Kanika Gupta Shori is a versatile woman with diverse talents – career stints in finance, economics, fashion, acting & event management, she certified Scuba Diver; trained dancer and an adventure sports enthusiast who loves travelling and backpacking.
As the co-founder & COO at Square Global, Kanika was instrumental in setting up operations of Square Yards in five countries viz. Singapore, Hong Kong, London, UAE & India. Square Yards is one of the largest organized real estate advisory firms in the country having facilitated real estate transactions to the tune of USD 800 million Gross Market Value (GMV) for India, and USD 200 million GMV for global real estate in the first year of its operations. (www.squareyards.com)
Winner of ‘Young Achiever Award, 2014,’ by Franchisee India, Kanika had an interesting journey so far. She started her career with Tata Asset Management, wherein she helped in ramping up newly started PMS vertical for Tata Mutual Fund by setting up Client Servicing procedures for the department. She was handling equity portfolios of top HNI’s in India herein.
After spending some time in the entertainment industry Kanika relocated to Singapore and thereafter Hong Kong wherein she successfully executed NRI focused events of various scale and kinds; including star nights, Indian festive events & real estate events for top Indian developers.
A graduate in Economics from prestigious Delhi University, she completed her post-graduation in management from All India Institute of Management Association (AIIMA), with specialization in finance and Kanika is pursuing the Chartered Financial Analyst program as well.Kanika has been associated with various social causes like empowerment of women and supporting women entrepreneurs and is actively involved with NGOs like COWE, Vision First (An NGO supporting Refugees in Hong Kong), Mother’s Choice (An NGO that helps children without families) & Hong Kong Green Homes (An initiative to better the society we live in).
High point in career
“Every career opportunities has come with its own high & low points but the whole evolution of Square Yards from just 3 employee in a small Hong-Kong office & seeing it grow into 1000 plus team with offices all around India & Globe has been an overwhelming experience.”
Most challenging assignment so far
“Like any other start up, there have been challenges in scaling up, funding, industry relationships; building processes etc., but the biggest challenge has been maintaining right amount of ownership amongst various stakeholders. I believe all the other ingredients like capital, business idea are important stepping stone but the differentiator is always execution and people behind that execution. At the same time keeping a balance between desired profitability and growth has required tweaking of business model and remaining flexible around it.”
Greatest inspiration
“At least a million people. I have never believed in idol worship as every human being has inherent strengths and weaknesses. Rather I have always tried to capture positive energy, new skill sets, and behavioural attributes amongst my family, colleagues, friends, and even strangers”.
Most important milestone in life
“The last two years have been phenomenal seeing Square Yards leapfrog into one of the biggest players in the primary residential sales with tremendous growth witnessed in geographical & functional bandwidths. However, the most inspiring thing has been how the real estate start-up is making an impact on the various stakeholders involved, be it clients, employees & developers.
We have successfully created a research & technology enabled transparent ecosystem, wherein thousands of discerning buyers haven’t just found their dream homes, but the entire experience has been significantly hassle free. Equipped with an equally effective CRM support we have handhold them through every possible cycle of property purchase, ensuring a complete peace of mind.
At an organizational level we have invested heavily on our people & can proudly say that we are an HR firm first & a real estate advisory thereafter. Likewise, we have also been instrumental in making substantial impact on the supply dynamics by helping various developers sell their inventories faster through our various innovative deal plans.”
Women are the better halves. Have we moved beyond this?
“We have definitely gone beyond the adage. We are increasingly living in a knowledge driven economy, wherein one’s leadership identity would no longer be defined by their gender (or for that matter any other classification) but from their ability to understand the changing dynamics of business & create intelligent solutions.”
