Forbes Global Properties, a prominent player in the UAE luxury real estate sector, has named Emre Okay, a financial strategist with global expertise, as its new Group Chief Financial Officer.
The appointment occurs at a crucial point in Driven Properties' transformation into a vertically integrated real estate investment and development system.
Okay possesses demonstrated experience in large-cap private equity across Europe and investment banking at UBS in New York, after earning an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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He moved into senior operational positions at Amazon, where he occupied various finance leadership roles throughout the company’s European operations in London prior to moving to Dubai to assist its payments business in the Middle East. His professional journey has focused on investments, capital distribution, expanding financial and strategic operations of intricate organizations through data, and functioning in high-performance settings.
As the CFO of Driven Properties, Okay will utilize institutional-level finance, operational analytics, and capital markets expertise to manage a co-invested real estate investment portfolio, consisting of about USD 1 billion in assets.
His responsibilities cover a platform that encompasses Lamar Holding and Driven Properties’ development sector, which has over USD 5.5 billion in active gross development value, as well as Driven Property & Asset Management, overseeing more than 5,000 units throughout the UAE. The firm possesses around USD 300 million in real estate holdings and has a venture portfolio containing more than 15 minority investments.
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“Driven Properties brought me in at a very specific stage in its journey. The company has achieved meaningful scale across brokerage, investment management, and development", Okay says.
"The next phase is about institutionalisation to build financial, operational, and technological infrastructure that allows growth to scale sustainably over the long term.”
In his words, the company’s rapidly integrated structure creates strategic advantages for its operations. “Most real estate companies operate in silos of brokerage, development, or investment. Driven Properties is working towards an integrated platform across all three verticals.
This creates significant advantages in capital allocation, market intelligence, execution visibility, and speed of decision-making. International investors today expect governance, transparency, advanced reporting, and disciplined execution. The firms that combine entrepreneurial agility with institutional-grade infrastructure will ultimately attract long-duration capital.”
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Abdullah Alajaji, Founder and CEO of Driven Properties, says, “As we continue to grow and define our industry leadership position, we are strengthening the institutional capabilities that will define the next chapter of our growth. Emre’s experience across private equity, investment banking and global technology businesses lends a unique perspective that will strengthen how we make investment and capital allocation decisions, raise funding for our investment funds, scale our operations and prepare the business for new opportunities ahead. We look forward to his leadership, insight and discipline to build stronger and more integrated operations that will drive our long-term growth.”