Meet Kanika Gupta Shori, the dynamic and multi-talented COO of Square Yards

Real estate and real women do not somehow go together. It has been long believed that be it buying, selling or renting a property, it has always been a man’s job. Then walked in Kanika Gupta with her start up in the name of Square Yards and shattered all glass ceilings. After that, the real estate market has become synonymous with Square Yards.

The background story

Square Yards was born in October 2013 with only three people. In 2014, Kanika was crowned as the Young Achiever of 2014.From an idea which came into being in HongKong, where she lived with her husband Tanuj Shori. Square Yards is now a company which many NRIs swear by. It was a company born out of passion, when the couple spent a stressful time trying to invest in the real estate market in India. The duo faced tremendous challenges as the market was run by intermediaries who were operating in an unprofessional style. The transactions were not very transparent at all. The couple’s friends who stayed in India as well as out of the country too shared their sad tales with Kanika and Tanuj. Matter became even more complicating when it came to certain activities like taxation, legalities, documentation and mortgage.

The journey

In its early days the company had to face a lot of challenges while it operated from HongKong. There was very little acceptability from the developers as they felt that Square Yards was just a new kid in the block. In order to overcome this challenge, Square Yards decided to set up many offices in the various Indian cities and put up sales force as well as ground staff. To have the right workforce is a challenge faced by many companies and Square Yards too faced the same. Kanika has devised the structure of the organisation in a very intelligent manner. At the top level, it has the main partners who are also the stakeholders. As regards sales in the organisation, Square Yards follows a profit and loss structure. The company has made each business division responsible for it profits or loss. There remains complete accountability and a slice of the rewards which is linked to performance. Initially the couple put in their own savings which was soon followed by retail HNI funds. The company always believed that unless one is confident of one’s financial viability, no one’s capital should be risked. Today the company boasts of more than 2500 channel partners as well as more than 500 developers who stand by like a partner too. More than 95 banks and NBFCs are partners.

Winning hearts

There is a social side to the story as well. Kanika has been involved in empowering womenfolk. A keen social worker, she has lent her support to the refugees of HongKong. There is another NGO which extends help to children who are without any family. So, here is a woman of substance who has carved a niche for herself in the real estate market and in the hearts of many.