A Chat with Robert Muoka Salim, Founder and CEO at Innovative Proptech Startup: My Shamba Digital 

My Shamba Digital is an Innovative Proptech Startup based in Kenya that aims to make real estate transactions simpler.

Our users can access a dedicated team of professional Advocates of the High Court of Kenya, Architects, Surveyors, Physical Planners, and Land Valuers with vast experience in their respective fields to help them lodge applications for various services offered by the Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission.

They can also:

  • Access Relevant Land Information in our Flagship Resource Center and Legal Blog.
  • Find a place to call home from our handpicked Houses, Apartments, and Staycations for both short-term and long-term rent on our flagship property listings page, My Shamba Digital Property Listings.
  • Find their Dream Plot to Build their Dream House on our Verified Land Listings page, My Shamba Soko.

 

MyShambaDigital Logo

 

When did you start My Shamba Digital? How and where did the journey begin?

 

My Shamba Digital was founded in the early quarter of 2021 by Robert Muoka Salim and James Kiptalam both Advocates of the High Court of Kenya to help resolve land disputes and reduce incidents of land fraud. Robert (Founder) is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over 6 years of experience in the Real Estate sector whereas James (Co-Founder) is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over 13 years of experience in the Real Estate sector.

Incidents of land fraud and related crimes in the past decade have been on the rise in Kenya. The Ministry of Lands 2017 reported that there were 7,052 recorded cases of property fraud which cost the economy Sh60 billion annually. The Justice Needs and Satisfaction in Kenya survey by The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) in collaboration with the Judiciary of Kenya revealed that land disputes affect between 2.4 and 2.8 million Kenyans.

Our operations are mainly based in the Republic of Kenya however plans are underway to scale our operations into Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt.

 

Who is the target audience?

 

Our target customers are prospective buyers in the real estate sector. My Shamba Digital provides a platform that offers its users the service of verification of real estate Title deeds. We offer Land Registration Services, Land Administration Services, Land Valuation Services, Land Survey Services, and Dispute Resolution Services.

The early adopters of My Shamba Digital have been prospective land buyers, landowners, real estate students, real estate practitioners i.e. lawyers, architects, surveyors, physical planners, land valuers, legal innovation hubs, real estate development companies, land selling companies, real estate agents and events companies.

The feedback has been superb as we have been able to resolve over 400 legal inquiries and amassed a massive following of over three thousand on our Social Media platforms. Our Monthly Active Users have also doubled from 55,000 to 110,000 users.

 

Do you plan on improving or upgrading your product?

 

Our product scaling roadmap is as follows:

  • Our tech is scalable and we are currently in the process of designing a mobile application for the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Samsung App Store, and Microsoft App Store.
  • We are also curating content for our soon-to-be-launched podcast that will provide basic legal education to our listeners and viewers on the various land processes as we seek to resolve land disputes and reduce incidents of land fraud in Kenya. This content will be available on all streaming platforms and YouTube.
  • Our web development team is currently designing and developing a USSD platform to enable us to reach new users and clients who are not able to access our Internet-enabled platforms i.e. mobile app and our web platform.
  • Plans are also underway to integrate Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) into our property listings and land listings platform to improve our user experience.
  • We also developing a property management system to help landlords who list on our platform to effectively manage their properties.
  • We are integrating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into our ChatBot, Mobile App, and Web App.
  • We also intend to leverage blockchain technology in securing our user accounts and generating smart contracts.
  • Lastly, we plan on introducing a document automation and generation system for conveyancing documents that will enable users to generate relevant conveyancing instruments on the payment of a soon-to-be-specified price.

 

What are your proudest achievements to date?

 

Some of our project milestones at My Shamba Digital are as follows:

  • Featured in Africa’s Top 50 in Legal Innovation (2021) a list compiled by Africa Tech Law and the Lawyers hub.
  • Winner Best Tech Solution at the Africa Legal Innovation Hackathon 2021.
  • Top 15 Finalists in the Startupper of the Year 2022 Challenge by Total Energies (Startup under 3 years old Category).
  • Nominee as the Startup of the Year in the Founder of the Year Awards 2022.
  • Our CEO and Founder, Robert Muoka is a Nominee as the Techprenuer of the Year 2022 (Under 30) in the Founder of the Year Awards 2022.
  • 2nd Runners up in the Finnovating Awards 2022 as the Most Innovative Startup.
  • Finalist as the Most Sustainable Startup in the Finnovating Awards 2022.
  • Finalist as the Most Influential Startup in the Finnovating Awards 2022.
  • Finalist at the Global Legal Hackathon 2022.
  • Finalist at the HiiL 2021 African Justice Innovation Symposium.

 

Talk us through your investment plans.

 

My Shamba Digital is actively seeking strategic business partners, technical partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists as we seek to raise capital through a Seed Equity Investment round of 250,000 USD for 10% (Negotiable) equity stake in our business.

We have partnered with various venture capital raising organizations which include Venture Capital 4 Africa, Finnovating, Startany, and Crunchbase as we seek to achieve this major milestone.

My Shamba Digital has also been accepted into the E4Impact Incubator Program organized by the Italian Development Agency in conjunction with the E4Impact Foundation. The program works with Kenyan businesses to support their growth, increase their revenues, guide them toward profitability and give them partnership access to Italian businesses.