A chance meeting at The Property Congress has sparked a strong friendship between Simonne Bailey and Jessica Christiansen-Franks, and together they are challenging the competitive dynamic.
Speaking at The Property Congress is not for the faint hearted, says co-founder and CEO of social analytics platform Neighbourlytics, Jessica Christiansen-Franks.
With Bob Geldof waiting in the wings, and with the best and brightest industry minds in the audience, Christiansen-Franks was in the spotlight, sharing how big data can help property developers and policymakers understand the unique identity of place.
Bailey, global head of strategy and Australian managing director of Sanjeev Gupta’s JAHAMA Group, was instantly taken with Christiansen-Franks’ presentation.
“I loved her energy, values and passion and made a beeline for her at lunch.”
At the time, Bailey was leading Lendlease’s Connected Living business and saw Neighbourlytics’ potential.
That was two years ago. Bailey introduced Christiansen-Franks to the right people in Lendlease and Neighbourlytics began testing on several sites. Since then, the platform’s list of clients has grown to 60-plus, and it has secured $1.25 million in seed funding.
While the business benefits of the connection were clear, Christiansen-Franks said the initial meeting at Congress has become a friendship that has challenged them both to “think differently”.
“In such a rapidly changing world, where innovation is an imperative, we have to throw away the models in our heads about leaders being a ‘solo genius’. We’re only going to solve the big problems we are facing together – and that means being collaborative rather than competitive,” Christiansen-Franks says.
Bailey agrees.
“We need a lot of people working together to lead a successful industry or company, or to solve problems effectively. Both Jessica and I are thinking about the future legacy, not just short-term returns. Jess has helped me to test some of my ideas and take them even further than I thought possible.
“We support each other at events, we talk about challenges. There’s something really nice about supporting each other. There should be more of it,” Bailey says.
The message?
“You never know the people you’ll meet at Congress,” Christiansen-Franks says.
This is just one story in many as The Property Congress cohort of female delegates grows each year. With women making up 35 per cent of the delegates at Hamilton Island in 2019, the Property Council is upping the ante with a 40 per cent target for Hobart in 2020.
The Property Congress will be held from 28-30 October 2020. The Super Early Bird rate is still available until 31 January, so book now.