Taking Charge: Solving the Housing Crisis

We are building a smart company.

The problem we’re solving is the housing crisis in the world and in order to do that we need to build a company that is innovative, financially smart, and that respects the limits of the planet. We need to find solutions to the housing crisis that are sustainable, decrease environmental damage, makes money, and fit the needs of the African working class. If you can solve the housing problem in Zambia, then you can solve it in Africa. If you can solve it in Africa, then you can apply your solution to most of the world.

The problems in Zambia are not unique to Zambia. We have a 1.5 million unit housing backlog, and we can see everyone is trying to own a plot and build. Kenya has a 2 million unit housing shortage. Africa needs to build 60 million units. Solving the housing crisis at the individual level will not work. So where does Bosso start?

1) Mindset. We believe in the private sector to solve problems better than other sectors. You cannot be an entrepreneur looking to the government to solve problems. That is our job. Government’s job is to facilitate problem solving by creating incentives and infrastructure.

2) Strategy. Find the low hanging fruit that allows you to have the most impact. We chose the supply chain of building materials. Can we help hardware stores and the public get building materials more affordably and faster? If we can, then we can reduce the price of building.  Just this alone is extremely hard.  Inventory and logistics – delivery of your inventory – keeps us busy.

3) Invest in people. Build people and those people will build great things. Bosso believes in picking the right people, investing in them, and allowing them the space to solve problems.

At times it gets difficult because you realize that nobody is coming to save Zambia or Africa. For every foreign investor dollar we get, they require 4 dollars in return.  Bosso started its operations in July 2022, and the pressure to succeed is immense. If we don’t solve the housing crisis, we will have to solve the slum crisis in the upcoming years.  So, we are going to have to build the solutions ourselves. We are going to have to build a smart company.

Follow Bosso on its journey on our social media channels.