With the pandemic, real estate and needs of homes and offices have evolved. Architects and Designers have begun rewriting designs in tune with changing needs: whether it is working from home or schooling from home or the need for open spaces for employees to interact in offices, spaces are being rescripted.
CONSTRUCTION WORLD, in its 25th year, is undertaking a journey to felicitate stalwarts who have contributed towards strengthening our built environment across the country. Based on the entries received at our CONSTRUCTION WORLD ARCHITECT AND BUILDER AWARDS 2021, and an understanding of projects, players, and their industry presence by our editorial team, we are recognizing noteworthy players who have been resolute on this journey.
Managing Director, C. R. Narayana Rao (CRN)
Senior Executive Director, Zonal Head - South
Director – Operations, Chennai Metro Rail Corporation
Principal Architect & Chief Designer, Midori Architects
Senior Director & South India Hub Lead at Cushman & Wakefield
Founder & Chief Architect, Shilpa Architects Planners Designers
President, Association for Professional Property Consultants of Chennai
Founder and Principal Architect, Dwellion Architects & Design
CEO, Appaswamy Real Estates
Managing Director, DRA Homes
An entrepreneur with deep skills and rich experience across various industries for last 20 years. I oversee diverse business verticals with interests in Property Development, Investments, Precious metals , Angel investing in start-ups and not the least
crypto tech developments.
Starting my career back in 2001 after a graduation in M.B.A ( Finance ) from University of Wales, Cardiff - I had started the Precious metals imports business and quickly took the topline of the company to over 150 million $ annually. In 2006, I forayed into Real estate and was blessed to have started this vertical with the largest township of Chennai with over 4500 homes in partnership with a listed conglomerate “Larsen and Toubro Ltd ”. I served as Alternate Director on the Board of this
SPV until 2012 , until we sold our stake to “Aditya Birla Real estate Fund”.
Thereon, I started my own property development brand “DRA Homes” and since then we have delivered over 1200 homes and over 1 million sft of commercial development in the city of Chennai. With over 100 employees and annual turnover of 30
million $, DRA Homes is now amongst the top 10 developers of Chennai. During the same period, I joined the Chennai Angels forum - to invest and mentor start ups. During my 5 years stint, I managed to invest in 10 start ups, mentored at-least 3 start ups. One of the start ups, I invested and exited was “Cloud-cherry” which was sold to Cisco systems.
I also have a passion for investment in stocks, commodities and treasuries. I have developed my own investment thesis using trend and technical analysis. This is close to my heart and have been successfully managing investment of family fund as well as advising many of my friends and advisors to grow their wealth.
A recent initiative has been investing in the crypto space along with friends and my son, “Diginoor” which is a market place for Non-fungible tokens (NFT) using the Ethereum blockchain. My interest in crypto ranges across investing as well as understanding the new business opportunities in this space . I am also actively looking to make this space as a spearhead for
my next gen business.
I am a member of Entrepreneurs Organization, Chennai Chapter since 2016 . I have been active in forum as well as in MyEo Real estate and Investment space. I am a member of prestigious Rotary Club of Madras ( the oldest in India ) providing
humanity service and green initiatives. I am a member of Madras Cricket Club to pursue few of my hobbies including Badminton and Cricket. I also love travelling , social interaction and encourage social entrepreneurship.
I am married to Mamata Rathod, since 2000 and have been blessed with two sons, Yash and Aadith who are pursuing their studies. I am born in a Rajasthani - Indian family and my Dad is an accomplished editor of a literary magazine as well as served in the Tamil Nadu Government between 1996-2000.
Given my profile , interest and passion - I would continue my entrepreneurial journey and bring opportunities to myself, my eco-system and also the city of Dubai.
100 + delegates per city consisting of Architects & Designers, Top & Mid-Level Real Estate Builders & Developers, Senior Officials from associations, Real Estate Firms, and Purchase heads.
Architects, Top & Mid-Level Real Estate Builders & Developers, Senior Officials from associations, Real Estate Firms, senior officials from Associations etc. The event will be stream lived in CW YouTube (6000+ Industry Subscribers & CW FB Live (13,000 + Industry followers) parallel to the physical show.