Riaz Mamdani is the chief executive and founder of Strategic Group, a real estate investment and development company located in Calgary, Canada. In the 1990s, Mamdani gained recognition in Calgary as a financier of various startups before shifting his business efforts in the early 2000s to real estate. In part as a result of Mamdani's success in real estate, he is considered "one of Calgary’s wealthiest men".
Early life and education
Riaz Mamdani immigrated with his parents and younger brother, Alykhan Mamdani, from Uganda to Canada in the early 1970s when he was very young. His family was involved in various businesses in Calgary and in East Africa; they owned stores and real estate. Mamdani graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy in 1992 and from the University of Calgary law school in 1996. In a 2012 interview with Alberta Venture, he said that he had taken a "roundabout" way to get to his true calling, business.
Early career
From 1992 to 1996, Mamdani served as a pharmacist at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, while studying law at the University of Calgary. After obtaining his law degree, he was a barrister and solicitor with Beaumont Church, a Calgary-based law firm, from 1996 to 1998, focusing on corporate, commercial, and securities law.
Transition to company finance
Beginning in the late 1990s, Mamdani's professional interest and energy moved increasingly from practicing law to involvement in the financing of companies, especially early-stage startups in and around Calgary. He has said that it was these businesses' need for more office space that originally introduced him to real estate.
Strategic Group
In 2001, seeing that the real estate side of his businesses was growing the fastest, Mamdani formed as a way to further invest in commercial real estate in and around Calgary. Strategic Group is a fully integrated real estate company. Mamdani began the company with two properties in its portfolio. The company also owns businesses in industries that include construction, building services, oilfield services, hospitality, pet care, agriculture, technology and corporate finance. In 2015, partially as a result of the weakened Alberta economy, Strategic Group announced that it would shift its concentration from commercial properties to building rental apartments. In a 2019 letter to stakeholders, Mamdani wrote that "much of the growth of our company will be in our multi-family residential rental business, and approach that is directly linked to our strategic focus on sustainability and recurring revenue." The company is building , a 38-storey mixed-use building with 379 rental residences in the Beltline community near downtown Calgary. In 2019, the company completed , a 6-storey mixed-use building with 65 rental residences. Under Mamdani's leadership, Strategic Group is repurposing former office buildings into residential buildings in Calgary and Edmonton. This includes repurposing the historically significant Barron Building from office into a residential rental building with 93 suites and ground-level retail. In 2019, the company completed its first office-to-residential repurposing projects including in Calgary and in Edmonton. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi called Cube "an exciting next step for innovative development in our city." Upon the opening of e11even in October 2019, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said "saving thousands of tons of waste from going to the landfill while adding critical green housing options for Edmontonians is a great accomplishment.” On the 11th of December 2019, Strategic Group announced that it had received court ordered creditor protection for 56 of the 171 properties that it owns. This judgement prevents creditors from taking action against the company as it attempts to restructure. Strategic Group is in the process of restructuring its real estate organization to adapt to the high office vacancy rates in Alberta. In 2020, Strategic Group completed two major building projects: in Edmonton and in Calgary. The latter represents an "unprecedented" building boom of residential rental towers in Calgary which is driven by a lack of supply, changing demographics, and increasingly positive attitudes toward rental living. Mamdani is an investor and shareholder in a number of other business ventures.
Philanthropy
Over the years, Mamdani has made contributions to various charitable organizations and causes. Mamdani has supported the Make-a-Wish organization, Project Warmth Society of Alberta. and Alberta Women Entrepreneurs, and is on the Board of Directors of Theatre Calgary and Alberta Champions, an organization dedicated to recognizing outstanding Albertans. Since 2012, Mamdani has worked with the Calgary Food Bank to raise food and cash donations for those in need. Mamdani entered into a multi-year partnership with Calgary Opera to support its transition to a new location. As a result of Mamdani's contribution, Calgary Opera changed the name of its building to Mamdani Opera Centre. In 2015, Mamdani offered his support of Syrian refugees coming to Canada, saying that Strategic Group would be prepared to open its properties to them. Since 2013, Strategic Group has been the title sponsor of Calgary's Mayor's Lunch for Arts Champions. In 2018, the company co-funded the creation of the —an annual award for volunteer board members of arts organizations in Calgary. In 2020, the award was given to Meg Van Rosendaal and Bob Chartier of Calgary's . In 2019, Mamdani collaborated with the and the to unveil the first publicly accessible to support mental health awareness and wellness.
Shooting
On December 19, 2016, Mamdani was the target of a shooting while he sat in the driver's seat of a Rolls-Royce Phantom in front of his home in Upper Mount Royal, Calgary. Moments following the shooting, explosions were reported in the 3800 block of 6th Street S.W. The Calgary Fire Department stated they found an empty car on fire in an alley which caused the explosions, leading to speculation that the incident was connected to Mamdani's shooting. Mamdani sustained serious injuries and has since fully recovered.
