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“Let’s spoil the generation that spoiled us,” says Shahid Imran, MD/CEO of Build Senior Living

CEO Shahid Imran Build Senior Living

Build Senior Living is a privately owned company that focuses exclusively on the development of senior living housing. Our projects are result-driven because we strategically integrate state-of-the-art design while maintaining the cultural awareness relevant to the communities in which we build. Our professional team has years of delivering exceptional returns, and we have a proven track record and extensive expertise in land acquisition, ground-up development, and transforming and reinvigorating each community to meet the needs and demands of our seniors. 

Because of Build Senior Living’s value enhancement and asset repositioning mechanisms, it has been able to hit its performance metrics ahead of target. Build Senior Living began in 2012 under the supervision of co-founder/CEO Imran and co-founder/Vice President Sanford Martin, with the sole intent of providing superior care to our seniors and enriching the lives of the residents, and serving them with respect, dignity, integrity, and most of all compassion.

Excerpts from the conversation with Shahid Imran: In this interview with The Chief’s Digest, Imran speaks enthusiastically about how Build Senior Living aims at taking assisted living to the next level and helping everyone’s parents to have a lifestyle they deserve.

How did you come up with the idea or concept for your business?

I am the eldest of five children. In my culture, the eldest son is responsible for ensuring the health, wellness, dignity, and respect of his parents. Being mindful of this created a spark within me to do something for everyone’s parents. I witnessed what was currently available for our parents, and I needed to provide a product and service that set the standard of what a true assisted living community means. 

What are your company offerings? How have consumer responses shaped them over the years?

We take pride in offering our residents a lifestyle that caters to their wants and care needs, whether it’s for Assisted Living or Memory Care. Build Senior Living understands the unmet needs of our potential residents and their families and reassures them of any uncertainties they may encounter during this process. We do this by listening to our residents and letting them express to us the hurdles they encounter. 

The healthcare industry pendulum has shifted many times over the years, and the industry is more complex now than ever. We know that by 2050, people aged 65 and up will be nearly double of what the current number is today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means a population increase from 49.2 million to 88 million. Plus, by 2056, the 65 and up age group is expected to be larger than the population under the age of 18.

As the aging demographics continue to shift, approaching retirement and transitioning into a supervised living arrangement is inevitable. Meeting the needs to serve this population is imperative as we realize that our seniors today are expecting a higher quality of life than the seniors of yesterday. This leads to the trend in senior living housing development and investment. The strong demographics of baby boomers nearing the largest wave in US history along with the overwhelming need for demand of assisted/senior living and higher return on investment (ROI) make a perfect recipe for investors to ride this wave of investing opportunity. I do not see this trend slowing down anytime soon as senior living housing is highly recession-proof, and revenues do not decline like the other industries even during a downturn. It has been my experience that investors relish in how this industry has changed for the better!

What were your challenges like during the initial years? How have they changed over time?

I have been doing this for over 10 years, and I continue to confront challenges because every new project is unique. Each project is in a new demographic area that captures the true beauty of the occupying area; whether it be a wooded area that highlights the changing of the season, overseeing beautiful mountain ranges, or capturing the shadows of the bodies of water we are near. Because of this, the process is unknown and comes with its own set of terms we must adopt. The timelines, the politics, the parameters, the people, and the language of each municipality are always new and a cumbersome process to muddle through to complete the project on time. 

The Pandemic hasn’t made anything easier and continues to host its own set of concerns with new regulations regarding the local city, county, and State governmental approval timelines due to lack of staffing. Every project site has its own obstacle course of necessary bureaucratic approvals in place before we can break ground. However, over the years, experience has permitted us to strategically work with the local governments and municipalities to establish a new standard for our seniors. It has become a learning process, and I learned that I had to make the distinction if any concerns were produced by shortcomings beyond my control, or if they were mistakes that I could fix with time and effort. 

What would you say are the factors that have contributed to your success as an organization?

I have learned to be a problem-solver, and I have learned from my mistakes. I also have allowed myself to be a lifelong learner. I don’t assume I know everything, and I cherish the insight I have gained from others in continuing to grow. We have the right team of people to move this ship forward, and we make effective business decisions that support the perspective of business that we want to show to our investors. We have a healthy growth trajectory and as investors continue to see the achievements of what we do, they continue to support us. This propels our organizational success.

Business leaders have always emphasized the habit of reading for success. Is there a book from which you draw inspiration?

My inspiration has not come from any book but rather from my mother. My biggest influence and the person who has been most effective in seeing my growth has been my mother. For many years, she worked incredibly hard for the family and never complained. She just did what she needed to do to ensure her family was comfortable. She instilled in me a defining sense of hard work. She is a woman who has shown me confidence, unwavering calmness, patience, and intense grace. This has helped to get me where I am today. My mother is stoic, and I continue to look to her for guidance in times of distress or confusion and ask her to help me to exercise the humility and restraint she has projected all these years. 

Where do you see your company a few years from now?

I hope to see Build Senior Living as the largest privately owned assisted living company in the country. My goal is to provide every parent the confidence to live the quality life they deserve. It’s our turn to give back to them all our parents have given to us. I plan on launching this company in a direction that will showcase everything we aim to deliver while catapulting 

its success to new heights.

How has your journey been so far?

The journey has been great. It’s been relentless, but along the way, we have grown tremendously. In less than 6 years, we have gained substantial territory in what we are doing. We have great support and we continue to gain support from communities, families, and investors. There is still a long road ahead of us, but it’s only impossible if you don’t try.

Knowing The Man Behind Build Senior Living

Shahid Imran

Imran is a successful businessman who started his entrepreneurship with unbridled ambition and hope, strategic risk, a pinch of luck, and a lifetime of mama’s prayers. His humble beginning was the fuel that charged this small-village man with the resilience and perseverance to succeed. He started two businesses from scratch and watched them grow into millions in annual sales. 

As the owner of a medical equipment company, he was diligently working within the senior living environment. Imran understood that there was a definite need for assisted living because of the growing senior population. However, he was also recognizing the current conditions of these communities were subpar. Shahid’s image of senior living was a place of beautiful surroundings and a comfortable environment where he would want his own parents to come to live. His vision was to develop luxury assisted living communities that were still affordable. In 2012 a bold move catapulted his career. He sold his multimillion-dollar medical equipment business and began his journey in forming Build Senior Living.

With the COVID pandemic and the rise in life expectancy of our senior population, we saw many dark holes that confronted our parents and their families. We want to ensure that every

parent has a voice, and we want to be the voice of every parent.

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