Every year there are thousands of students from across the country starting their tertiary education in need of accommodation.
According to Property Wheel, South Africa faces a shortage of student accommodation with current statistics pointing at shortages estimated at about 300 000 and 200 000 beds at universities and technical and vocational colleges respectively.
Gugulethu Mfuphi spoke to Lucas Mohaswa, the CEO of Reslocate on Kaya Biz on how the company is solving the problem of a lack of student accommodation across the country.
Also Read: Melo B gives an epic boom-bop performance on Platinum Fridays
Mohaswa saw a gap in the student accommodation market and promptly set to work on Reslocate. The company connects property owners with tertiary students looking for safe, reliable accommodation.
There’s the added benefit of creating employment for the youth through the company’s area agents programme through which properties are vetted.
He spoke about realisimng the importance of the business offering a reliable, safe way of finding and booking accommodation.
The platform gives users a simple way of comparing various accommodation even before you choose the one that suits you best.
“We understand how hard it is to balance registration, accommodation all in the first week, and the difficulty of doing all this in a new environment.
“So at Reslocate, we want to give you complete peace of mind by taking care of at least one thing on your to-do list. We find and select the best off-campus accommodation across the country.”
Starting a business during COVID-19
The business is currently six months old. Like many South Africans, Mohaswa used the global pandemic as an opportunity to bring his big idea to life, finding an opportunity in the middle of a crisis.
“We’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback from all angles, students like it, property owners like it, and all stakeholders like it. They all say this platform is the future. We were really blessed to be in this space at this time.”
The company charges a once-off fee to property owners, the properties are vetted by the students themselves before they get listed.
