The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), based in the United Kingdom, was founded more than 150 years ago and now has 130,000 members across 140 countries. RICS’ mission is to “effect positive change in the built and natural environments,” and its staff and members fulfill this objective by providing education and qualifications, networking events, promotion of the profession, professionalism, and advocacy on government policies. RICS has a proven track record in the real estate industry for advancing knowledge and upholding standards and continues to shape legislation related to real estate in several key global markets.
IREM’s global strategist identified RICS as an association with far-reaching impact, an IREM-compatible mission, and like-minded members. Based on these compatibilities, IREM partnered with RICS on a number of collaborative projects.
This collaboration launched with the RICS office based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which oversees the RICS presence in the Middle East and Africa. Given the places IREM has already established relationships, and areas where IREM sees opportunity for growth, we decided to target this region first, kicking off with an education session hosted in partnership with RICS in Dubai in September 2024.
IREM member Waqar Hasan, CPM®, presented a session on Cybersecurity for the Property Management Company, along with a speaker provided by RICS. The event was very well received and attended, so IREM and RICS decided to repeat it in February 2025 in Saudi Arabia. Hasan traveled to Riyadh for this session, which was attended by over 30 professionals and led to several valuable connections for IREM and advanced IREM’s emergence in the Saudi market.
Building on this success, IREM decided to focus on South Africa for the next initiative with RICS. In June 2025, IREM is sponsoring the RICS and Women’s Professional Network Africa annual conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. While IREM has a chapter based in the South African Gauteng province, partnering with RICS gives IREM a chance to reach more professionals across the country, and across Africa. IREM is excited to participate in this event and promote the introduction of the IREM Africa Portal, an online resource for professionals across Africa. The portal exemplifies IREM’s commitment to reaching more diverse audiences; using the RICS conference as a launching pad will help ensure success. “I’m honored to be able to travel to Johannesburg, represent IREM at this event, and officially roll out the IREM Africa Portal,” says 2025 President Dawn Carpenter, CPM. “RICS is a highly respected institution globally. This as an opportunity aligned with IREM’s strategy and an innovative way to advance our programs outside the U.S.”