Over the last decade, the business world has undergone a paradigm shift. Entrepreneurs can no longer just choose to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors but have to carve out a niche for themselves. They need to stand-out, have an opinion, and bring new “innovations” to set themselves apart.
One such leader, having the vision and determination to realise his ambition is Shrinivas Rao, the CEO of Vestian. Shrinivas is a huge part of shaping the current workplace solutions environment, as we know it today. Starting his career at a stage when the industry was still in an incipient phase, he witnessed the anxiety and the many challenges corporates faced due to the lack of infrastructure, systems and professionalism. He then went on to play an active role when organized real estate teams started venturing into India and was a key contributor in establishing professional commercial real estate services. He was involved in setting up of several global IPC operations in South India, such as Colliers International and Cushman & Wakefield.
A management graduate with a civil engineering background, Shrinivas has a rich professional experience spanning over two decades. Post his tenure with Cushman, he went on to lead Equis as the country manager with a primary focus on establishing conflict-free occupier services business. During his tenure, he was able to successfully establish Equis amongst the top four organizations in the country from a corporate real estate services business perspective. In the year 2006, UGL, a large Australian conglomerate bought over Equis. Shrinivas was required to relocate to Singapore as the COO – APAC and manage the business. However, after successfully running the business for many years, he realised that the current parent company UGL was diluting the focus from occupier solutions business model towards a more landlord related business model through various mergers and acquisition across the region.
It was at this juncture that he collaborated with Michael Silver, former owner of Equis, to form a real estate services company, with a core focus on tenant representation. The desire to create a conflict free occupier solutions business and to fill the gap between what was available in the market vis a vis the corporate requirement, led to the launch of Vestian in 2010, headquartered in Chicago. With an underlying philosophy of transparency and accountability, Shrinivas sought to bring about a change in the regular workings of the real estate environment.
He spent the next eight years setting up the foundation of the company and then going on to build a platform to become a niche leader in the space. Being hands on till date, he oversees every aspect from recruitment to business development to project management, while ensuring the company achieves its revenue targets.
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