Siddhant Agarwal shares his experience of traveling to 6 Asian Cities.

SIDDHANT AGARWAL
BBA REUI 2013-16
Traveled to 6 Asian Cities

Since the day I joined RICS SBE I wanted to go for the REACh programme. And now after having experienced it first hand, I am keen to share my experience with everyone.
 
The programme and what it is about
This is a totally different programme from anything that I had ever heard about before. Students, interns and working professionals from various universities, countries and companies around the globe attend this program which is very well organized. It gives a student an exposure to the various real estate markets of South East Asia, such as Japan, Hong Kong  to name a few. It spreads over 6 international cities over a period of 4 weeks.

What we did
In this 4 week intensive program, we attended workshops, visited sites and also got the chance to to meet and interact with some of the top leaders from leading companies of the real estate industry like JLL, CBRE , Tokyo Tatemono , Cushman & Wakefield etc.
 
The workshops were from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening. Mr. Keith McKinnell  was the Program Co-ordinator, he led us to every meeting/workshop that was planned for us. The cities we visited were Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo. Some of the companies and projects that we visited were as follows:
 
Hong Kong Land, Hong Kong IFC, ICC  Swire Properties, Maple Tree (Hong Kong), CBRE, Blackrock, Keppel Reit, Gensler (Singapore) DTZ, SOHO, CBRE Global Investors, Henderson Land, SHKP, Shanghai IFC, Indigo, Swire Properties, Everbright properties (Beijing),  Mitsubishi Estate, Mitsui Fudosan, Tokio Marine, Ministry of Land Infrastructure Transport and Tourism (Tokyo).

In the real estate sector these are all major projects in the region and visiting them and getting an insider perspective on them was a total privilege.
 
My views about the experience
I think the REACh programme was a completely worthwhile experience. It was astounding to see how much China has grown and progressed in the past 10 years. The superb infrastructure of all these cities was an eye opening experience for me. My visits to the world class projects by big industry companies and meetings with their leaders left me very impressed. A lot of thought and effort has evidently gone into planning and executing this programme. I could never have had this kind of exposure on my own.
 
I have come back with fresh ideas that I would like to use when I step into the Indian real estate industry. I would recommend this programme to other students who would like to expand their mental horizons and who are eager to learn how this industry functions in our entire region.