Emerging Markets
Beyond the Masterplan: Delivering Real Estate in High-Growth Regions
2:50 PM - 3:40 AM | Canopy B | Breakout Session
Panel Directors: Eesha Sanghrajka MRE ‘26, Daniel Mellow MBA/MPA/ID ‘27
Across Africa, LATAM, Asia, and the Middle East, real estate development is no longer speculative, it is foundational to economic growth. From new cities and logistics corridors to residential communities and mixed-use ecosystems, these regions are building at a speed and scale that developed markets can no longer match.
But execution is everything. Infrastructure gaps, entitlement complexity, affordability pressures, and construction cost volatility separate vision from viability. What models are actually delivering projects on time and at scale? How are developers structuring partnerships, phasing, and capital stacks to de-risk growth? And where is the next wave of institutional-grade product truly emerging?
Moderator
Fred Cooper
Founder | Fin River Advisors
Fred Cooper is Founder of Fin River Advisors, a boutique real estate firm advising companies on capital formation, strategy, and growth. A former Fortune 500 executive, Fred has led initiatives across real estate, finance, investor relations, and global partnerships. He spent 32 years at Toll Brothers, where he served as Senior Vice President and built and led the company’s Finance and Investor Relations function, helping raise over $40 billion in capital and supporting its growth from a $200M regional builder to a $10B+ national Fortune 500 company.
In addition, Fred led Toll Brothers’ international expansion exploration and partnership efforts across Asia, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Canada, including bringing foreign capital into major U.S. real estate investments.
Oliva Nielsen
Principal | Miyamoto International
Olivia Nielsen is a Principal at Miyamoto International, where she leads the company's affordable housing practice. Across more than 50 countries, from Haiti to Papua New Guinea, she has designed and delivered critical housing programs that bridge policy reform, housing finance, and public-private partnerships. Her work focuses on adapting housing markets to today's most pressing challenges: rapid urbanization and widening affordability gaps. Olivia leverages AI and data-driven tools alongside deep community engagement to structure financing mechanisms, shape national housing strategies, and build delivery systems that reach underserved populations at scale. With over a decade of experience, she is driven by the conviction that affordable and resilient housing should be within reach for everyone.
Panelists
Rodrigo Suarez
Co-Founder, Global COO, and CEO | HASTA Capital
Rodrigo is the Co-Founder, Global COO, and CEO of HASTA’s Latin America Division. Prior to founding HASTA, Rodrigo was Managing Director at Greystar in Latin America, where he was responsible for all of Greystar’s business activities in the region, including the company’s Investment, Development, and Property Management divisions. Rodrigo graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from The Cooper Union in New York and received an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He previously worked at DeSimone Consulting Engineers in New York City as a structural engineer. Rodrigo is a founding Board Member and former President of the Asociacion de Vivienda en Renta, A.C. (AVER), and a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
Ameel Somani
Founder | Si Advisers
Ameel is the founder of Si Advisers LLP (“Si”), a long-term holding company with investments in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Ameel holds a dual degree in Chemical Engineering and Economics from Queen’s University (Canada) where he graduated as the top student, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Sanjana Sidhra
Director | Affordable Housing Institute (AHI), Boston.
Sanjana Sidhra is a Director at the Affordable Housing Institute, a global advisory organization focused on advancing sustainable and affordable housing solutions. AHI provides consulting services and capacity-building initiatives to developers, financiers, governments, and multilateral institutions to address the housing crisis in emerging markets.
Sanjana leads international consulting work on housing policy, finance, and institutional strengthening across emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. With over 7 years of experience in over 12 countries, she specializes in affordability modeling, subsidy design, housing finance, and regulatory frameworks, advancing sustainable housing solutions. Most recently, Sanjana has developed a housing reform roadmap for the Government of Maldives and the World Bank, aimed at transitioning the public housing system into a market-enabling and fiscally sustainable model.
Sanjana is also the Program Manager of AHI’s Chrysalis Housing Impact Accelerator, launched in 2025 to support housing enterprises in emerging markets. Chrysalis helps developers, financiers, and builders in high-growth regions scale their solutions through a bespoke curriculum, expert coaching, and capacity building, with a key focus on preparing them to become investment-ready. The accelerator addresses systemic challenges, builds governance structures, and enhances financial sophistication, helping enterprises transition from ‘project-ready’ to ‘capital-ready,’ enabling them to attract institutional-grade investment.
Sanjana holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Architecture from Mumbai University. Sanjana is also a licensed arch