MIKE HEALTH
John Carroll University
Beau Daane
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The project improves the society and environment by focusing on safe, sanitary housing, sourcing with affordable, local materials, and utilizing student engineers and community involvement to provide stakeholder benefit for the customer, student trainees, the government, and the community.
The Hand Over company designs prototype houses that are sourced primarily from local materials, engages locals to commit to the designs, trains local students to be part of the design, building, and procurement process, secures permits from local officials, and coordinates the financing. This fully-fleshed development process allows low-income Egyptians to secure financing for a newly-constructed home from sustainable materials.
It is currently expensive to utilize locally-available materials for the construction and repair of residential structures in Egypt’s Nile Delta region. Nearly half of Egyptians live on under $2,200 per year, and there is a need to bring down housing costs, and utilize the plentiful gravel and sand that is found in the area to build housing structures. Radwa Rostom is a social entrepreneur working on the Hand Over project to bring affordable, local-sourced housing to Egyptian consumers.
The overall impact of Hand Over is to reduce the need for slum housing that is inconsistent with human needs and to move to an affordable, quality housing that meets proper sanitation and building safety standards, and is still financeable by a low-income bracket Egyptian. Thus, more families can rely on quality housing for a fair price.
The Hand Over project relies on a combination of financing from World Bank, foreign foundations, and micro-lenders. The housing units cost $6,000 to build and 40% of the money comes from non-profit lenders and 60% comes from for-profit micro lenders. This allows an Egyptian with a $2,200 annual income to finance a home over approximately three years. Those units are not very profitable. But the company makes a more-expensive, and more-profitable unit for Egyptians with $4,000 annual incomes, and the profits from these higher margin units maintain the overall profitability of the endeavor.
The project improves the society and environment by focusing on safe, sanitary housing, sourcing with affordable, local materials, and utilizing student engineers and community involvement to provide stakeholder benefit for the customer, student trainees, the government, and the community.
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Radwa Rostom (setting up interview), Leader
It is currently expensive to utilize locally-available materials for the construction and repair of residential structures in Egypt’s Nile Delta region. Nearly half of Egyptians live on under $2,200 per year, and there is a need to bring down housing costs, and utilize the plentiful gravel and sand that is found in the area to build housing structures. Radwa Rostom is a social entrepreneur working on the Hand Over project to bring affordable, local-sourced housing to Egyptian consumers.