Institution of Surveyors of Kenya(ISK) in partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the African Real Estate Society (AFRES) conducted a two day conferencing seminar from 3-4 July in Nairobi.
The discussion based conference that attracted participants from Kenya,Uganda Tanzania and mauritius was well attended by over 80 representatives who were keen to learn and share their experiences in regards to the real state financing in the property sector.The Real Estate Financing in the Eastern African region was opened by the Principal Secretary of Ministry of Lands,housing infrastructure and Urban development Mariam El Maawy. ISK chairman Paul Wambua who was present during the opening of the conference encouraged ISK members to expand their scope by joining other regional and international professional organizations.
”This will ensure that you can practice outside the kenyan borders”,Wambua said. He mentioned some of the ISK members who are also members of RICs and AfRES. Such include the two distinguished members, Madam Bernadette Gitari and Madam Catherine Kariuki who were instrumental in organizing the regional Conference.
The two day conference attracted experts speakers from different sectors ranging from real property index,Geospatial and software applications,shopping centre management and security in property management.ISK has been working in collaboration with the Association of Real Estate Agents (AREA) Uganda and the Real Estate Agents of Rwanda(REAR) in development of skills on the region through the Eastern Africa Real Estate Training Centre (EARETC). Through the Centre, various trainings have been conducted most of which have been conducted by internationally sourced resources persons.
Wambua commented that the close membership has been quite beneficial in knowledge sharing and holding various forums. Just earlier this year for instance, a forum on the logbook which ISK will be introducing as part of the professional examination process was facilitated by our members who are also RICS members. This was in addition to two other forums we organized last year in collaboration with the Kenya Group of RICS.
ISK sees more common areas of interest between the three organizations in enhancing skills development in the region as well as policy advocacy for the professionals. One of these could include the discussions initiated with fellow professionals in the East Africa region aimed at signing a mutual recognition agreement so that ISK professionals from the sector in the region can operate throughout the region with ease using their current qualifications.The ISK chairman called upon the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development to support ISK in this initiative which is aimed at enhancing regional integration.