First Time Ever 75+ Women Realty Leaders Gather To Celebrate Women Achievers
The Show of Women Power was in full form at the Inaugural Edition of Realty+ Women Icon Conclave & Awards 2021 held on Oct 08, 2021
The mega event witnessed the women stalwarts of Indian real estate, finance, design and construction segments coming together for deliberating on the future prospects of the industry and the cities and sharing their own professional and personal experiences. The evening was grand affair with women achievers being felicitated for their exemplary work in their respective domains.
The day began with the ever-so inspiring inaugural address by the media Moghul Dr. Annurag Batra, Editor-in-Chief & Chairman, exchange4media Group & BusinessWorld Media Group. Sharing his thoughts he said, “Gender diversity brings varied perspectives to enhance decision making and Indian businesses are now increasingly looking at women professional to lead their companies. The presence of women MDs and CEOs in today’s event is the testament to the rise of women across realty segments.”
Joining from Dubai, Renu Misra, Leader MENA, LIXIL EMENA leading Grohe Middle East, Levant, Turkey, Israel, North & West Africa in her special address mentioned, “The pandemic has been a game changer and ensure more women able to have a career working from home or remotely. The mind-sets too are changing and we now see much more diversity & inclusion initiatives being taken by organizations to not only be diverse in terms of gender but be inclusive in all aspects in terms of workforce. Take risk and be flexible for reskilling and up skilling is my message to all the young professionals.”
The first Industry Talk of the day “Framework for the Real Estate of Future” was moderated by – Ramesh Nair, Chief Executive Officer | India & Managing Director, Market Development | Asia, Colliers. The speakers included Charu Thapar, ED - Property & Asset Management, Asia Pacific | Head - Strategy, Platform & Emerging Markets, JLL, Chulamas Jitpatima, Country Director, MQDC India, Gitanjali Lalwani Mirchandani, Managing Director & Country Head - Origination | Loan Origination and Analysis, JM Financial Credit Solutions Limited, Pushpa Bector, Executive Director, DLF Retail, Reeza Sebastian Karimpanal, President, Residential Business -Embassy Group & Sangeeta Prasad, Strategic Advisor, Former MD&CEO, Mahindra Lifespace Developers.
The speakers deliberated on the trends in all segments of real estate from housing, offices to retail and real estate finance investments. The outlook for residential and commercial in next coming years was considered favourable while retail realty might take some more time to fully recover. But, this is a great time to invest in real estate was the view of the experts on the panel.
The Industry Talk on matters of design talked about “Aligning Design & Technology with Human Experience”. The session was conducted by – Madhav Raman, Co-Founder & Principal Architect, Anagram Architects.
The speakers were Dr Ananya Gandotra, Head of Design, Engineering and Sustainability, Birla Estates, Arch Neelam Manjunath, Founder Manasaram Architects, Dr Ponni M. Concessao, Principal Architect, OCI Architects, Sonali Bhagwati, President, Designplus Architecture Pvt. Ltd, Sheetal, Managing Partner at AEON Design & Development & Sudeshna Mukhopadhyay, Vice President, Havells India Ltd.
The panel members concurred that technology in many ways has been an enabler for design professionals in terms of creating holistic buildings and there was need to bring event the traditional material and their application on technology platform.
The highlight of the conclave was the "Inspiring Stories" segment which featured informal conversations with the young and veteran women professionals on their professional and personal stories.
“Breaking Barriers Paving way for Future Peers” was a chat with Dr Ananta Raghuvanshi, Senior Executive Director - Sales & Marketing, Experion Developers, Nela De Zoysa, Founder & Principal Architect, Nela De Zoysa Design Corporation, Sri Lanka, and Sheila Sriprakash, Principal Architect, Shilpa Architects, Chennai. They shared how they overcame the initial challenges to pursue their dreams and their message for women professionals of today was to be passionate about what they do and for the organizations to be flexible and encouraging towards women employees.
“Leadership of Youth Creating a New Normal” the next conversation featured Amanda Puravankara, Executive Director, Provident Housing Limited, Binitha Dalal, Head - Fund Raising, Rustomjee Group, Nandini Sampat, Principal Architect, Somaya & Kalappa Consultants. The young professionals shared their story of making their own place in the organization and earning respect of the peers as also their passion for their work and aspirations of making a difference to the industry and the country at large.
After the power packed panel discussions, the Awards evening began on a high note with the Realty+ Scroll of Honor presentation to one of the most Influential Women Professionals in India today Ms Renu Sud Karnad, Managing Director, HDFC Ltd. Accepting the felicitation, Ms Karnad said, “It feels great to see so many women professionals in leadership role today. Family support and changing organizational culture are the key contributors to now seeing women entering professional careers in various sectors.”
Joining the conversation, Dr Annurag Batra congratulated Ms Karnad and shared his views on how women professionals especially at the lower and middle rung got impacted by the pandemic the most. “The pandemic has been a great reset and I am optimistic that we will see even more women joining the industries reaching the highest levels.”
Following the distinguished Felicitation, the Realty+ Women Icon Awards evening saw the eminent Women Achievers winners sashaying on the virtual red carpet walk and receiving their awards.
The Winners in various categories were
Watch the Full event at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2GfJTib7SE
Tags : News/Views Renu Sud Karnad Women Achievers Women Icon Awards Women Realty Leaders Renu Misra LIXIL Design & Technology