NAIROBI, Kenya, May 4 – The Gulf Group of Companies today broke ground on a Grade A office development in Lavington, Nairobi.
The project – two six-storey office blocks built to international commercial standards – will become the permanent home of Gulf African Bank, GulfCap Investment Bank and GulfCap Real Estate, consolidating the Group’s integrated capabilities beneath a single, purpose-built roof.
The groundbreaking brings together three of the Group’s most senior stakeholders: Hon. Suleiman Shahbal, Chairman of the Gulf Group of Companies; Osama Daoud, Chairman of DAL Group; and Ahmed Bajaber, Director of the Gulf Group of Companies.
Their collective investment reflects not only confidence in Kenya’s economic trajectory, but a shared conviction that institutions built to endure must also be built to stand.
For the Gulf Group’s Chairman, the groundbreaking carries the weight of an institution that has spent decades earning its place in the markets it serves and a responsibility to build infrastructure worthy of the next generation of that journey.
“The Gulf Group has spent decades earning the trust of the communities, clients and countries it serves,” Hon. Suleiman Shahbal, Chairman, Gulf Group of Companies, said.
“This development is the physical expression of that trust, and of our commitment to building institutions that endure,” he added.
By bringing Gulf African Bank, GulfCap Investment Bank and GulfCap Real Estate into alignment under one roof, Hon. Suleiman said that the Group will be able to strengthen the governance, the collaboration and the strategic clarity that will define its next chapter.
The involvement of Osama Daoud, Chairman of DAL Group and one of Africa’s most experienced cross-border investors, lends the development a significance that extends beyond the Gulf Group’s own institutions. His participation is a studied endorsement of Kenya as a destination for serious, long-horizon capital.
“My investment in this development reflects my belief in the Gulf Group of Companies, in the Kenyan market, and in the broader potential of East Africa,” Osama Daoud, Chairman, DAL Group, said.
“When you bring together banking, investment and real estate under one roof, with the governance and the talent that the Gulf Group commands, you create something that is greater than the sum of its parts,” he added.
From the perspective of the Group’s shareholders, the decision to invest in a purpose-built headquarters is a deliberate and considered act of capital deployment. One that reflects the Group’s maturity and its readiness to grow with intention.
“This development represents disciplined capital deployment at its most purposeful: a long-term commitment to infrastructure that will compound in value, in influence and in impact for years to come. For investors and partners of the Gulf Group, this is a signal that The Group is maturing, and it is doing so with intention,” Ahmed Bajaber, Director, Gulf Group of Companies, said.
The responsibility for delivering the development falls to GulfCap Real Estate – a firm that has built its reputation on projects of consequence. For its CEO, this groundbreaking is both a mandate and a measure.
“GulfCap Real Estate was built to deliver projects of consequence – developments that do not simply add to the skyline, but redefine what is possible within it,” Chris Ochieng’, CEO, GulfCap Real Estate, said.
“This groundbreaking marks the beginning of one of the most significant projects in our portfolio: a development that will set a new benchmark for commercial real estate in Nairobi, and a home worthy of the institutions it will house,” he added.
Situated in Lavington, one of Nairobi’s most established commercial addresses, the Gulf Group Offices reflect the Group’s long-term commitment to Kenya’s financial and real estate landscape. As the country’s demand for Grade A commercial space continues to grow, the development positions the Group’s institutions at the centre of that evolution.
