KEY TO THE FUTURE

UAE-BASED PROPERTY FINDER HAS A VISION TO BE MORE THAN JUST A REAL ESTATE PLATFORM. HERE'S HOW FORMER FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE EXECUTIVE ARI KESISOGLU IS BRINGING THAT PLAN TO LIFE UAE-BASED PROPERTY FINDER HAS A VISION TO BE MORE THAN JUST A REAL ESTATE PLATFORM. HERE'S HOW FORMER FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE EXECUTIVE ARI KESISOGLU IS BRINGING THAT PLAN TO LIFE

-  AARTI NAGRAJ

A question that is frequently posed to CEOs and business leaders is about their "vision” for the company/organisation. Often, the response - while interesting and inspiring - is fairly generic. But for Ari Kesisoglu, the recently appointed president of Dubai-based real estate platform Property Finder, there is no ambiguity about his vision and plan for the company. “We want to build a true technology company here in the region," he says.

Given his background, that seems like a feasible vision. Prior to joining Property Finder, Kesisoglu served as the vice president for Middle East and Africa at Facebook, and preceding that, he worked for 10 years at Google where he held senior roles covering the EMEA region. But what exactly does a 'pure technology company encompass?

"What does a startup do? It solves a problem. Similarly, in our case, the problem that we're solving is that we want to give people the ability to get the best life that they can within the budgets that they have. Think about how much your home means to you, how much it defines your life; the neighbourhood that you live in adds a lot to your quality of life. So, if you can live in a better home, in a better environment - whatever that means for you, your life will improve for the better. And that's hopefully the problem that we're solving,” explains Kesisoglu, delving deep into a topic he is visibly passionate about.