More than homes.

Great communities are not built with bricks and mortar alone. They are built with purpose, and with a genuine commitment to the people who live and work within them. Through Msingi by Mi Vida, we extend that belief beyond our developments — investing in the people who make the built environment: the artisans who supply our sites, and the young people who will one day design and build Kenya’s cities.

Our approach

As a homebuilder, our greatest contribution to society is not charity — it is the way we build, who we build with, and who we build for. Rather than set up a separate foundation, we have chosen to embed our social investment into the core of our business: our supply chain, our partnerships and our expertise.

Our work focuses on two connected pillars — strengthening the informal artisans who form the backbone of construction, and upgrading the public schools that will produce the next generation of built-environment professionals.

Pillar 01

From Jua Kali to MSME: strengthening our supply chain

Kenya’s Jua Kali sector is home to some of the most skilled hands in the country. These informal artisans and fabricators already produce much of what our industry depends on — from windows and metalwork to fittings and finishes. Yet too often they remain locked out of formal supply chains, unable to grow, access finance, or offer their workers stable, dignified employment.

We are changing that. By sourcing specific components directly from Jua Kali enterprises, we bring them into our formal supply chain — and we walk with them on the journey from informal operators to fully-fledged MSMEs: properly incorporated, tax-compliant, and meeting recognised standards for worker safety and conditions. As they formalise, they grow. As they grow, they employ more people, better. This is inclusive growth built into the way we procure.

Pillar 02

Investing in future builders: better public schools

Every home we build depends on engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, artisans and project managers. Tomorrow’s professionals are in today’s classrooms — many of them in public schools that lack the facilities to inspire and prepare them.

Using our core expertise, resources and partnerships, we upgrade infrastructure in public schools: safe, dignified, well-designed learning and living spaces that lift confidence, focus and ambition. We start small and build for the long term, crowding in our vendors, subcontractors and main contractors so the whole Mi Vida network contributes to one shared, lasting initiative. We see these schools not as one-off donations, but as the seedbed of the built-environment professionals we are nurturing.

How we work

Embedded, not bolted on.

Our social investment lives in our supply chain and our expertise — not in a separate foundation.

Partnership over patronage.

We crowd in our vendors, subcontractors and contractors so impact is shared, not solo.

Formalisation with dignity.

We help artisans grow into compliant businesses that respect and protect their workers.

Start small, build long.

Measured, long-term programmes rather than one-off gestures.

In action: Starehe Boys' Centre

Our first foundation is already laid. At Starehe Boys’ Centre — a school that has shaped generations of Kenyan leaders, including our own CEO, Samuel Kariuki — we fully renovated the Kibaki Dormitory, transforming worn living spaces into safe, dignifying and inspiring environments for students. It is the first proof point of a far larger commitment still to come.

3 Aug 2026

More Than Four Walls: How Mi Vida Homes Transformed the Kibaki Dormitory at StareheBoys’ Centre

For our CEO Samuel Kariuki – a proud Starehe old boy – this project was never just a CSR initiative. It was personal. Here…

Quick Links