Trees4RealEstate – Our History

Our company was registered in 2016 as a project under Better Globe Forestry Ltd. The purpose of Trees4RealEstate is to offer a great business opportunity for buyers and sellers of real estate to give them an additional profit source from the trees we plant, while we contribute to make East Africa self-sustainable.

Despite being rich in natural resources and minerals, Africa remains the poorest continent on earth. The number of people working for less than one dollar a day is increasing despite over $500 billion dollars in direct aid. The charity money is simply not tackling the problems in the correct way.

It is opportunity and resources which truly allows a person, family or community to overcome poverty. Our forestry company has helped rural communities in Kenya since 2004 with sustainable tree planting programs, microfinance schemes, educational programs and water supply. Better Globe Forestry signed a contract in March 2018 to help thousands of contract farmers in Uganda. The contract farmers plant our tree seedlings among their food crops. This provides wind break, helps with water retention, gives shadow for their food crops, and gives the farmer an additional income source. We are also looking into expanding our operations to Tanzania.

Better Globe Forestry – From Dryland to Green Land

With their tree plantations and thousands of contract farmers, Better Globe Forestry not only create stable employment opportunities for the local communities, they also confront another significant problem that plagues Africa, Deforestation. Almost 90% of forest has gone from western Africa. Today desertification is effecting 65% of Africa’s population. Two thirds of Africa consist of desert or semi desert area, where water is scarce and living conditions are toughest.

This gives the harshest conditions for growth, but drawing on over 30 years of expert forestry knowledge, the operational staff of Better Globe Forestry specially select certain trees that can thrive were the land is barely arable. The trees also help prevent soil erosion improving the local ecology, and increase the survival of food crops.

We specialize in dry land afforestation and much of our research and acquired knowledge has come from our Executive Director’s (Jan Vandenabeele) test farm in Kibwezi, 200 km south of Nairobi. Here we use special features and techniques like low-pressure irrigation system with inexpensive water storage tanks, mulching to limit evaporation etc. Our test farm aims at zero tolerance for erosion. We could say it is a model farm regarding technical answers in an ecologically daunting environment.

Jan Vandenabeele, Executive Director of Better Globe Forestry

High Quality Mahogany Trees

We plant different types of trees on our plantations and with our partner farmers. Trees that give regular harvest such as mango and acacia, allows us to make money on an ongoing basis. However, the main tree species we plant are Melia Volkensii (Mukau) and Melia azedarach (Persian Lilac). These trees are high quality tropical hardwood with high market demand and value.

Mukau grows naturally in dry bush land or dry wooded grasslands in Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya. The tree is a deciduous tree and stands out with a height of 15 meters. It is fast-growing, with trees reaching 3 meters in height after barely one and a half years, and produces high quality mahogany timber. Moreover, Mukau is resistant to termites and drought.

Mukau has been heavily exploited over the last decade owing to shortage of alternative hardwood species. Through on-station and on-farm research, several techniques of establishing and managing the tree have been realized.

Lilac originates in Asia and Australia and grows faster than mukau. It grows well in Uganda, where we partnered up with over 7,000 farmers in March 2018 to train them and to start the process of planting our tree seedlings.

Read more about Mukau and Lilac...

Awards 2015

Taxpayers 2015 Award

Better Globe Forestry received the distinguished Taxpayers 2015 award for Best Corporation Tax Yield — Small and Medium Enterprises. Lawrence Muema, the Finance Manager of Better Globe Forestry, accepted the award on behalf of Better Globe Forestry in a ceremony graced by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The award says: Tulipe Ushuru Tujitegemee, which means "Embracing the challenge of self-reliance." This is the long term goal of Better Globe Forestry in matters of poverty eradication.

It is important to note that this year's Kenyan Revenue Authority did not award based on the volume of cumulative taxes paid, but based on the ratio of taxes paid to revenue. This can only be achieved through compliance. The fact that our projects are long term was equally a factor in the decision-making process.
View the article here...

Humanitarian Water and Food Award

In 2015, Better Globe Forestry was shortlisted to the Humanitarian Water and Food Award among 12 others. We did not make it to the finale in Italy, but got noticed for our work.
View the article here...

View more of our awards...