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

1. Women Achievers in Entrepreneurship - Nikita Shah, Director, Shivalik Group, Dr. Payal Kanodia, Trustee, M3M Foundation And Snehal Brahmbhatt, Co-Founder & COO, Shilp Group

2. Women Achievers in Marketing - Divya Puri Sachdeva, Associate Director - Strategic Marketing, Cushman & Wakefield India Pvt. Ltd., Ishita Bhattacharya, Zonal Brand Head, Tata Realty & Infrastructure Ltd., Nikita Suratwala, Head - Corporate Marketing, ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Pancham Lillaney, Chief Marketing Officer, R Retail Ventures Ltd.

3. Women Achievers in PR & Corp Comm - Piyali Dasgupta, Director, Corporate - Marketing & Public Relations, Knight Frank India Pvt. Ltd., Ritika Shah, GM - Corporate Media Relations, Hiranandani Group & Communities and Uzma Irfan, Director Corporate Communication, Prestige Estates Projects Limited

4. Women Achievers in Technology - Rashmi Kohli, Co-Founder & Director, Sparrow Interactive Pvt. Ltd. And Chahana Gehlot, Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Property xpo

5. Women Achievers in Design - Anshu Shukla, Head - Design, GERA Developments Pvt. Ltd., Architect Nita Kembhavi, Managing Partner & Principal Architect, Kembhavi Architecture Foundation,  Architect Dr. Ponni M. Concessao, Founder & Principal Architect, Oscar & Ponni Architects and  Sabeena Khanna, Founder & Principal Architect, Studio KIA

6. Women Achievers in Legal Practice - Rohini B.M., Deputy General Manager - Legal, Brigade Enterprises Limited

7. Women Achievers in Leading Flexispaces - Sangeeta Ray, Head - Real Estate - India & Bangladesh, Siemens India and Rachna Agarwal, Principal Architect, Studio IAAD

8. Women Achievers in Sustainability - Dr. Ananya Gandotra, Head of Design and Sustainability, Birla Estates Private Limited, Mili Majumdar, Managing Director, GBCI India and Sheetal, Managing Partner, AEON Design & Development

9. Women Achievers in Commercial Realty - Khair Ull Nissa Sheikh, Executive Director, WTC, Vilma Crasto, Senior Director - Tenant Representation, Cushman & Wakefield India Pvt. Ltd.

10. Women Achievers in Residential Realty - Amanda Puravankara, Executive Director, Provident Housing Limited, Reeza Sebastian Karimpanal, President - Residential Business, Embassy Group, Snehal Mantri, Founder, Mantri Developers Private Limited and Yukti Nagpal, Director, Gulshan Group

11. Women Achievers in Retail Realty - Pushpa Bector, Executive Director - DLF Retail, DLF Limited

12. Women Achievers in Finance - Gitanjali Mirchandani, Managing Director & Head Origination - Real Estate Lending, JM Financial Credit Solutions Ltd. And Diva Jain, Director, Arrjavv Builders

13. Women Achievers in Engineering - Smita Vikrantsingh Bhonsle, Lead – EOS/EHS/ESS/QAC, Jones Lang LaSalle Building Operations Pvt Ltd

14. Women Achievers in Facility & Project Management - Monica Kaul Sharma, Sr. Associate Director, Cushman & Wakefield

15. Women Achievers in Property Consultant - Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist and National Director - Research, Knight Frank India Pvt. Ltd. And Shveta Mahajan, Director & Head - Strategic Consulting - North & East India, Cushman & Wakefield India Pvt. Ltd.

16. Women Achievers in HR - Ashima Saini, Assistant Vice President - HR, ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Priya Adiseshan, Chief People Officer, GERA Developments Pvt. Ltd. And Shuba Vaani S P, Deputy General Manager - HR, Brigade Group

17. Women Achievers in Organisational Sales - Arpita Srivastava, Senior Director & Head - India Occupier Services, Cushman & Wakefield and Fatima Saidi, Head - Luxury, Residential Business, ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

18. Women Young Achievers - Mudra Wedhikar, Co-founder, CEO, Ceyone Technologies LLP, Anjana Sastri, Director - Marketing, Sterling Developers Pvt. Ltd. And Binitha Dalal, Head - Fund Raising, Rustomjee Group

19. Women Icon of the Year - Manju Gaur, Director, Gaurs Group

Watch the Full event at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2GfJTib7SE