STATEMENT BY WESTPROP HOLDINGS LTD CEO MR KENNETH SHARPE
It is with honour and respect that I speak to you today on this defining historic moment, the pinnacle of our history at WestProp.
We have turned a page and opened a new chapter in the book of our future. As has already been alluded to we have successfully migrated from being a private company to a publicly listed company on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.
It is with this in mind that I confirm WestProp Holdings Ltd is now a public company and encourage members of the public, pension funds and investors to invest by buying shares and take up a stake in the company and join us in our journey of a billion bricks. Why do I talk about a billion bricks?
If you look at the press pack you will find a 4 min video labelled WestProp Strategy Statement where our entire team shows how each person has bought into this vision.
This was developed over the last 4 years and during my study time at Havard Business School which resulted in us being able to proudly say “By 2050 we will pioneer world class, vertically integrated, premium lifestyle communities in Zimbabwe. Using technology and innovation, we operate in a high performance culture of excellence delivering a trusted customer centric ecosystem to live, work, shop and play.”
It is not a coincidence that we have targeted one billion bricks, in fact if you look at our projected construction for the projects we have designed, it will take one billion bricks and US$5 billion to complete them.
Every day, we are putting bricks into the ground working towards the vision where we know that within the next 27 years we will have laid one billion bricks. We have made great progress over the past few years with limited resources and as such I can confirm as of last Monday we had laid 5,298,975 bricks and have 55,626,972 as committed bricks from our existing sales.
As the public joins hands with us we can achieve much more this year by opening up new markets, new products and fabulous exciting new projects like the Mall of Zimbabwe, the Hills Golf Estate and Pomona City which is about bringing Dubai to Zimbabwe.
An investment in our company and property portfolio ensures you can own a home and inheritance for your spouse and offspring. A house can be used as collateral when you want to do other investments.
The difference with our property portfolio and projects is that when you buy in you are investing into a lifestyle community which means when you decide to sell you are not only selling the built structure but also a certain lifestyle.
We believe in creating and delivering an affordable lifestyle of luxury for people to live in comfort, style and safety where our smart cities encompass the live, work, shop and play model which means we provide social amenities like shopping malls, sporting facilities, crèches, churches and many other recreational facilities in a safe 24 hour secure gated community. Buying into our vision and creating the lifestyle estates increases the selling price of the properties and in turn the value of your shares.
To date, we have done exceptionally well and had consistent growth in a market that everyone else had written off. We now want to share the success so that everyone can benefit from our exceptional business growth and profitability.
Not only is the importance of this IPO for the public to benefit from our growth and profit, but more importantly, the reason why we’re offering shares is for three benefits:
- Firstly, it is safe. It’s a secure investment where someone who’s investing $50 will know that their $50 will still be there in one month, in one year and in five years’ time. It’s an alternative to the banks. There’s no cost we deduct for holding that value on behalf of the investor, and they are guaranteed that their investment is safe with us.
- Secondly, once they’ve invested with us, the investment doesn’t just stay at the $50 that they invested. We give a solid return. The reason why we’re able to give them an expected return in excess of 10% a year in USD is because we are highly profitable. Our company is on a huge growth trajectory and we’re making super profits. We’re one of the few companies in Zimbabwe that are making significant profits today, and that’s the second reason that our investors benefit from our success and we’re sharing in that benefit to them.
- The third reason, the most important reason is the journey of building Zimbabwe together. We are saying that together with the public, we can join hands and build Zimbabwe because the opportunity to invest with us will allow us and the public to come together, to hold hands and to build our country brick by brick. We are doing this today through IPO and the listing, benefiting yourself in becoming a shareholder with us, you are joining hands in owning the assets that we own. You’ll be owning part of the Mall of Zimbabwe and Millennium Heights and Office Park together with us. You’ll own the Hills Golf Estate with us. You will own Pomona City together with us. This is the time to get in. The time is now to get your share. In this day and age where the majority are crying over eroded pensions and
banked money losing its value; we provide the best and safest way of keeping and growing the value of your money over time. For example if you invest as little as US$50 with us you are assured that the amount will not depreciate. We will not charge you handling fees. We are an alternative to the formal banking system. Your money grows with us. Let us join hands on this Journey of building Zimbabwe together. It is for the love that I have for Zimbabwe that I have decided with my family and partners to open up the listing of WestProp for this once in a life time opportunity to participate in our IPO which is the listing of the company on the Vic Fall Stock Exchange. We really want the people of Zimbabwe to benefit from our growth and success. We believe in the future of Zimbabwe and see everyone as being part of the initiative to rebuild our beloved country. When I look at the future I do not see tomorrow or next week, nor next month nor next year but I see a
Zimbabwe in 10, 20 and 50 years from now. We believe people can participate in our offering and can partner with us. I announce the offering today of one million ordinary shares at $10 each and 5.4million preferential redeemable convertible shares at $5 each.
The preferential shares allow investors a period of 5 years to decide to become ordinary
shareholders during which time they will benefit from a minimum guaranteed return of 7.5 percent per year as well as dividends from the company’s profits. This is likely to result in excess of 10 percent per year being paid out which is an amount that no other listed company or bank in Zimbabwe is currently offering investors. Over five years the value of shares is likely to also go up.
We have a goal of taking our company from the current annual sales of US$40 million to over US$100 million within seven years and to create a balance sheet that will exceed US$1 billion in value which is more than 5 times the one today. All the shareholders will benefit from this growth. We know It is achievable and within our grasp.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity that the market has given us, the management team and consultants that have worked tirelessly for the past few months including Itai Chirume from MMC who is our lead financial advisor and stock broker, Sternford Moyo from Scanlen Holderness who are our legal advisers, Grant Thornton the auditors who worked tirelessly on our books for three solid months and CorpServe the transfer secretaries as well as to all the team at WestProp.
My sincere thanks to the entire VFX management team and listing committee with a special mention to their CEO Justin and Robert and their teams for being extremely professional and efficient, allowing us to showcase what the future of Zimbabwe will look like.
As mentioned by our Chairman the VFX allows trades to be exclusively in forex, has zero capital gains tax as being in a SEZ which is a tax free economic zone and minimal fees to buy and sell shares.
In closing, like I often say, the French poet Victor Hugo said there’s nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. And I often say, “If not me then who and if not now then when?”
My message to all of you today is: If not us, then who is going to build our country? Because truthfully this listing today is not about us as a company, it’s not even about us as a community of investors, it’s really about us as a country.
About moving our country forward, about doing the best we can to produce a result that our posterity, our future generations will be proud of.
Join us and make Zimbabwe proud.
Thank you, Tatenda, Siyabonga. Makorokoto.