International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering an equity investment in Nawy, an Egyptian proptech company that connects property buyers, sellers, developers, brokers and investors across the real estate value chain.

The proposed investment comes as Nawy expands its digital real estate ecosystem, which serves more than 1 million unique monthly users and supports approximately 1,000 active micro, small and medium-sized enterprise brokers.

Nawy operates across Egypt’s real estate value chain

Founded in 2016, Nawy operates a full-stack real estate platform through five complementary businesses.

Nawy Properties provides a multi-listing service for residential and commercial properties, while its partners enable third-party MSME brokers to access property listings and digital tools.

The company also operates ‘Nawy Now’, a mortgage origination platform that provides property buyers with financing before transferring mortgages to banks through off-balance-sheet securitisation.

Nawy Shares offers fractional ownership of investment properties, while Nawy Unlocked helps property owners refurbish, monetise and rent idle or unfurnished units.

IFC identifies environmental and social gaps

IFC’s review included a site visit to Nawy’s head office in November 2025, meetings with senior executives and a review of company policies, procedures and sample subcontractor contracts.

While Nawy has an Environmental, Social and Governance policy and several human resources policies, IFC identified gaps in its environmental and social management framework.

Egypt’s Nawy will develop a formal Environmental and Social Management System covering risk assessment, contractor management, occupational health and safety, resource efficiency, emergency response, customer grievances and environmental and social performance monitoring.

The company will also establish a dedicated environmental, social and occupational health and safety team to oversee implementation.

Nawy Unlocked faces greater operational risks

Nawy’s operations are predominantly office-based, but its Nawy Unlocked subsidiary undertakes property finishing work, including painting, electrical work, tiling and plumbing.

The subsidiary employs around seven maintenance workers and relies on approximately 35 subcontractors for other finishing activities. IFC found that Nawy Unlocked did not have a formal contractor management system at the time of its assessment.

The proposed corrective measures include stronger contractor oversight, occupational health and safety monitoring, waste management procedures and contractual provisions prohibiting child labour. Egypt’s Nawy will also develop an emergency preparedness and response plan covering its operations and those of Nawy Unlocked.

IFC pushes stronger grievance and stakeholder systems

Nawy’s existing grievance policies provide channels for employees, contractors and clients, but IFC identified gaps involving response timelines, anonymous complaints, escalation procedures and grievance monitoring.

The company will update its grievance framework, introduce additional reporting channels and establish systems to track and analyse complaints. Nawy will also develop a formal Stakeholder Engagement Plan and an external grievance mechanism for relevant stakeholders.

With IFC’s proposed investment still pending approval, the next key development will be whether the transaction proceeds and how Nawy implements the environmental and social measures identified during IFC’s due diligence as it continues expanding Egypt’s digital real estate market.