A REAL SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
Dr. Sandesh Pangekar, an expert in International Property & Cost Consultancy and an enterprising Mathemagician; shares his rags to riches story of becoming hugely revered in Construction Contract Management all over India, Qatar, and the U.A.E.
Raised in a slum area, with little privileges, Sandesh spent his childhood in a rented ‘Kholi’ in then underdeveloped Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, Mumbai. His parents barely could afford the rental. These undulations pushed Sandesh to become a breadwinner at 16 years. Owing to his interest and academic excellence, he took private tuitions for Sanskrit and Mathematics, to help support his family and also his engineering diploma. He was a meritorious student at VJTI, yet he had to multi-task with a Job to ensure to pay off the huge debt his parents owed. Even after him completing his graduation part-time through Institution of Engineers (India); his family was not financially stable, the debt also seemed to increase day-by-day with compound interest.
In the pursuit to find a solution to his financial situation, in July 2008, Sandesh moved to UAE with his wife Ranjana. He continued education while working and completed his B.Sc. in Quantity Surveying from College of Estate Management, UK. Thereafter, he moved to Qatar wherein he accomplished an MBA in Construction and Real Estate from University College of Estate Management, UK. He was amongst the top three scholars who could make it to distinction.
Today, Sandesh is heading a commercial team in Qatar for a multi-billion project and is also a Director of David Adamson’s India operations which he helped establish in 2015. He has always been a self-starter, go-getter and effective leader with distinguished abilities in leading, training and motivating teams for running successful projects. Sandesh is well recognized and respected in Qatar for his knowledge, expertise and speaking skills on matters related to quantity surveying and construction contract management. He has also provided technical support for arbitration and expert determination hearings in the U.K, London. He has conducted various lectures at the Indian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Sri Lankan Quantity Surveyors Association and Philippine Institute of Certified Quantity Surveyors in Qatar.
The odyssey from being a slum dweller to now possessing multiple huge properties in Mumbai, from being under huge debt to becoming a multi-millionaire, was not an easy one. However, regardless of the resources available to him, he created his own success story through hard work, self-belief, and determination.
In his spare time, with the innate desire and passion, Sandesh practices the ancient techniques used by mathematicians for speed calculations. He also loves the memory techniques used by memory athletes.
He is confident that with the right combination of the above two, India can have its next human-computer after the late Shakuntala Devi. Currently, Sandesh is personally training his 9 years old son, Shree towards both the above techniques.
Some of the prominent awards, recognitions received by Mr. Pangekar are Eminent Featured Speaker, Voice of Business, India 2019, Fellow of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers, UK 2019, Chartered Building Engineer, UK 2019; Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, UK 2018; Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK 2017; RICS Accredited Civil Commercial Mediator, UK 2017; Member of the Chartered Institute of Building, UK 2017; Best CPD Speaker 2015/2016 from Indian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Qatar and many more to his credit.
Often, his lectures are reminiscenced as “a treat” and “a golden opportunity” to attend; while being referred to as a “role model” by many construction professionals in Qatar, UAE, and India.
Sandesh’s MISSION 2030 is to establish an institution wherein the fear of maths is removed from young students by making them experience the fun and joy of playing with numbers and showing them the practical use of mathematics.
