My journey started in 2008 when the Lehman crisis hit the world. I joined Rustomjee a company set up by 3 very inspiring first generation entrepreneurs who are family to me. I truly believe that if we want to improve the future of our country we need to strengthen the education system as that is base on which the youth of today are built. The youth of today is the future of tomorrow. With that in mind I began pursuing to work on the Rustomjee Business School and worked to set up the first batch of the Business School. Post my stint in education I joined the real estate business at the best time anyone can ask for 2008 when the world went through the Global Financial Crisis. True learnings are when one goes through the toughest times in life and that’s how one graduates from the University of Hardknocks. The Global Financial Crisis has been an event which truly shaped me to be the person I am today. In every adversity comes an opportunity to excel its how one looks at those times and what one does to overcome that truly makes you.
I started in operations in 2008 assisting my uncle and our promoter director Mr. Chandresh Mehta who has literally taught me everything I know about the real estate sector. My foundation of all technical understanding flows from him. From how to imagine the end product on a piece of barren land to assessing a project from concept to completion is the skill I learnt from him. The financial crisis brought about the importance of cashflows and money management in business. This was a catalyst for me and my biggest learning which I worked on to develop my niche in finance. From then to now I have raised more than 1.5bn $ for the group as well as forged key tie ups with Keppelland a Singapore based developer and IKEA for the world’s first fully furnished IKEA homes. In 60+ years of IKEA’s existence we are truly humbled to have built the world’s first fully furnished IKEA homes.
I truly believe that one should give back more than what one gets and towards that during the Covid pandemic I worked with my friends on Indiashield an app which was a helpline for patients across the country which worked on providing support to more than 40000 patients across the country. It was a 24X7 helpline which was supported by more than 400 volunteers who supported patients who contacted the platform to seek help on medicines, beds, oxygen cylinders and all aspects of services needed towards the treatment of COVID. The platform is still active and still gets some hits for people who need support in these times.
I also serve on the CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India) National and CREDAI MCHI managing committees and I am the Banking convenor for CREDAI National.
As entrepreneur’s we are entrusted with the responsibility of creating a vision and an atmosphere for the teams to implement the vision alongwith us, it is of utmost importance that we create alongwith businesses, teams and an atmosphere for the teams to achieve and excel.
We have received more than 100 awards across the years however some of the key awards are as follows:
1)Best Redevelopment Project of the year: Rustomjee Seasons from CIA World Magazine.
2)Realty Developer of the Decade: Boman Irani from CEO Forum.
3)Luxury project of the year Rustomjee Elements from Zee Business
4)Women Achiever of the Year: Binitha Dalal ET Now.
5)Realty Plus 40 under 40 in real estate: Binitha Dalal
The post pandemic market is going to be a game changer for all businesses, right from the way we eat to the way we work everything has changed and has readapted to the new normal. I see immense opportunity for growth and for innovation in the years to come and there will be a huge change in the way we conduct our businesses. I truly believe every change brings in positive outcomes if one has their ears to the ground and can be agile enough to adapt and that journey is one that excites me a lot.
Environmental friendly ways of working are going to be at the forefront of all we do going forward and climate change is going to play a huge role towards this. If we don’t protect the atmosphere we live in it will work in ways to push back our goals thus we all will need to realign our businesses in times to come to make them more environmental friendly and sustainable.
Rustomjee is known for its trustworthiness of delivering what we promise and I see ourselves further strengthening the same in the Real Estate Sector. Our designs and liveability of homes are the key reasons our customers chose us and we see ourselves exceling in the same. We have had the good fortune of being one of the pioneers in society redevelopments in the country and are fortunate to have the trust of multiple societies in this endeavour. We also see ourselves strengthening our partnerships with Keppelland our partners for MMR as well as progressing more in the commercial/office development space.
We are also exploring businesses in the financial services sector. I truly believe finance is the fuel on which growth is achieved and we are looking at capitalising on that.
I see gender equality challenges fading away with times to come. Traditionally women have been put down and not given an equal chance to excel, that image and thought process needs to change. Today I am happy to see most women are leading the key organizations and governments across the world and I see this further increasing as women have finally realized that they do not need anyone’s permission or admission to excel in their dreams. I will also accredit a lot of leaders who have pushed women to excel in all that they do. We all need a little push in our pursuit of excellence and whether it is men or women we are in this together to uplift each other. It is a level playing field and as humans both men and women need to work together to bring about this change.
