Women in Real Estate

The seminar "Women in Real Estate" was a collaboration with Bonum, Fiona G. Yan (For Ynde), Siri A. Olsen (Girl Crush), Anja Amundsen (Girl Crush) and Marte S. Aasmundsen (Aasmundsen Consulting), who invited participants to lectures and panel debates to highlight that the real estate industry is still male-dominated and what can be done about this. Sonja Horn, group director for property management at Entra ASA, was one of the speakers.

If Erna can do it in politics, why shouldn't women be able to do it in real estate?

The event "Women in Real Estate" took place on Thursday 12 April at Bonum, an event organised by For Ynde, Girl Crush and Aasmundsen Consulting, focusing on the low number of female leaders in real estate. According to them, only 5 out of 50 managing directors in the largest real estate companies (including property management, development, trading, letting and property/commercial brokerage) based on operating income in Norway are women.

"We must acknowledge that we have come quite far in Norway and not just complain. There are some who have gone before us and really paved the way, and therefore we have much to be proud of," says Sonja Horn, group director for property management at Entra ASA. She knows what she is talking about when it comes to being a woman in a male-dominated industry.

She believes women must be good role models and acknowledge and recognise that diversity is a value.

"We must have women, we must have ethnicity and we must have diversity," she tells a full room of nearly 80 people, most of them women from the real estate industry, who have come to listen to female role models.

She highlights Prime Minister Erna Solberg as an important role model: "If Erna can do it, why shouldn't we?" she asks, and continues: "If you don't dare to say it, I don't think you'll achieve it either. It's not by chance that Erna has succeeded, she has surely had it in her 'top three' priorities."

Horn touches on what has been decisive for her own development in working life.

"I have had, particularly two male leaders (Jan Hunspedt, former director at Fokus Bank, and Klaus-Anders Nysteen at Entra ASA), who have been fantastic role models and who have chosen women, precisely because they value the diversity dimension. They have seen that you get better discussions and better decisions. Half of our customers are women, so how can a group of only men sit and work out how to reach that part of the market?" she says.

Horn points out that networking is one of the keys to succeeding in the industry. She concludes by saying that there are still mostly men who are decision-makers, and it is therefore important to also be where they are, but that events like "Women in Real Estate" help create networks among women, where we can cheer each other on.

Other speakers included Fatimah N. Mahdi from Arkitekskap AS, Kirsti Høiseth, owner of Olai Eiendom AS and Fossen Eiendom AS, Marte Dalåker and Guro Tuv from TD Legal AS and Karianne Amlie from Aktiv Grøndland/Bjørvika.