In conversation with Anup Pankhania, Managing Director of Jaspar Group
Please note that this article was published prior to the new brand name of PREACH Inclusion® on 25 April 2024, so you will notice references to BAME in Property.
This week, Priya Aggarwal-Shah, founder of PREACH Inclusion® (formerly BAME in Property) sat down with Anup Pankhania, Managing Director of Jaspar Group, a family business, which has grown exponentially in the last few years. They discussed Jaspar Group’s fascinating journey, how its pivoted through the COVID-19 pandemic and what this means for current and future development, as well as the all-important Jaspar Foundation, the company’s charity arm making a difference to communities in need. Grab a cuppa and dive in!
The journey
Anup learnt the hard graft of property and real estate from his father, the founder and Chairman of Jaspar Group. After completing an Undergraduate in Geography at Oxford University, followed by an MPhil in Real Estate Finance at Cambridge University, Anup immediately joined the family business. Unlike his peers who were heading into central London on graduate schemes, Anup was working from his father’s one room office in Stanmore with only two other colleagues in the company.
“The early days were quite lonely, but the responsibility was real,” said Anup. “At the age of 22, my father sent me to Hong Kong to sell a block of flats and I sold half of them in two and half days. At one point, I even held back on selling units thinking the market was going to boom once we finish the development. Little did I know a financial crash was looming. The experience was surreal.”
Just when Anup thought he had hit a major milestone, the real work started.
“Then the hardhat came straight on and we had to deliver schemes we had acquired. Being slung into the deep end I very quickly learnt about planning, construction, design, the full set of skills needed to run and grow the business.”
And that wasn’t an understatement. Anup has since grown the business from three employees to 30 and counting. He explained how throughout the years he has gone through countless trial and errors but in the end, taking risks and being open to new ideas and new ways of doing things have paid off.
In the early days of Jaspar Group, their bread and butter was commercial to residential unit conversions. These days, Jaspar Group has completely diversified its range of assets, from heritage assets to retirement living developments, Anup has pivoted the company to focus on areas with long term planning potential. Today, Anup’s main goal is to scale the business, and this is contributed by growing a team of talented people and focusing on creating structure and processes in their business.
Current projects
Anup shared that Jaspar Group currently has four sites on the go and are aiming to deliver 100 homes this year, where previously this would have been 30-40 per year. As a business, they are always on the lookout for new sites, from Chichester to Canterbury, Mayfair to Holborn and Tonbridge to St Albans. He proudly added that Jaspar Group has developed most of Stanmore town centre the jewel of Harrow. The company’s focus across the Southeast is impressive and constantly growing. Anup added that his growing team now has the ability and knowledge to accommodate all different parts of the UK. E.g. they are close to securing an iconic site in Sevenoaks- which will add to their enviable portfolio.
Post-COVID-19
How we live, work and engage with others has completely changed during the pandemic, something which was highlighted in Grayling Engage’s Future of Digital Engagement report.
"You no longer need to live where you work and that has been one of the reasons why we have shifted our focus [as a company] to out of city centre sites.”
We discussed how town hall engagement doesn’t suit every demographic, while online engagement offers greater flexibility for young couples and growing families – their target market. At the same time, there was acknowledgement that online engagement misses those informal conversations you may have during face-to-face consultation.
At a macro level, COVID-19 has provided Jaspar Group with new site opportunities due to a change in behaviour.
"My dream is to work from Portugal, I truly believe in flexible working...”
“COVID has changed behaviour, people want new homes and have a real sense of YOLO after being in numerous lockdowns! They also want to upsize, and want access to open space,” said Anup. “You no longer need to live where you work and that has been one of the reasons why we have shifted our focus [as a company] to out of city centre sites.” Anup talked about some of their successful schemes in Haslemere and Virginia Water, and a new site in Finchley, which all have one feature in common – access to considerable open space.
Meanwhile, on a micro level, Anup is optimistic about how he might change his own way of working.
“My dream is to work from Portugal, I truly believe in flexible working and if you have the right people anything is possible.”
Power in people
"Collaboration is important; property is about people – people in your business and providing homes for people. If you haven’t got diversity, you’re just not hitting it."
There is no bigger strength than your people and they are your real assets. Anup spoke proudly of the diversity across his employees.
“We’ve got good gender balance and ethnic diversity within the company – this gives me strength in my business,” said Anup. “The quality of leaders is important but having the right people around you is crucial. Collaboration is important; property is about people – people in your business and providing homes for people. If you haven’t got diversity, you’re just not hitting it.”
And despite a stellar education at Oxbridge, Anup hasn’t stopped learning from the best. He is part of an academy, which encourages peer to peer learning. Having joined five years ago, this Academy has changed his thinking and been one of the main catalysts to his company’s growth. He has learnt the challenges and solutions other business leaders have faced and applied these learnings to Jaspar Group’s future growth.
“How can I expect my people to develop and learn if I’m not continuously learning and developing myself?” said Anup.
Jaspar Foundation
With all this success, Jaspar Group has committed to giving back to the community, a founding principle of the company. This was initially done through the creation of the Jaspar Centre in Harrow town centre, which later evolved into the Jaspar Foundation.
“Jaspar Foundation was set up by my father,” said Anup.* “He wanted to support a group of Asian women who were looking after the elderly in Harrow. They didn’t have their own community centre to socialise and run events, so he created the Jaspar Centre, to empower and inspire the elderly population in our community.”*
Anup’s father’s [Raj Pankhania] work was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List on Saturday 11 June 2021. Raj was awarded a BEM – a British Empire Medal for services to older people and the community in North London. This is an accolade directly attributed to his creation of Jaspar Centre.
"My parents’ generation came from very humble beginnings, but I am fortunate to have been given a solid platform and I want to build on it and share it."
A few years ago, Jaspar Group sold Jaspar Centre and the income acquired from this sale and a proportion of the company’s overall sales, is going towards charities. Jaspar Group is looking to donate £250,000 a year to charities and within five years, increase this figure to £1 million a year.
They are donating all over the world and to different causes, involving the business at every opportunity. This month (June 2021), the whole company is taking part in LandAid’s 10km run – with LandAid’s aim to end youth homelessness, this was a value that naturally aligned with Jaspar Group. Additionally, Jaspar Foundation is going beyond the usual S106 requirements, identifying charities and community groups to support in the areas they work in.
Ultimately, this comes down to people over profits.
“My parents’ generation came from very humble beginnings, but I am fortunate to have been given a solid platform and I want to build on it and share it. Not just within communities we work in, but even our company profits are shared with our employees – the people who make the magic happen.”
No doubt Anup has built a company on some meaningful values. Watch this space for the future of Jaspar Group and the Jaspar Foundation.
This article was first published on Grayling Engage.