That she is among Inquirer Property's go-to experts when it comes to the Philippine real estate market already speaks of the reputation of Sheila Lobien, the chief executive officer and founder of eponymously named Lobien Realty Group Inc. (LRG). Since 2019, LRG has been a full-service real estate consultancy and property investments strategy firm engaged in commercial and office space leasing, capital investment optimization, and property acquisition and sales.

Lobien, a mother of two, worked from the bottom up. She first sold corporate packages for resorts before moving on to serviced apartments. Then she worked with Regus when it began offering the precursor of today's coworking spaces. She became a regional director and head of project leasing at a Fortune 500 firm. Later, deciding she wanted to make her own decisions, she put up LRG.

Now, she and a dedicated team seek to make LRG a major player. Behind her are experts, led by herself and founding partners who, together, had leased more than 2 million sqm of office and commercial space to high-quality tenants. In a 2019 interview, she noted that LRG was "just a continuation of what we have been doing... handling more than a hundred buildings."

As a leader, she avoids micromanaging the staff and just looks at results. To keep herself abreast of goings-on, she reads up on real estate and the economy, and takes lifelong learning seriously. Those have yielded results: She chairs the Women in Business Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines and is among the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women on LinkedIn 2022 Connected Women.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

March 29, 2023