THE LAUNCH
There is a saying that people’s greatness is in their stories. On 24th June 2021, NICO added another milestone to its heroic story. For the first time on the real estate scene, the city of Blantyre witnessed the opening of doors of two astonishing buildings owned by the biggest financial Group by assets and product diversity, NICO Group. The official opening ceremony was graced by the Mayor of Blantyre City, His Worship Councilor Wild Ndipo who in this remarks commended the remarkable work NICO Group is doing in contributing towards the changing of the urban landscape and further called all property owners in the cities to emulate what NICO has done to keep the cities attractive.
BACKGROUND
NICO House located along two busy streets, 3 Steward Street and Haile Selassie Road, was gutted by fire on 5 October 2018. Blantyre City residents were struck with grief watching the 3-storey building at the centre of the city on fire on that fateful day. Kapeni House, located along Victoria Avenue, is a building standing in the heart of Blantyre. The building is 50 years old, and NICO felt the building needed a new lease of life to enhance its functionality and utility for a modern- day workspace. The renovation gave the building, not only new look and feel but enhanced services, up-to-date fire and safety features and modernized workspace configuration.
THE POWER OF THE GROUP – HOW WE DID IT
NICO House is owed by NICO Life. It was and is insured by NICO General, who honored the claim by paying for it in full. NICO Asset Managers provided investment management services on the proceeds received from the insurer. NBS Bank provided performance bond to the contractors on the restoration of the building. Eris Properties Ltd, a Property Services Company, was the lead in the building’s restoration essentials scoping, space reconfiguration, project team syndication, and project management coordination. NICO Technologies provided the reconfiguration of the IT architecture and infrastructure. The building has been occupied by NICO Life, NICO General, NICO Pension and NBS Bank. This demonstrates that NICO is the provider of end-to-end business solutions.
The renovation of Kapeni House is another great story we are proud of. The building in the heart of Blantyre, is owned by ICON Properties, a real estate holding company for a couple of pension schemes in the country. ICON Properties tool up the renovation of the building as its maiden venture in its pursuit to bring its reality its vision of “Building Better Futures”. Just as with NICO House, The Group pulled its efforts and resources together to lift Kapeni House into a second phase of its functional life. NICO General provided the contractors all risks cover over the project. NICO Asset Managers are the fund managers for the ICON portfolio.
Eris Properties, just like they did with the NICO House project, was the lead in the building facelifting, involved with the refurbishment needs scoping, space reconfiguration, project team syndication, and project management coordination. NICO Life, which also has large shares in ICON Properties is one of the tenants in the building. NICO believes in synergy to make a great impact in changing lives. We believe in One NICO.
BE PART OF THE ONE THE SECURES YOUR LIFETIME EXPERIENCE
The narration of the Power of the Group demonstrates the strength and capability that NICO Group has to service its clients. Our cause is to provide the above demonstrated service to the public. We want our customer to experience this supremacy of the Group – the One- stop – financial services and infrastructure services provider. NICO has a range of products suited for various classes of life. Solutions that will take you through all your stages of life – from birth to leaving a legacy, for individuals and businesses. NICO Group provides services in General Insurance, Life Insurance, Pension Services, Banking, Asset Management, Capital Markets, Information Technology, Real Estates Services which include Real Estate Advisory, Property Development, Property Management and Property Valuation.
50 YEARS MILESTONE
2021 is a special year in the NICO journey as we are celebrating our 50th Anniversary. The journey has not been without challenges, and at times the future indeed looked bleak for some of our businesses, but the fact that we remain a force to be reckoned with on the market after 50 years is testament to the strong foundation upon which the brand is built. We are proud to be an integral part of Malawi’s story and we are looking ahead, with plans to grow our businesses as well as to charter into new territories. We have had 50 years of honoring our commitments to our clients. 50 years of pioneering various watershed projects in the country.
APPRECIATION
Our customers remain our biggest stakeholder. The Group has grown to where it is now because there are customers who continue believing in us. Through the times that some of our companies were faced with challenges, our customers remained loyal to us. We promise to be even greater service to you. We extend our gratitude to our stakeholders – shareholders, staff, investors, media partners and all that have played a part building our story.