Today we’d like to introduce you to Amro Al-Nimri.
Hi Amro, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story started when I was a kid in Jordan. I was always fascinated by buildings and cities and always visited construction sites with my father, who is a civil engineer. Fast forward, I followed my passion and started my undergraduate degree in architecture in Jordan in 2009, briefly after the start of the 2008 recession.
At that time, buying a home in Jordan was almost impossible, and I knew that I needed to do something about housing affordability. At that time, I started to understand real estate development and the concept of affordable housing and decided my career path and mission in life.
After graduating in 2014, I planned to gain experience in the design and construction fields before doing a master’s in real estate development. I worked in a large international design and consultancy firm in Amman for two years, then moved to Dubai to work for the largest construction company there for four years.
In 2020, I moved to the U.S. To follow my dream; after getting accepted into multiple real estate master’s programs, the University of Utah was the program I loved.
In 2021, I saw an internship posting at Ivory Innovations. I immediately fell in love with what they do and knew that this is the organization where I want to grow and learn more about the complex housing affordability issue.
Now, I am the director of construction and design at Ivory Innovations, my job is to take a deeper look at the most innovative construction and design companies and solutions and try to bring them to Utah to reduce construction costs and time and improve the quality of living for everyone.
I also work as a development projects manager with an ivory innovation operating foundation where we are building around 850 affordable units in the next few years.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Someone once told me that if your dream path is smooth, you are not dreaming big enough. With big dreams come significant challenges and sacrifices. The first obstacle I faced was purely financial to move to Utah and do my master’s degree. It was very challenging to be a young man in his early 20s working and studying 12-15 hours a day for years and saving half of my salary to be able to come to the U.S.
After starting in the U.S., I began to understand the complexity of the housing affordability issue here. I had to study hard to catch up on almost a century of data and information to understand better the reason behind what is happening right now with home pricing and the complexity of building a simple home.
The biggest challenge I am facing in my career is trying to help solve the housing affordability issue. And because it is very challenging, I know that I am dreaming big and will continue trying and helping.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I work with ivory innovations at the University of Utah as the director of construction and design; my job is to look at the most innovative ideas sourced through the ivory prize process, study them, and understand how they work and if it is feasible to bring them to Utah to provide affordable housing.
I also work as a development projects manager with Ivory Innovations Operating Foundation, a non-profit organization building affordable housing. We are building around 850 units in the next few years; in some of these projects, we try to come up with innovative ideas and approaches to solve complex issues; we are working on a modular multi-family project in Draper City.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Networking is key in the real estate industry. Everyone here knows everyone and most of the people are willing to help.
My advice for starting in this industry is to work hard and learn from every single thing you do small or big.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ivoryinnovations.org/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ivoryinnovations/mycompany/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/amro-nimri/
