Sam Odia

Sam has spent the last 19 years of his life passionately contributing to seeing a world in which everyone has a simple, decent place to live. He has been focused on developing a more sustainable way of providing affordable housing to lower-income people in Africa and to helping to prove the investibility of the concept, first in his home country and to the rest of the developing world. He has served as a National Director of Habitat for Humanity International & as CEO of the Millard Fuller Foundation, roles in which he has worked at the vanguard of advocacy for more inclusive housing. Over a number of years, his housing projects have consistently been adjudged ‘Most Affordable’ within his home country and have directly benefited many thousands. In 2019, the highly respected Johannesburg-based Centre for Affordable Housing Finance (CAHF) recognized homes built by his organisation as the lowest-priced by a private developer across the entire continent.