Some were entrepreneurs, others had simply risen to the top earlier than most, but each of the panellists at Estates Gazette’s The Only Way is Up debate at MIPIM had one thing in common: they were disrupting conventional thinking in the property industry.
This last EG debate at the show was different from those that had gone before it. The audience at the Majestic hotel heard from a passionate five-strong panel about the secrets of their success. More dynamic? Almost certainly. Younger? Without a doubt.
A sign of the times, perhaps, was that many of the panel were focused on residential. Tom Mees and Ed Marsh, founders of FRT Developments, explained how they had launched a partnership of private developers looking to unlock potential in disused commercial property.
Praising Wandsworth council for its support of a project to bring disused sites into productive residential use in the London borough, Marsh had a message with which many young entrepreneurs – whatever their area of specialism – could identify. “You need vision to help you,” he said. “There are still hurdles out there which prevent you from doing good.”
Knight Frank graduate surveyor Tim Lowe, star of EG’s Lowe Cost Living project, said anyone who aspired to work in property had to develop a thick skin.
Having spent several months living in a variety of central London properties, each of which cost less than £500 a month, he said: “I had been rejected by Knight Frank twice in the past. I met my boss at a drinks party and I wasn’t sure I was prepared to be rejected for a third time. But you need a bit of luck.”
For budding entrepreneurs, Ross Bailey, founder and chief executive of Appear Here, said starting a company at 22 had not been “smooth sailing” and that he had been on a steep learning curve ever since.
He then explained how he had been inspired to go it alone. “We have got a lot of empty spaces on the high street,” he said. “The aim was to launch a marketplace and take the latent capacity of these empty spaces, like Airbnb does of your spare room. In 2013 we launched 80 shops in London. Last year we launched 650 shops in London. It is helping independents get great locations in front of amazing audiences.”
Jo Leverett, head of international residential markets at Cluttons, said there were challenges in being a female in the property industry, with Bailey stressing the industry would be stronger with a more diverse intake.
Becky Worthington, chief executive of Lodestone Capital, who had been finance director of Quintain at the age of 29, was
the voice of experience on the panel. It was, she said, vital to learn from mistakes made along the way. Citing two of her own experiences of failure, she said it was important not just to be able to pick yourself up after setbacks, but to be able to do the same of your teams too.
