, and an exceptional entrepreneurial flair that sees opportunities where others see chaos.
Today, the business co-owns over 67 retail properties across the country, some in the most rural parts like Lusikisiki and Bushbuckridge where previously people had to travel tens of kilometres to have a decent shopping experience never mind the impact of job opportunities created by these shopping centres from construction to ongoing retail labour force. I was even more inspired to learn that McCormick Properties has had a culture of developing community ownership schemes where the local communities get an opportunity not to only buy their favoured brands, but also the shopping mall itself, talk about a heart for transformation before even BEE legislation existed.
Jason McCormick is a sharp, award-winning young business leader who is continuing the legacy of his father John McCormick who founded the group in 1983. You can tell his amount of passion just from the depth of his knowledge the politics and cultural dynamics that make rural real estate a perfect vehicle for empowerment and wealth creation.
Exemplar, the Reits arm declared a dividend in 2020 when the property market, especially commercial and retail property was bleeding. This was a sign of a business built on sound business fundamentals which I believe all of us want to learn from.
Listen up and be empowered!
The backlog of affordable housing continues to increase drastically in South Africa largely because of rapid urbanization. This is not only a dilemma faced by SA, but the rest of the continent made of a growing young, urban, and mobile population. The legacy of the colonial and apartheid era, the disposition of land through the native land act of 1913 has still not been dismantled as millions of South Africans remain landless and homeless, with townships and cities congested with people trying to survive in poor living conditions.
The challenges of the poor, working-class and "missing middle" are compounded by a financial sector struggling to innovate and transform, with the use of the archaic western system of credit ratings that largely accommodate only those that are part of the mainstream and neglecting those that have informal jobs without formal payslips and credit access.
The lack of financial literacy and exposure to largely expensive unsecured credit adds salt to the wound to those who at least have jobs that give them access to a stable income and credit. An average South African household owes more than they earn, with over 75% of every rand going to service debt. Just about 40% of home loan applications get approved by traditional lenders and most are for those earning above R 15 000 pm. About 32% of those declines are related to impaired credit reports.
But in the midst of all this cloud is hope in the form of historically lower interest rates, loosed credit lending criteria with 100% funding for first-time homeowners, and more woman ownership.
One key player making a positive contribution to this change is Housing Investment Partners whose sole mandate is to give finance to those that get rejected by traditional commercial banks. In this episode, I engage with Putu Madisha, a humble, passionate young fellow who hails all the way from Temba in Hammanskraal to grow up to be a Chartered Accountant and a champion of affordable housing.
My guest is Nigel Adriaanse, the man on a mission to change the landscape of real estate in South Africa.
Nigel is the CEO of the Enterprise Development Property Fund (EDPF). He is really passionate about bringing transformation in the property sector. This comes from his close to 20 years spent with some of the biggest listed real estate funds in the country including serving as director of operations for the Billion Group, where he witnessed how unwilling some of the big players have been in allowing black-owned funds and companies to emerge and flourish.
The real estate industry is one of the biggest contributors to the GDP and is estimated to be around R 5,9 Trillion. Yet, after 26 years of democracy, it remains one of the least transformed throughout the value chain despite the many attempts made by both big and small black real estate investors and entrepreneurs.
The EDPF's objective is to provide the much-needed skills for finding deals, raising capital, but even more critical are those operational abilities to grow and sustain a sizeable property fund, something Nigel believes is missing in a lot of the popular property investment programs.
You are going to learn from this brave and intelligent real estate entrepreneur in this podcast. Make sure to listen until the end.
Milan needs no introduction, him and his wife are all over tv, radio and print. The first time I heard Milan speak was when I was a guest in one of their free webinars through their "Think And Grow Rich South Africa" company which is now trading as Riches and Beyond. And what really caught my attention is the level of simplicity and passion he showed towards real estate investing. Although I've personally been a real estate investor for over 12 years, I really took something out of the engagement, and realised that we never stop learning.
Milan hails all the way from Serbia and shares an inspirational story of how he grow up underpriveleged with big ambitions and dreams his country could not afford him. He then jetted off to the US for the American dream, and that is where everything changed when he met his now lovely wife, a Tswana lady from Garankuwa in rural Pretoria who introduced him to Real Estate Investing - and the rest, as they say is history. The couple has built a big investment portfolio of their own, live very comfortably and are teaching people around the World to do the same, no matter how their current circumstances are, so far reaching over 40 000 people.
Milan also advocates for partnerhsips, says one of the biggest mistake was that he thought he could do it by himself.
I thought this story is amazing and has to be heard!
On this episode, I interview a young trailblazer, Tshepo Mogano all the way from Limpopo doing amazing things in the space of Proptech with a focus on townships where there’s massive gaps and opportunities for township entrepreneurs especially because few big players are active in this space, living enough room to innovate with lower barriers to entry.
Although relatively young, Tshepo has been around the block, and from my conversation with him, I can tell that he knows what he is doing. A self-taught software developer and property investor leading a private equity firm that bridges the gap between a growing black middle class with a big appetite to invest, especially in real estate, with homeowners who have enough land to build flats to generate extra income. Tshepo’s platform then puts together these investors made of individuals and groups like stokvels with the land owners to a partnership for higher than average market returns.
Women, young woman in particular are the biggest drivers of the first home buyer revolution that has been happening for the past few years. They exceed both single men and married couples.
In this episode, I interview Simmi Naiker, director of FLIPS housing subsidy in the KZN department of human settlement, a role she has used to empower ordinary South Africans to access what remains a lifetime longing for most who earn too much to get an RDP and too little be considered for a mortgage bond through banks - commonly known as "the missing middle".
Simmi breaksdown some details for us to understand social housing subsidy (FLISP) better, and also goes deeper into the different initiatives the government is doing to help deal with the housing backlog SA is facing, most notably, the changes in the criteria of financing which now includes using the subsidy for a deposit and legal fees. Since 2018, the subsidy has also been increased to a maximum of R 121 626 from R 87000, and the allowed household income from R 15 000 to R 22 000, making it accessible to more people who desparately need this financial support to buy their first property.
I engage Simmi about the structural challenges that exist with the same model, one of them being that the first criteria is that the applicant needs to be credit worthy and be approved by a bank to access the subsidy, something that is further excluding the very people it is designed to assist. In one of the governments attempt to overcome this challenge, Simmi shares some insights about the land parcel distribution, which allows people to access nearby land from their local municipality and build for themselves.
In all this, some positive news is that single woman make up more than 60% of bond applications for first time home buyers.
On this episode, I had the privilege of hosting Estienne De Klerk, CEO of Growth Point Properties, and chairperson of South African Real Estate Investment Trusts (SA REITs) to try and breakdown what REITS are, why and how can a simple person on the street consider them as part of their wealth management strategy. The reason why I chose this topic is that there's a big hype going on especially on social medial about property investing, but no one is talking about JSE listed property stocks, and I think its a major mistake and opportunity missed. Listen up to learn why.
This episode was recorded before the COVID19 hit us, please in mind as you listen.
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When the World is going through an unprecedented transition that is affecting everything, from how we social to how we do business, when there's so much uncertainty in the markets and the strongest economies are in the World have been brought to their knees, its probably better that we keep our focus on the basics. We know from history that there are always winners out of any disaster like the one we are facing in the form of COVID-19 as a global community. As everyone else looks away for a corner to hide, real investors are looking for opportunities to exploit. Warren Buffet is famous for making such drastic moves during a crisis. But what was even more noticeable was how the less known Hedge Fund Manager John Paulson made an incredible $ 15 Billion during the 2008 subprime market crash.
How basic can one be with property than finding the true underlying value of an asset? On this episode, I'm excited to be talking to Mashilo Pitjeng, A registered member of the South African Council of Property Valuers Profession and board, current Chairperson of the Property Sector Charter Council Research Committee, Board member at Pareto (Ltd) and founder of TseboReal Asset Management about finding the true value of property to unlock wealth.
In this episode, we speak to Connie of Conlee Homes and we talk about the dire need for affordable housing in South Africa and the rest of the continent, and how this is a great opportunity for emerging property developers. Connie who is director of Conlee Homes shares part of her journey as a black female developer and gives some great tips on how to get started. She also affirms that there's a lot of good money and social impact to be made in the affordable housing space. And that finance should not be a big barrier if you know what you are doing.
On this episode, our guest is Gavin Mkhabela, a very great force to reckon with in the Stokvel space who is both knowledgeable and passionate about Stokvels especially how we should structure them. The focus of the discussion is about the different methods in which we can formalize Property Stokvels and the importance of doing so if we are to take Stokvels to another level. Some of the structures include a registered company and Trusts.
The first conversation on the township property market with the commercial property funding company, TUHF. On this episode, our guest is Mahlatse who is the portfolio manager talking to us about their township focused commercial property finance product called Umastandi, targeted at township based property entrepreneurs. We talk about how the fund works and how to access it.
On this episode, Andile sets the vision for the kind of conversations we need to have for us to bridge the gap between people who aspire to create wealth and people actually create it, and how the kind of impact this will have for us and our communities. He also makes a call for participation to you, so that we can take these conversations to action. He shares the pillars for the podcast which are property investing, housing and wealth creation. The shows include Township property market, Property Stokvels, affordable housing and JSE listed properties.