Kasada. This name will probably mean little to business travellers used to the big international hotel chains. However, its activities are not insignificant for professionals who regularly travel to Africa. Launched in 2019, this investment platform is in fact backed by Accor and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund150 million and 350 million euros respectively. A very active player over the last two years, whose portfolio, initiated by the purchase of eight AccorInvest properties in Dakar, Abidjan and Douala, has doubled in 18 months to 17 hotels today, with a presence in eight countries. " The long-term ambition is to cover French-speaking Africa as well as East and Southern Africa, and to have a good network of major sub-Saharan cities such as Lagos." says Olivier Granet, CEO of Kasada Capital Management.
Naturally, through these hotels under management contracts with one or other of the Accor brands, Kasada aims to support the French group's growth on an African continent where its asset-light strategy is more complicated to implement. " With the exception of South Africa and Morocco, where you can find banks and institutional investors to support hotel projects, it's more difficult elsewhere.explains Olivier Granet. Hence the idea of this platform, capable of supporting these development projects and of dealing with local constraints on access to finance. "Difficulties that existed before the crisis, hence the raison d'être of Kasada, but which have " even stronger today" says the company's CEO.
In this respect, the pandemic has changed the nature of current projects. Whereas before the health crisis, Kasada concentrated mainly on the construction of new hotels, its activity is now three-quarters made up of the construction of new hotels. by taking over existing properties. " On the one hand, because with rising interest rates and construction costs, the macro-economic environment is limiting the ability to undertake green field projects, comments Kasada's CEO, but also because many hotels need help to recover from the crisis. "Reinvesting in tired hotels, repositioning them and retraining their teams: the investment platform is now concentrating on initiating new cycles.
" The long-term ambition is to cover French-speaking Africa as well as Eastern and Southern Africa." ,
Olivier Granet CEO of Kasada Capital Management
Kasada's recent additions include a hotel owned by the South African Tsogo Sun group in Lagos and two independent hotels in Windhoek, Namibia, the Safari Hotels & Conference Center. Backed by a 1,400-seat conference centre, one will become an ibis Styles and the other a Mövenpick. In Kigali, Kasada has also taken over the first international hotel in the Rwandan capitalUmubano. This state-owned hotel has had a number of brands in its history - Le Méridien, Novotel, Laico among others - before ceasing operations altogether. After renovation, it will begin a new life, again under the Mövenpick brand.
As for Cape Grace in South Africa, a luxury establishment acquired last March and ideally located on Cape Town's Victoria & Albert Waterfront, " it is intended to be one of the finest hotels in Africa" . As well as being integrated into one or other of Accor's luxury brands after a refurbishment designed, among other things, to offer the venue EDGE sustainable certification. " We have the same ambition for all our hotels" says Olivier Granet.
As part of the repositioning of these assets, Kasada will soon be adding a new dimension: coworking. The investor recently announced the conclusion of aa master franchise agreement with Wojo - a work-sharing specialist that is also part of the Accor galaxy - to integrate office space into its establishments from the second half of 2022. The health crisis has demonstrated on a massive scale the need for hoteliers to diversify their sources of income, and coworking is as much a part of this as an F&B offering that is attractive to local customers. " Coworking is one of the ways in which we can build an interactive offering in our hotels, making them living spaces that meet the needs of international travellers as well as the expectations of the local and regional market." says Olivier Granet.
" Working with Wojo was a natural step, as they are already working on this in Europe.says Khalil Ketari, Director of Flex'Office and Coworking at Kasada Capital Management. We will include their spaces in the design and redesign phases of our establishments, providing a significant proportion of private and shared offices to attract long-term customers. " Potential users include CAC40 companies, which could set up their local teams in an environment that meets the standards of these major groups - "there is strong demand in this area", notes Olivier Granet - as well as a whole network of local entrepreneurs looking for a "new business model". remarkable dynamics" says Khalil Ketari.
But the quality of housing stock in African cities is not always excellent, this coworking offer integrated into the hotels provides a guarantee of security to companies, guaranteeing air conditioning and electricity 24 hours a day, as well as the support of on-site teams. Another advantage of the coworking model is the flexibility of use compared with traditional leases. " On the African continent, business risk management is very important, which works in favour of this solution, which minimises risks." says Flex 'Office director Kasada.
While Kasada will begin by setting up Wojo spaces in its establishments, this concept could, in a second phase, be extended to other establishments. made available to other hotel owners managed by the French group as part of the master franchise agreement signed with Wojo. Before considering independent Wojo outlets? Olivier Granet does not seem to be closed to this prospect: " One day, why not?
