RICHARD WAIND ON LEADING THE CENCORP GROUP
In January this year, Richard Waind stepped away from his role as CEO of Betterhomes – Dubai’s oldest and one of its leading real estate brokerages – to take the helm of Cencorp Group. Today, Cencorp is the UAE’s first multifaceted real estate services group, comprising 15 businesses across brokerage, professional services, the built environment, and home-related e-commerce. Richard discusses the vision, strategy and future of the group.
Richard, what led to your move from CEO of Betterhomes to CEO of the wider Cencorp Group?
Betterhomes has been at the heart of Dubai real estate for almost 40 years, and I was privileged to lead it. But over the past few years, our business has evolved far beyond brokerage. Since 2019, we’ve launched and grown close to 20 separate companies, all linked to the property journey.
Cencorp was formed to bring these businesses together under one umbrella – creating the UAE’s first truly multifaceted real estate services group. My role now is to oversee the strategic direction of the entire portfolio and ensure we’re delivering exceptional service at every stage of a customer’s property journey.
Our goal is ambitious: to support one in three tenants and homeowners in Dubai and Abu Dhabi at some point in their property lifecycle.
What is Cencorp’s core vision and how does it differ from traditional real estate groups?
Most real estate companies focus purely on the transaction – buying, selling, or leasing a property. We take a much broader view. The reality is that the property journey doesn’t end when the deal is signed; it’s just the beginning.
People need property management, renovations, fit-outs, maintenance, furnishings – and in Dubai, one of the biggest challenges is coordinating all these services. For example, our commercial clients may require data, professional valuations and support in company formations.
The group operates across four pillars:
1. Brokerage
2. Professional Services
3. Built Environment
4. Home-Related E-commerce
Each business operates independently, with its own leadership team to ensure focus and agility. But they’re interconnected through our tech platforms, which enable them to share marketplaces, clients, and data. We centralise where it makes sense, but we’ve learned that too much centralisation can come at the cost of innovation and speed.
Ultimately, our mission is to connect clients with trusted partners and deliver a reliable, seamless experience across the entire journey.
Brokerage has been Cencorp’s foundation. How are you evolving that side of the business?
Brokerage remains a cornerstone of what we do. Betterhomes and Prime by Betterhomes lead the residential space, while CRC is our commercial brokerage arm.
In 2021, we launched Lindas Real Estate, a brand with a very specific purpose – supporting working mums, many of whom have had successful careers in other industries, to transition into real estate. It’s been hugely rewarding and commercially successful. Our brokerages are supported by Clarity, our outstanding conveyancing team, and Lomond Mortgage Services.
We’ve also built our own proprietary tech stack, Engage, which gives our brokers the tools they need to operate at the highest level and deliver an exceptional client experience, connects all our businesses so every client has access to the full pool of properties across the group. In the future, we aim to open Engage to independent brokerages, creating a collaborative platform that can raise industry standards.
We are also working on a number of initiatives to further enhance the customer experience through technology.
The “Built Environment” pillar is a newer concept in real estate groups. What does it cover for Cencorp?
The Built Environment pillar is about supporting the physical spaces people live and work in.
One of our longest-standing businesses here is Octopus, which has been providing maintenance services in Dubai for over a decade. You’ve probably seen their distinctive pink vans around the city. They also offer renovation services, especially for landlords looking to maximise the value of their homes before renting them out.
DesignFit is focused on the commercial fitout spaces with a niche in high-end offices and F&B spaces, as well as high-end luxury villa builds and fitouts. Over the last four years DesignFit has built an impressive portfolio of local and international clients and has been responsible for delivering some of Dubai’s latest iconic F&B venues.
In 2023, we launched Redix, a development management company focusing on logistics and commercial real estate. We currently have three active projects, and it’s an area where we see strong demand as Dubai continues to grow as a logistics and business hub.
The aim is simple – whether it’s a home or a commercial building, we want to help our clients protect and enhance the value of their assets.
How do you manage such a diverse group of businesses and ensure they all maintain high standards?
People are at the heart of everything we do and my main responsibility is to make sure each business has exceptional leadership. We don’t run Cencorp as a single top-down entity; instead, each company has a clear mandate, its own targets, and the autonomy to innovate.
That independence is balanced with the power of being part of a larger group – access to shared marketplaces, data, technology, and economies of scale. It’s a model that allows each brand to be a leader in its area of expertise, while still contributing to the bigger Cencorp vision.
What’s next for Cencorp and how do you see the UAE property market evolving?
In the short-term, our focus is on deepening our portfolio of services here in the UAE. We have strong foundations across our four pillars, and we’ll continue to expand where we see clear opportunities to improve the customer journey.
Looking ahead, as the UAE property market matures, we expect to see more supply coming online. This will lead to greater competition, and in turn, more emphasis on service quality, efficiency, and innovation. We also believe there will be both consolidation in the industry as well as greater technology adoption.
Our strategy is to be ahead of that curve by building tools that complement and enhance the customer journey. This means providing a platform of interconnected services that customers can trust, whether they’re buying their first home, managing a commercial portfolio, or simply looking for a reliable maintenance company. Ultimately, our success will come from making the property journey in the UAE smoother, more transparent, and more enjoyable for everyone involved.
Final Word:
Richard Waind’s move from leading one iconic brand to steering a diverse group marks a shift in how real estate in the UAE is being re-imagined. Cencorp isn’t just about standalone transactions– it’s about owning the entire property experience, from first viewing to final renovation.
