Kenyan Real Estate Firm Refunds Customers Ksh 200M on a Deal Gone Sour

Optiven Ltd took the initiative to compensate all customers who bought greenhouses at the Kilimo Tujijenge project, after the partner who had been paid to do this reneged on executing their part of the deal.

Soon after 2017, it became clear to Optiven that SME Resource Centre Ltd and its CEO Josephine Gathoni aka June Gathoni were bent on not delivering what they had promised. Optiven took a quick step to report this entity and its director to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), upon which a criminal case has been ongoing for the last 4 years at the Kiambu Law Courts. Optiven and several Kilimo customers are state witnesses against SME Resource Centre and Josephine Gathoni in this ongoing case.

Optiven is a caring partner; so pending the determination of this ongoing case, Optiven begun refunding all affected customers through a cushioning Risk Sharing Initiative. Under this Initiative, Optiven has refunded most of the affected customers’ funds that were directly paid to SME Resource Centre for greenhouses. This underlines the fact that OPTIVEN CARES and is a RELIABLE PARTNER.

Customers have either been refunded cash or swapped the amount that they had lost through SME Resource Centre with new plot/s of land across the various projects owned by www.optiven.co.ke or offset any outstanding balances on plots they are already servicing.

The Kilimo Tujijenge Project, which was to begin in 2017 in Kajiado County, was a partnership between Optiven and SME Resource Centre and was aimed at enabling customers who were to come on board to venture into agribusiness through a greenhouse farming model.

Optiven was to provide the land and value additions such as drilling of boreholes and piping water into every plot, which it did successfully.

SME Resource Centre on the other hand was to install and manage the greenhouses on behalf of customers in addition to marketing the produce. Customers were to get directly paid by SME Resource Centre after all the harvested produce had been sold and expenses deducted.

SME Resource Centre however reneged on its contractual obligations, which saw customers lose on their investments.

Optiven believes in the empowerment of its customers and opted this route as a positive outcome from the ongoing criminal case is hopefully awaited.

Meanwhile, Optiven is alive to the fact that there are a few customers who were affected by this reneged execution by SME Resource Centre, and who opted not to take up the offered cushion, but opted to seek for their compensation through a court process. Optiven will await the outcome of this case that is pending at the Kajiado Law Courts and commits to fully respect and follow the ultimate outcome of this matter when and once concluded.

Optiven Leadership takes this opportunity to apologize to the customers who got affected by this venture. We VALUE you and this is the reason why we opted to do a refund of the cash paid for those greenhouses that did not materialize.

In case you paid for your greenhouse and you have not gotten your refund maybe due to change of your contact or for any other inadvertent technicality, call this number for your refund 0790 300 300 or send an email to customerservice@optiven.co.ke for immediate action.

For those who would like to invest with Optiven, check on our unique properties on www.optiven.co.ke and enjoy our 21 years of experience in empowering current and prospective property owners.

For all philanthropic community support, kindly visit Optiven Foundation page; www.optivenfoundation.org

OPTIVEN VALUES YOU.