Housing Finance Bank Launches the HFB ‘Zimba Mpola” Challenge to promote Affordable Housing and Community Empowerment

By Abraham Lincolns

The Housing Finance Bank on Thursday 6th November 2025 launched its incremental housing dubbed Zimba Mpola challenge in a bid to unlock opportunities for the less privileged Ugandans without home ownership and financial independence.

According to J. Baptist Kawesi, the head of Mortgages and Consumer Banking at Housing Finance Bank said that for the past 59 years, the government owned commercial bank is looking forward to seeing the majority of Ugandans attain affordable, sustainable and decent housing infrastructures.

Statistics indicate that Uganda stands at a deficit of 2.4milion housing units and Housing Finance Bank is fully championing the Vision 2040 where all Ugandans have access to affordable housing, basic services and upgrade slums.

“Through our strategic pillar of growing sustainable business through facilitating property purchase, construction, completion and renovation financing, we now command approximately 60 percent of Ugandans achieving their dream of home ownership through the leading mortgage partner” Mr. Kawesi said.

Doreen Nyiramugisha, the head of marketing and communications said that there is need for collective effort by different stakeholders to find solutions for depleting and expensive construction materials yet most Ugandans are low income earners making them unable to put up a roof thus escalating slums in the country.

“We need all stakeholders on board to find solutions for depleting and expensive construction materials which is the biggest problem to low income earners making home ownership difficult hence leading to many slums in the country”, Mrs Nyiramugisha asserted.

It was noted that approximately 96 percent of the Ugandans cannot afford the cheapest typical house formerly constructed by a private developer due to the significant mismatch between the demand and supply for housing which has left the country with a huge cumulative deficit of 2.4M excluding 900,000 existing units that have been condemned as inhabitable.

During the event, building sustainable ecosystem was a key point of concern though housing finance bank had already taken up the concern by bringing up together different real estate players like the Uganda clays, Bakaima real estates among others to ensure issues of accessibility, service utility quality and environmental protection are addressed as their customers carryout their construction projects.

According to Moses Mukibi, a Boda Boda rider and businessman Kayizi Geoffrey Samula, they assert that Housing Finance Bank has helped to unlock their dream of homeownership where they managed to buy land and construct their houses step by step.

The campaign is intended to impact the community with decent work and economic growth, sustainable cities and community, reduced inequalities, clean water and sanitation, industry innovation and infrastructure among others.

Reuben Byaruhanga Tumwebaze, the Managing Director Uganda Clays limited urged that without enough research and new innovations, expensive construction materials are still a big problem to low-income Ugandans.

Medard Owesigire who represented Bakaima Real Estates, a partnering company with Housing Finance Bank urged the young generation to change their mindset from the negative energy and wasting much of their little resources in clubs and bars instead of using their little and hard-earned resources to useful projects like attained land and construction.

“Most of the youths have a negative feeling that constructing a house or buying a piece of land requires lump sums of money yet they  spend hundreds of thousands in bars and clubs”, Owesigire said.