COMSIP, HIDCO partner for property development

COMSIP Cooperative Union Limited and Housing Investment and Development Cooperative (HIDCO) have partnered in a move that will see HIDCO provide construction services to COMSIP Cooperatives and group members.

The two cooperatives signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Lilongwe to enhance property development that will also see construction of a new shopping mall in the northern capital, Mzuzu being invested by COMSIP Union.

The partnership entails construction services provided by HIDCO which has a registered construction company that also makes environmentally friendly building materials.

COMSIP is one of the largest cooperatives in Malawi with 58,241 members across the country, some of whom are in cooperatives that create demand for construction services.

“We want our members to own property just like we see in countries like Kenya where cooperatives own property in cities and we aspire the same in Malawi,” said Chief Executive Officer of COMSIP, Tennison Gondwe.

Vice Board Chairperson of HIDCO, Andrew Likaka, says his cooperative does not only provide construction services but also building materials that are environmentally friendly and will be used in the shopping mall project that will primarily provide retail space for cooperatives members’ businesses.

Managing Director of HIDCO, Robert Mbeza, explained that Comsip members will also have an opportunity to access services from HIDCO that include skills on environmentally friendly housing materials and construction, and land for development in well-designed residential areas in various districts in the country, among others.

COMSIP is a government affiliated institution that for 16 years has been transforming poor rural households into commercially oriented farmers and traders through savings and loan groups, having participated in the social protection programs of social cash transfer and public works with the World Bank support.

The cooperatives union is further orienting to self-sustenance as it roots in commercial ventures, developing an asset base that emanates from members’ shareholding.

On the other hand, HIDCO is probably the fastest growing cooperative and is uniquely in property industry with members in both Malawi and diaspora, championing property investment by Malawians to set up high end housing infrastructure in well serviced designated areas.