Arya Taware, the Founder and Managing Director of Future Bricks dot com is all of 27 years of age, and is probably the youngest, alternative lending leader in the UK. Born in Mumbai, Arya spent her childhood visiting construction sites with her property developer father. Before she was 18 years of age, she had moved to London to study urban planning and real estate at the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL. She went straight from university into a job with architect-developer Solid Space and it was there that she discovered the limitations faced by small and medium-sized (SME) house builders.
Arya launched FutureBricks, a fintech firm, with an online platform and mobile application in 2018, offering fully-fledged automated lending. FutureBricks has grown its loan book to £2.8 million, from retail lenders across 16 projects, via bridge loans as well as site acquisitions across the UK. So far, the platform has secured over 650 registered users and processed over 340 loan applications to date.
In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Arya shared her learnings and vision for women entrepreneurs and leadership.
1. What is the right approach to start your own venture at a young age? What kind of planning and management does it take?
Approach
Starting your own venture at a young age means two sides of the same coin: like everything, it comes with advantages and disadvantages. The approach that worked for me was to stay well-informed, knowledgeable about the subject and to master clear communication skills.
When you’re young, you have more risk appetite. That comes with a sense of determination and also means you’re facing people who might not take you so seriously. Throughout it all, the goal is to stay focused and to know your subject matter inside out. Age, at the end of the day, doesn’t come in the way at all. If someone can recognise you are talking about, your depth of knowledge, then age doesn’t matter. It’s one of these elements that seems to be something at the surface level, but ultimately, it’s how you carry yourself and how you build a track record for yourself.
Planning & Management
The planning process goes to thorough research: it’s about understanding as much as you can the problems within the industry (property development), the problems faced by the housebuilder and the problems faced by the lender. In the span of a year, I had reached out to 200 or 300 people at least , whether it was via LinkedIn or any other form of contact details I came across. This allowed me to understand the industry gap with much better insight and also be able to better manage my business. I did everything simultaneously: research, meeting people, building the team, raising capital, meeting regulatory requirements with the obtention of appropriate licenses, building the technology, finding deal flows and matching lenders to fund the projects. Even as everything happened simultaneously, I managed everything by breaking them down into single steps, taking one step at a time.
2. In the post-Covid era, what is your take on housing, it's evolution and accessibility?
While during Covid, FutureBricks made a lot of changes to its lending criteria as security is paramount to the company. This, through the changing economic climate, is a value we have been keeping since security is at the centre of everything FutureBricks does.
While we are taking on the assuredness of more security provided, on top of first charge, PG (personal guarantee) and debenture over the SPV, we have also restricted our lending criteria by capping the LTV (loan to value) to 65% (from 75%). There has been more stress testing as we have, to date, a rejection rate of 80% for housebuilders’ inquiries. Given that the stamp duty holiday ends on March 31st 2021, there have been significant activities (buying and selling), and we’re well aware this is only temporary. That is the reason why even as we transition from the current Covid period into the post-Covid era, it’s important to keep our lending criteria in check and remain aware of security in our decision-making.
Commercial and retail sectors have been hit hard. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens to commercial properties post-Covid as the economy re-adapts around e-commerce. Maybe these properties will be converted into warehouses? As we’re seeing a clear surge for online consumerism with businesses now shifting to answer these growing needs, it’s interesting to ponder whether commercial spaces will be converted into warehouses or even residential flats. This will not be a fast change but will be part of the evolution of e-commerce’s impact on the property development’s landscape.
3. Where do you go to seek advice on leadership and management at a young age as an entrepreneur?
As I had to raise external capital for the company from day 1, I had the opportunity to raise £1 million from 35 shareholders, allowing me to build a shareholder advisory panel consisting of successful business people (including Alan Gross, CEO and Wes Nolte, CTO). With an active group of experts who take part in meetings, they have offered me invaluable insight.
It’s important to remember that age is irrelevant. Even an experienced person when faced with starting a business will require advice.
4. What is your perspective on encouraging and guiding women to take up a career like yours?
Entrepreneurship is a unique choice. It’s meaningful in the way that you have to love what you do. That’s passion. If you’re set on that front, then the second thing is your mindset. It is a test of grit, of mental endurance, especially at the beginning. It’s time for perseverance and determination. It’s okay to fall. It might take you three ventures before you succeed. It’s okay to fail and to learn from it every time, in everything you do.
Follow the path that is your calling. Entrepreneurship in itself is a very special career. Make sure what you choose is meaningful to you.
5. How long did you take to launch FutureBricks? Tell us your story.
FutureBricks was first established in 2016 and went live in 2018. With an academic background in Urban Planning from UCL, I was working for an SME housebuilder and that’s when I spotted the house market gap. While SME house builders had the right site, we had limited access to mainstream finance, the size of our project being too small to be notable with large institutions to pick up. As a financial consumer, I saw my own funds sitting inside a savings account which could barely make it past the inflation rate. That’s when the idea came to me to address the challenges that both SME housebuilders and investors were facing. This is only the beginning of my story. My vision is to make asset-backed investments the new normal. At FutureBricks, our mission is to back SME housebuilders as we aim to reach a loan book of £100 million in the next few years. We are proud that our message has resonated with such a wide audience since the overfunding of our campaign on Seedrs.
