IQI Canada, the Canadian arm of real estate technology group Juwai IQI, has recruited Syed Ahmed, a marketing and strategy expert from the automotive field, to be based in Toronto as IQI Canada’s vice president of investment management. Ahmed will bring expertise to the company’s strategic planning for expansion and help its investors and clientele determine new real estate investment and portfolio opportunities, the company says.
“We are delighted to have an executive of Syed’s high calibre and depth of marketing, strategy and management expertise join our team,” says Yousaf Iqbal, director of IQI Canada. “Because of our rapid growth and the unprecedented shifts in the property market, IQI Canada has tremendous opportunities and needs a larger leadership team to make the most of them.”
Juwai IQI is an Asian real estate technology group. It says it engages 5.5 million monthly active users and advertises US$4 trillion of property from 111 countries every year. The company integrates its app, its IQI global network of more than 15,000 real estate agents, and its property marketplaces, which include the No. 1 Chinese international real estate portal, Juwai.com and the first Asia-wide portal for global property, Juwai.asia.
“Syed will add value and leverage his 20-plus years with multicultural and cross-functional teams. He is deeply versed in the largest source markets for Canadian property investment, in Asia and the Middle East,” says Iqbal.
He says the company expects new immigrants and students will soon help drive condo prices in Canadian cities, with most international students expected back for the fall semester.
“We also expect foreign buying to climb when travel restrictions are lifted, probably in 2022.”
Juwai IQI co-founder and group CEO Kashif Ansari says, “Canada is one of our fastest-growing markets and contributed in 2020 to Juwai IQI transacting more than 17,000 properties and tripling the size of our global agent force to more than 15,000. We expect to continue growing and recently announced plans to build a 1,000-person technology team in Kuala Lumpur.”
Ahmed says, “There is common ground between real estate and the automotive world. Both fields enable people to realize their dreams via one of the most important investments they will make in their lifetimes. Real estate goes one step further by also offering the opportunity to create new wealth through wise investment.
“In the real estate industry, I see a certain amount of entrepreneurial freedom that isn’t available in the large corporate sector. I look forward to contributing my small part to IQI Canada’s growth in the years to come.”
