Wednesday, March 24

Education Programme 6
Our Journey to India Part II:
Corporate Real Estate Leaders Enable Success

Three breakout sessions were offered Wednesday morning, including one designed as a follow-up on Tuesday's General Session that featured business leaders from Citigroup and Ford. Education Programme 6 added the corporate real estate perspective from those two firms.

Providing the CRE view for Citigroup were Alfonso "Jun" Nepomuceno, Asia Pacific Region head for Corporate Realty Services, and Naresh Bajaj, Vice President & Head, Corporate Realty Services, Citibank India. Also presenting was CoreNet Global Chairman and Ford Motor Land Chairman Sean McCourt.

Bajaj began by quoting an ancient proverb that contains seeds of wisdom for corporate real estate executives: "The camel driver has his plan. . .The camel has his!" In other words, Bajaj said, "the driver better get the camel to align with his plans." Bajaj and Nepomuceno explained that the corporate real estate function at Citigroup is indeed aligned with the business. The company has almost 1.8 million square feet of space in India, with 357 properties in 43 cities.

Citigroup has a robust in-house real estate organization, with 23 people here in India," Nepomuceno reported. "Then we partner with others. We are currently in a state of evolution with three facilities management partners, and the challenge now is to move to more of a partnering level." Key features of Corporate Realty Services' delivery model for India include (among others):

• CRE is embedded in the strategic business planning process from the very start
• Quick delivery of premises by tailor-made in-house CRE organization
• Geographical distribution to ensure adequate presence and more focused delivery
• Quick turnaround
• Leveraging of the portfolio
• Business continuity planning

If you want to do business in India, "you have to ask some questions," Bajaj said. "What are the challenges? And how do you deal with them?" Internal challenges might include the following:

• The need to keep pace with the rapid expansion of business
• Scalability and flexibility to deal with unforeseen developments in the business plan
• Compliance with policy and procedure
• Helping business units understand that real estate initiatives require a certain minimum amount of time
• Gaining the confidence of senior management

"The CRE manager should over-deliver," Bajaj said. "You should over-deliver to gain the confidence of senior management." And advertising your successes is very important to help business leaders become more aware of what you are doing, he advised.

Bajaj cited a number of external challenges for Citigroup in Asia, including the region's large, unorganized real estate market, lack of available properties that meet Citigroup standards and difficulties with finding the right help from service providers.

McCourt began his presentation by explaining that Ford Motor Land has responsibility for real estate, construction and facilities management for Ford Motor Co.'s global portfolio of approximately 350 million square feet. Ford Land employs just over 2,000 people, most of whom are employed in maintenance and operations in the US or Europe.

"Almost all of our focus today is on reducing occupancy costs," he emphasized. "Ford spends about $4 billion per year on occupancy."

Ford Land provides a single point of contact for Ford's manufacturing, sales and service, logistics and powertrain organizations. "We're trying to make it easy to do business with Ford Land," he said. "You have to align yourself differently depending on what the business is."

McCourt explained that Ford is a global company that tries to think locally. "Ford India, Ford China and Ford Vietnam all operate separately to meet local needs," he said.

Ford's single largest investment in India is its $400 million manufacturing operation in Tamil Nadu. But the company also has a network of 67 dealership locations that soon will expand to 90.

General Session V
Tenzing and the Sherpas of Everest

The Mumbai Summit concluded with Wednesday's General Session V, keynoted by Tashi Tenzing, grandson of Tenzing Norgay who, with Sir Edmund Hillary, made the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. Tenzing was introduced by Rajnikant Agrawal, General Manager, Property Development, Hindustan Lever.

Tenzing is not only an accomplished mountain climber in his own right (having twice reached the pinnacle of the world's highest mountain) but also an author and successful business owner. He spoke vividly about his grandfather's achievements, the Sherpas and his own Everest disappointments and joys.

In the early days of the 20th century, Tenzing noted, the British watched as other nations won glory for conquering the North Pole and the South Pole. "Mount Everest became the third pole," he said. "The British wanted to make sure they were the first to climb this mountain."

British, Swiss and other climbing expeditions, though, needed help to stand any chance of scaling a mountain that rose more than 29,000 feet above sea level. That help came in the form of the Sherpas, who lived in the vast mountain ranges of the Himalayas and had the ability to persevere even at the highest elevations where oxygen is scarce. "The Sherpas are a very hospitable and hardworking people," Tenzing said. "But in 1953, no one had any idea who they were."

The world was soon to find out. One of 14 children, Tenzing Norgay was born in Tibet in 1914. "But he ran away to Nepal at the age of 8 to look for a future and a better life," Tenzing said. As a youngster, he worked as a yak herder, but mountain climbing beckoned. He gained experience as various expeditions attempted to reach the top of the world.

Norgay, though, wanted to do more than just carry loads on his back. "He had a different vision," his grandson told attendees. "His dream was so strong." And his strength was not just an inner strength. "It was said that he seemed to have four lungs," Tenzing stated.

Norgay's place in history was secured on May 29, 1953, when he and Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top of Everest. The two planted the flags of Great Britain, India and Nepal at the crest. "He changed the entire name of the Sherpas," exclaimed his obviously proud grandson. "He was a great grandfather to me. He was my hero." Despite the tremendous attention and acclaim (including a victor's celebration in England), he remained very humble, Tenzing said.

His grandfather's experiences led Tashi Tenzing to seek great heights too. Although his first attempt to scale Everest in 1993 failed just short of the top, he reached the pinnacle on a subsequent expedition in 1997. "This was my life's dream, and I fulfilled it," he said. He conquered the world's tallest peak again in 2002.

Today six members of Tashi Tenzing's family have climbed Mount Everest. But it all began with his grandfather more than 60 years ago. "He opened the dream for all Sherpas," Tenzing said. "He allowed us to tell the story."