More than 50 exhibitors are expected to showcase their products and services at the inaugural annual ‘Rwanda Home Expo’ scheduled November 29 to December 4.

The expo will bring together stakeholders in the housing sector including regulators, policy makers, financers, construction companies, architects, as well as dealers in furniture, paints and home improvement products.According to the organisers, the six-day expo is part of efforts to bridge the existing information gap in the local real estate and housing sector.

"The idea behind this is to help people access information on available products for construction. Many people dream of having their own homes but tend to lack timely information to better plan for that. This expo will link architects, engineers, and other stakeholders with the consumers,” Phillip R. Mulari, the managing director of Rwanda Home, which organises the expo, told journalists yesterday.

According to Mulari, the expo is also part of efforts to promote a new initiative, Rwanda Home (www.rwandahome.com), an online platform created to bring construction services closer to the public.

"There are a number of construction services that we import yet we have people who offer these services in the country. But because one cannot easily locate where these people are, they end up incurring unnecessary expenses. We created an online platform as a solution to these challenges and this fair is one way of promoting this platform,” Mulari said.

"The good thing with this online platform is that one can be able to buy land online, budget for it without necessarily moving from office, then hire people at any time at any point. We want to be a bridge that connects consumers to service providers,” Mulari added.

Pascal Muparasi Mugabe, one of the Rwanda Home partners, said that the expo will have a designated area to provide specific information about different activities, while consultancy services will be available for free. It will also provide information about affordable housing.

"Rwanda Home will promote locally produced goods and support the Made-in-Rwanda campaign,” Mugabe said.

"We are collaborating with Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) to bring all housing services online and make them affordable to people. By this, we hope we shall address most of the challenges faced by the players in the sector.”

The expo will take place at Amahoro National Stadium, Remera.

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