The EG Interview: BAME in Property’s Priya Shah

When communications expert Priya Shah could never see anyone who looked like her at major events or up on stage at property conferences, she knew she had to do something. BAME in Property was born three years ago. It was an idea first delivered on Twitter in December 2017 and then through its first physical networking event in March 2018. But it wasn’t until the Black Lives Matter movement hit the headlines in June this year that BAME in Property transformed from a meaningful events and networking group into an in-demand consulting business, helping firms across the built environment turn words into action. EG has known Shah since the beginning, quickly identifying her as a Rising Star in the sector. Shah is a doer of things. She is driven, passionate and constantly learning. Here she shares what she’s learnt through the growth of BAME in Property, how she manages to work a full-time communications job and run BAME in Property and how, at the age of 25, she managed to convince her parents to let her quit everything to travel to South Africa to understand the housing struggles of its Indian population. “Quitting your job and going off travelling is not the done think when you’re Indian,” says Shah. “There are many things that you don’t do when you are Indian, but you definitely do not quit a stable job and just go off galavanting around Africa on your own.” So how did she convince her parents? “I booked the ticket and then told them,” says Shah with a smile, “because that way they couldn’t do anything about it.” Getting on and doing things and being disarmingly frank is Shah in a nutshell. Even in her description of the evolution of BAME in Property she is straight to the point. The organisation started out as a networking events provider. A place for people from BAME backgrounds in property to come together and build their networks and a place for white individuals and, importantly, corporates to learn more about other cultures and other people. But in June, after two years of running successful events looking at a range of issues, Shah realised there was an even bigger opportunity for BAME in Property to have its voice heard. An even bigger opportunity for it to have an impact in the sector. The killing of George Floyd in the US sparked global action. Millions of people posted black squares on social media as part of Blackout Tuesday in recognition of the systemic racism that still exists across so many places in the world. Real estate took part too, suddenly standing with its Black and BAME employees. Or at least looking like it was standing with them. “I don’t think I’ve ever been inundated with e-mails before,” says Shah, describing the days after the Black Live Matter movement began to hit the headlines. “Very quickly I noticed that companies were releasing Blackout Tuesday images, releasing their PR statements on Black Lives Matter without actually acknowledging the crux of the issue.” What these companies should have been doing, she says, is checking in with their Black employees and asking them if they were OK, if they needed extra help in this really testing time, if they needed support. “Did you run your PR statement by them, for example,” says Shah. “They’re Black. They can tell you if you have got the messaging right.” Why communication is key But therein lies the problem with much of the real estate sector. Communication. And an inability to ask sensitive questions. There’s a fear of upsetting, which only leads to upsetting people. “You’re talking about so many different aspects of one’s identity that don’t get talked about during the day-to-day conversation,” says Shah. “Firstly, there’s the issue of ‘am I saying the right thing?’ – some people can’t even say Black. They’re identifying someone. They are describing someone who is clearly a Black person and they can’t even mention that they are Black. If you can’t overcome that, how are you going to have a D&I policy?” After that tsunami of e-mails and the realisation that so many firms didn’t really understand how to turn well-intentioned meaning into lasting action, Shah transitioned BAME in Property into a more service-based organisation. “Companies don’t want an event anymore. An event is great to bring people together but one thing I noticed very quickly after an event was ‘Well, what next?’,” says Shah. “What are companies doing afterwards? The momentum goes very quickly. For companies genuinely to be able to make some changes within, what they really needed was guidance.” Since the summer, BAME in Property has delivered “lunch and learns” and tailored strategic advice to companies including Homes England, Wells Fargo, Grainger and Great Portland Estates. The sessions give an overview of ethnic diversity in the property space, looking at key areas such as culture, recruitment and pay through an ethnic lens. Shah will also deliver more specific sessions such as the inequalities ethnic minorities face in the housing market, intergenerational living and exposure to pollution. The lunch and learns are a great first step for the industry, but Shah is clear that there is still a lot of work the sector has to do to wipe out ethnic inequality in the built environment. Particularly when it comes to career-enhancing networking events. She believes the barrier to seeing more people from BAME backgrounds in positions of power within property businesses is the extracurricular activities that, pre-Covid at least, the real estate sector thrives on: the champagne receptions, the ski trips, the rugby drinking sessions. “The people who do best are those who do all the extracurricular activities, those who do the networking and have the connections to the industry,” says Shah. “And, dare I say it, they’re generally white, middle-class people because they tend to go to the networking events that are largely focused around drinking and are after work. They tend to isolate people from BAME backgrounds who may not drink and that prevents you from moving up [the career ladder].” She adds: “I’ve seen some of my BAME colleagues feel really uncomfortable at networking events which are centred around drinking. These are events where you can build huge connections and start to build new business, but some people will just miss out on the opportunity. We as an industry need to start thinking about how we diversify our events. It’s not just about our recruiting, it’s our external-facing events too.” But the penny is starting to drop with a lot of businesses, says Shah. Many are appointing diversity directors into full-time positions instead of off-the-side-of-the-desk roles and many are starting to embed diversity and inclusion into their business strategies. Her ask now is that the industry continues on its journey of learning and understanding. “I really hope that some of the change that has started this year stays, because the pandemic and Black Lives Matter has given us the opportunity to recognise what we need to do to understand about diversity,” says Shah. You can see – and hear – how proud Shah is of the work that BAME in Property is doing by the speed and energy with which she talks about the past three years. She delivers a whistle-stop tour of the idea behind its launch, that trip to South Africa where she met Ghandi’s granddaughter and learnt about the importance of community, religion and culture, her need to constantly learn and communicate. Maybe it’s because she’s Indian, says Shah with that smile again. “Indians make up one of the lowest percentages of the population in South Africa but they contribute the highest GDP per capita,” says Shah, adding that the same is true in the UK. “Look at us, we are a diaspora of success,” she says, ”and that comes from that power of religion and culture, which is instilled in us from a young age. What keeps us going is that we want to be successful entrepreneurs.” And it is for that reason – and so many others – that Shah’s advice that businesses need to speak to their BAME people if they really want to be successful resonates. “The companies that do the best are the ones that have diverse ideas and minds coming together, because diversity leads to innovation, which leads to better outcomes, which leaders to outperforming your competitors. I mean, to me,” says Shah, “it’s an absolute no-brainer.” Purpose and partners BAME in Property founder Priya Shah believes the network has a bigger purpose that just helping the real estate industry on its D&I journey. She believes it has a responsibility to educate on wider issues too. To do that she’s made sure that the organisation always has a charity partner to support. In 2019, that partner was DKMS, a blood cancer awareness charity. BAME in Property supported the charity to raise awareness of the need for BAME stem cell donors. This year, both Shah and BAME in Property have become proud supporters of Binti Period, a charity working to alleviate period poverty. Shah believes it is important to use her influence in the industry to raise awareness. “This isn’t just about periods,” she says, “it’s about access to toilets. Most companies think they are doing the right thing by having gender-neutral toilets, but not providing female toilets can be very isolating. It is about educating the industry about the importance of getting a balance and by having diverse teams that are culturally aware of these sensitive issues.” BAME in Property will continue its charity partnership with Binti Period next year and work alongside property industry charity LandAid to raise awareness around issues such BAME homelessness. Picture courtesy of Priyah Shah To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette