Meet the Team

Jonny Friedman

Joint Chief Executive Officer & Executive Chairman

Jonny has been transforming the inner city real estate and districts for over thirty years, and has made a major contribution towards the understanding of urban regeneration and placemaking. He began his career in the East End of London and was at the forefront of the transformation of Hoxton, Shoreditch, Clerkenwell and Whitechapel. In the mid 1990’s Jonny led the resurgence of Brighton on the South Coast of England by investing in over 100 buildings .

In 2005 on a visit to South Africa, the country of his birth Friedman saw the capital and human flight to the safety of the suburbs as an aberration and a trend that would reverse in all the major cities over the coming years. He witnessed how undervalued South African inner cities were and realised the opportunity to add significant value through large-scale regeneration.

Starting in Cape Town, Jonny invested in Bree Street, sparking its trajectory to become Cape Town’s “coolest block” (according to Vogue Magazine) and one of its most successful high streets. Further regeneration was undertaken around the Church Square precinct, Salt River, Sea Point and in other nodes. In Durban, Jonny recognised the immense energy and value in the Inner City area. He created the Professional Quarter precinct restoring the iconic modernist former Nedbank building - which today has become a sought-after hub for the legal and business sectors. With Urban Lime, Jonny kickstarted the revival of Florida Road into a destination loved by locals and visitors, and commenced the long-term regeneration at the Rivertown Precinct and Pixley Central. Today, this investment is valued at over R2 billion and as a result Urban Lime was nominated for a United Nations Award by the eThekwini Municipality.

He is a passionate believer in the importance of the South African cities to transform the economy by creating the environment for businesses, entrepreneurs and modern living to thrive. With the pandemic as an inflection point, Jonny understood how trends had disrupted traditional real estate models and recognised the need for solutions to reinvent properties - going beyond inner city regeneration and addressing a wider set of technological, cultural, social and economic challenges. With this in mind, he formed Fourth Space, a real estate services company and a new property fund, the to drive change in the coming decades.

Belinda Francis Scott

Joint Chief Executive Officer

Belinda Francis Scott was a Member of the KZN Provincial Legislature since the dawn of democracy in 1994, assuming many Portfolio Chairs prior to becoming the MEC for Finance for KwaZulu-Natal in the last term of office from 2014 to 2019. Thereafter Belinda served as the Deputy Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, to turn the finances in the City around.

Belinda has a Master’s Degree in Soc. Sc: Industrial and Labour Studies from UKZN, and is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Constitutional Law, PhD.Phil (Law). She was awarded both the KZN Provincial and National Housing Person of the Year awards in 1996 at the age of 32 for her vision in informal settlement upgrades. She served on both the Provincial and National Housing Boards in the late 90s and was a Director of the Cato Development Development Association for 10 years from 1996. Cato Manor was the first successful inner city housing development for disadvantaged people in SA.

Belinda left public office in February 2021 after 27 years to assume the position of Chief Operations Officer for Urban Lime. It is through Urban Lime that she continues to dedicate her passion and commitment towards the betterment of society through inclusive urban rejuvenation.

Nad Shahid

Managing Director, Projects

Nad Shahid has over 20 years sales and leasing experience that started in London, England. He is also a former professional cricket player with a career spanning 20 years winning a record five Championship medals.
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In 2009 Shahid and his family relocated to South Africa, where he took on the role as head of sales and new business development for one of the world’s largest resellers of lotteries and later founded ThisIsMe.com an online verification platform.
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In 2015 he was appointed as the Managing Director and Head of Leasing at Urban Lime. During his role as MD the company has embarked on its most significant and aggressive South African expansion acquiring a R1 billion plus portfolio in Durban. He has been in several successful precincts which include the revival of Florida Road in Durban, the formation of a leading legal precinct, The Professional Quarter in Durban CBD; Speakers’ Corner in Church Square and Salt Orchard in Cape Town to name a few.
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Shahid will also be taking on the role of Joint CEO for the Urban Lime Growth Fund- which is being launched in mid-2022. The fund is being set up to rise to the challenges facing the real estate market and capitalise on the opportunities that the post-COVID environment presents.
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As Managing Director for Fourth Space projects, a division of the Fourth Space, Shahid will oversee the redevelopment of properties within the Urban Lime Growth Fund.
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Shahid has also formerly served on the SAPOA committee in Durban (2016- 2019) and on numerous boards including the Urban Improvement Precinct of Florida Road.

Rick de Sousa

Chief Financial Officer

Rick is a seasoned Chartered Accountant (SA), having completed his articles at PwC in the advisory division. With 15 years’ experience, he has spent half of his career working for and consulting to the large banks and a few smaller FSPs, while the other half was spent in C-suite roles building investment funds and private companies. His core experience and expertise lie in best practise accounting standards, financial management, corporate governance, corporate and debt advisory, deal origination and corporate finance. A special focus and passion for real estate for the last 7 years has seen the successful raising of billions of rands for investment purposes.

Chris Rencken

Managing Director, Real Estate

Chris has over 15 years direct experience in the commercial property sector, having been involved in various aspects including transactions on the buy and sell side, focused asset management, and fund raising. He completed his Finance degree with cum laude honours, and has worked in the Urban Lime group since 2017, initially heading up the property management and leasing divisions, then overseeing property operations, and is now leading the asset management, investment and finance divisions of the business. Chris is an active member of the Durban and Cape Town property industries, and is a board member of the Florida Rd UIP NGO.

Sean Dayton

Group Legal Director

Legal executive with over 8 years’ post qualification experience, including a member of the senior executive team with strategic responsibilities over and above those of the legal team which he heads up. Currently Group Legal Counsel and director at urban regeneration specialist property group, Urban Lime Properties.
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In his 4 years at Urban Lime, Sean founded and grew the legal department to a team of four. Although a corporate lawyer at heart, has oversight responsibility for over 100 active litigation cases and has personally overseen and advised on real estate acquisitions and disposals valued at over ZAR350million.
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Prior to Urban Lime, was an Associate in top-tier African law firm Bowmans. Primarily focused on debt and equity fundraising, mergers and acquisitions while working across the firm’s Banking & Finance, M&A and Real Estate teams.
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While at Bowmans, was part of the team that advised on, amongst other things, the financing of the 76,000 m2 Cradlestone Mall, the listing of Freedom Property Fund on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as well as acting (in a very junior capacity!) as part of the team assisting Tata Communications in connection one of the largest transactions in South African history, namely the sale of Tata’s stake in Neotel, a transaction with an enterprise value of ZAR6.55 billion.
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Sean is business-minded and an all-rounder with a wide array of interests. He has always been defined by his fervent motivation to mentor and grow the junior members of his teams.
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He is also a committed urbanist and founding director of Young Urbanists NPC, a volunteer-run platform for young South African professionals in the various built environment professions with a goal to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing. Sean incorporated the organisation as a non-profit company in 2019, has organised numerous events on urban issues and has built strong connections through this association with the broader urbanist community, from academics and activists to developers and civil servants.

Dawood Patel

Managing Director, Finance

Dawood is an experienced finance professional with a demonstrated history of working in diverse industries including the medical, media and property sectors. Dawood has had the opportunity to work with leading individuals in their fields and has travelled across the continent of Africa to contribute to the success of ROAM. The leaders that Dawood has worked with, to name a few, are Switzerland based Ringier, New York based Tiger Global Four Management and Australian based SEEK. Dawood brings his strong skills in business strategy, negotiation, budgeting and management to the team. Having graduated with an Honours in BCOMPT, he has grown from a regional account to Head of Finance at a major media group before joining Urban Lime.
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Dawood is a family man who has good grounding and an excellent sense of humour. “As well as being hard-working, thorough and extremely capable, he was also unflappable with an unfailingly positive outlook.” says work colleagues on LinkedIn. With over 20 years of experience in the finance field, his commitment, aptitude and attitude contribute greatly to the success of the finance function.

Loretta Brady

Managing Director, Facilities

Loretta Brady is an experienced Facilities Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the real estate industry. Loretta has 13 years experience in the cleaning industry, starting out as a supervisor in 1982 and resigning as an Operations Manager in 1995 to join the property industry. She is skilled in negotiation, budgeting, lease administration, commercial / retail facilities management, housekeeping operations, in-house security management and H-vac management.

Loretta is meticulous with discipline and has a strong HR background. She is passionate about her work in the property industry, especially being involved with such a dynamic company in the latter years of her career.

Rashiq Fataar

Managing Director, Studio and Intelligence

Rashiq is one of South Africa’s leading thinkers in urbanism and placemaking having founded the widely respected consultancy and think-tank Our Future Cities in 2010. He graduated with an Actuarial Science Degree from the University of Cape Town and previously worked at one of South Africa’s largest insurance firms. He has served the Urban Lime group as a consultant since 2016, working closely with the leadership in the formation of Fourth Space and the Urban Lime Growth Fund. Fataar has served in several leadership positions including the board of Cape Town Tourism, Heritage Western Cape and has presented his work in cities globally.
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