Purpose

When I started out, there was no one to tell me what was right and what was wrong. There were no institutions and no code of ethics and no material to learn from. There was money in the work but no respect. I felt that had to change.

In a market where most people cannot tell a developer from a realtor, words like agent and broker were used no differently from consultant or dealer. Many practitioners did not understand their own roles. Many still do not. But the moment something goes wrong, they rush to find a scapegoat. Agent and broker become the blame.

Yet the most undervalued role in real estate is also its most consequential. A good professional stands between people making one of the largest decisions of their lives and carries the weight of getting it right. What they really sell is not a property. It is the street and the city and the whole future being chosen. Dubai was sold to the world not by its government but by its brokers.

That is what moved me from chasing deals to building the field itself. An individual builds a business that dies with them. A purpose builds a community that outlives them all. A profession this consequential has been treated as the lowest level for too long. The work of my life has been to prove it belongs at the table.

So most of my volunteering has gone back inside the profession, to make the standard of work higher than I found it. Most people in this trade want to do right by their clients. What they lack is not character but training and support. Criticising them is easy and changes nothing. Giving them the tools to do better is harder and worth more.

The other half sits on the buyer's side. Investors carry more risk than they can see. The information they rely on is often incomplete and sometimes shaped to mislead. My work since has aimed at closing that gap. For years I have organised the forums and worked closely with the stakeholders and the media. The message has stayed the same. Give buyers facts and give them the risks and trust them to decide. It does not always make you popular. It was never meant to.