FRONTIER DIGITAL VENTURES HOLDS INAUGURAL PROPERTY TECH CONFERENCE
From online advertising to facilitating property transactions
5th February 2018 – Frontier Digital Ventures Limited (FDV), a leading operator of online marketplace portals in frontier and emerging markets, recently organized its inaugural global property tech conference in Dubai. The conference was an exclusive event for FDV partners operating online property portals.
The two-day event drew 17 industry leaders from 13 countries across 3 continents to examine, discuss and jointly share their views and experiences on the evolution of the online advertising business model into becoming platforms for successfully facilitating property transactions in their respective markets.
“What’s become clear to us in recent years is the evolution of the traditional online marketplace advertising model into an environment where buyers and sellers of property want to have a one stop platform from searching for a property to making a transaction,” said Shaun Di Gregorio, Founder and CEO of FDV, who was also the main facilitator of the conference.
He also added, “As we’re in the business of operating online classified businesses in frontier and emerging markets, the conference provided us with a unique opportunity to share with our business partners the importance of a digital transaction model as the logical next step for a successful online property portal,”
With a solid track record in building successful businesses and more than 19 years of experience in the online classified industry, Di Gregorio, who was previously CEO of the iProperty Group, shared his own personal experiences of growing the iProperty’s business market share prices by 3000% with industry leaders from markets as diverse as Philippines, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Uruguay, Paraguay, Panama, Costa Rica, Ghana, Angola and Cameroon.
The two-day conference addressed a range of topics, including a road map for how to implement a transaction model, understanding the transaction opportunity in different markets structures, managing the end-to-end transaction for consumers and sellers and how innovation of ideas is driving opportunity in different parts of the world.
Di Gregorio added, “The conference provided us with an exclusive environment to share and discuss the potential each of our business partners had to offer. The online scene in frontier and emerging markets is booming and the potential to impact billions of people is fast becoming a crucial part of daily life. Learning from each other, sharing insights and experiences as well as jointly identifying new opportunities to grow their business will help propel them to greater heights. Our role in FDV is to enable these companies to see their full potential and to set new global standards of excellence in the field.”
Attendees also commented that the conference was very valuable in providing them with insights and a deeper understanding on the transaction model.
“Participating in the conference brought the opportunity to listen to fascinating breakthrough innovations, the importance of having a solid transaction model plan and also the opportunity to learn from other industry leaders in the field,” said Ramon Ballesca, CEO and Founder, Hoppler in the Philippines.
“Being in a room with great minds that look into the future to discussing some of the disruptive technologies that will solve those problems really facilitated thought provoking discussions.” said Daham Gunaratna, Managing Director of Lanka Property Web in Sri Lanka
Echoing similar sentiments and also rating the conference a 5 star event was Kenneth Hogrefe, CEO of AngoCasa in Angola.
“There is no better way to start the year than with this workshop and it really helped to have a more global vision and to look at things from different perspectives. Despite many differences across our markets, at the end, we all face the same problems. And the fact that we are part of a group, is what makes it very helpful. I’m going home with many stories to tell, a lot of knowledge to transmit and many tips to start applying tomorrow,” shared Guillermo, Chief Technology Officer of InfoCasas in Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia.
Kelvin Nyame, CEO & Founder of MeQasa in Ghana also commented that the presentations from the companies were revealing in a positive way and everyone was genuinely sharing their success and challenges that has helped get them to where they are today.
“The conference was more than worth it since most of us took away more than just understanding the transactional model. There were new marketing skills, branding skills, processes and structure to put in place and link building partnerships,” shared Nyame.
“Because the digital industry is continuing to be transformed by the evolution of technology; building a successful transaction model from a traditional online marketplace business is a real and significant opportunity in frontier and emerging markets. With the right strategies, it also presents an unprecedented opportunity for market leaders in this industry to become trusted facilitators of a property transaction for both buyers and sellers” concluded Di Gregorio.
