Our Team
CAHF Staff
Kecia Rust is the Executive Director and founder of the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF). She is a housing policy specialist and has worked with both public and private sector practitioners in promoting access to affordable housing and housing finance in Africa for the past 20 years. She was the Housing Finance Coordinator at the FinMark Trust from 2003-2014, from where CAHF was established. Over the span of her career, Kecia has consulted and undertaken research in affordable housing finance, residential property assets and property markets, rental and social housing, and the creation of sustainable human settlements, among other issues. Kecia participated in the Wharton School’s International Housing Finance Programme, U.S.A. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree with Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U.S.A., and a Masters of Management from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Email: kecia@housingfinanceafrica.org
Alison Tshangana joined CAHF as the Head of Research and Market Intelligence in June 2018. With nearly 10 years experience in the public sector, her areas of interest include human settlement policies and programmes, inter-governmental finance and public expenditure analysis. She recently joined CAHF from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), where she led SALGA’s work on human settlements, acting as a local government sector advocate and policy analyst. She has senior management experience at provincial level in South Africa in both the housing sector and Treasury. During her time with the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing, she was responsible for developing Western Cape housing policy, as well as research and information management. Prior to this, Alison spent two years heading the budget office at the Western Cape Provincial Treasury. Her experience in the NGO sector includes four years at IDASA, a South African NGO supporting democratisation, where she founded and led a unit which undertook research and capacity-building activities on budgeting for government’s response to HIV/AIDS. She has also worked with an international NGO based in Washington DC which undertook conflict resolution programmes in the Middle East and elsewhere. Alison obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2000, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science (cum laude) and Religious Studies from Brown University in Rhode Island, United States. Email: alison@housingfinanceafrica.org
Thandiwe Dhlamini is the AUHF Coordinator within the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa. She holds a BA in History and Development Studies from Midlands States University in Zimbabwe. She has experience in project support, implementation and management which she has gained through working with Local and International Non- Governmental Organisations which focused on human rights, women’s rights, land grabs and tax campaigns, parental and family matters, Social Behaviour Change Communication and Capacity development of Social Services Practitioners. She is passionate about community development and curbing injustices and inequalities affecting the underprivileged. Thandiwe completed the Housing Finance Course for Sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Cape Town in 2018. Email: thandiwe@housingfinanceafrica.org
Allan Mutuma Gitonga joined CAHF as the Open Access Initiative Programme Manager, in October 2022. Allan is a real estate research and investment professional with 10 years of experience in affordable housing investments across East Africa. Prior to joining CAHF, Allan was in charge of Transactions, Strategy and Research at Centum Real Estate, East Africa’s largest real estate investment company. During his tenure at Centum Real Estate, he successful led several fundraising initiatives into affordable housing projects and private infrastructure projects. Allan holds an undergraduate degree in Financial Economics from Strathmore University (Kenya), a master’s degree in finance from Jomo Kenyatta University (Kenya). Allan completed the Housing Finance Course for Sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Cape Town in 2023. In addition to his role at CAHF, Allan is the founder of BrownCap Developers Limited, an affordable housing developer, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Email: allan@housingfinanceafrica.org
David Chiwetu joined CAHF as a Research Manager in April 2019. In this capacity, his work focuses on overseeing and managing CAHF’s research in Nigeria, Ghana and the Central African Region. He has a personal interest in exploring the role that financial institutions and town planning authorities can play in positively shaping the development of African cities. He has completed a MSc in Development Planning where his masters research report looked at how small scale developers are supported in the property development process. He also holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Witwatersrand. Email: david@housingfinanceafrica.org
Beatrice Mwangi is a Research Manager at the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa. With nearly 5 years experience in the real estate sector mainly focusing on housing, she has extensive knowledge and experience in research, data analysis, project financial analysis and project management, and has previously worked with Cytonn Investments, Superior Homes Kenya and EAFAI. Beatrice holds a Bachelor’s degree in Project Planning and Management from the University of Eldoret, Kenya, and completed the Housing Finance Course for Sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Cape Town in 2021. She is passionate about the betterment of humanity through decent housing for all. Email: beatrice@housingfinanceafrica.org
Luther Jubane joined CAHF as a Research Manager in 2021. Prior to CAHF, Luther worked at the Headquarters of Shelter Afrique in Nairobi, Kenya, as a Risk Officer. He also has undertaken some freelance technical urban planning work in Zimbabwe and Botswana where he specialised in site analysis and feasibility studies for potential small-scale construction and mining projects. Luther earned a Masters Degree in Development Planning from the University of Witswatersrand in 2020, and a BSc (Honours) Urban and Regional Planning in 2018. While at Wits, he worked for two years as a Tutor and Teaching Assistant in multiple undergraduate courses at the Wits School of Architecture and Planning, and also served as a Research Assistant, focusing on interdisciplinary strategies and interventions needed to address homelessness. Email: luther@housingfinanceafrica.org
Aminata Baro is a young Senegalese-French Urban Planner based in Dakar, Senegal. Aminata is a Research Manager with the CAHF, where she undertakes monthly press reviews that provide an overview of the latest news on housing finance in Francophone Africa, and supports local or sub-regional studies and other research activities led by CAHF. She is passionate about housing and basic services issues, advocating through writing a variety of thought pieces on addressing housing deficits in Sub-Saharan Africa. After her bachelor’s degree in Humanities, Law, Economics and Management (Major in Political Science), obtained with the Université Paris Nanterre (France), she pursued a Master’s degree in Urban Planning with a focus on Cities of the Global South. Email: aminata@housingfinanceafrica.org
Sona Nongqayi joined CAHF as an Intern to the Transaction Support Centre in August 2021, having worked with the TSC for three months before. Based in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, Sona engages with clients to the TSC, responding to queries and providing advice. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Management from CPUT. In the past, she has worked at the New Somerset Hospital as an Administration Clerk, and through Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, was placed at Direct Axis as a Loan Specialist. Most recently, before joining the TSC, she worked with the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements as a graduate intern. See the TSC on Facebook. Email: sona@titledeed.org.za