Like many first year undergraduate students, Darren Adamah (BA ’20) wasn’t sure what career he wanted to pursue right away. As a newcomer to Canada by way of Ghana, Darren found himself in unfamiliar territory, leaving friends and family to study in a new country. While finding his way as a student, Darren began to make personal connections at York that helped him discover a newfound passion that would shape his future. Currently an Analyst, Real Estate Asset Management at Forum Asset Management, Darren fondly recalls how the feeling of community at York helped him discover his passion for real estate.
“I wasn’t fully decided on what I wanted to do. I got accepted into the Financial and Business Economics program for my undergrad degree,” says Darren. “That program gave me a very strong foundation to go into different areas, if I wanted to go into business, economics, or finance, I would know what to do because of that program.”
While he was a student, Darren lived at the Quad at York, a student residence on Keele campus. The Quad would not only be his home but would also become his workplace when he landed a job as a coordinator working with student housing contracts in 2019 and then as a leasing manager in 2022. Darren’s experience living and working at the Quad created a sense of community that he missed from back home in Ghana and would simultaneously ignite his passion of real estate management.
“This might sound like a sob story, but the passion kind of grew when I came from Ghana and moved into a student housing building,” says Darren. “You live with everybody and get to know each other, which created a strong bond and shared community experience.”
After completing his undergraduate degree, Darren’s interest in real estate management led him to pursue his Master of Real Estate and Infrastructure (MREI) degree at the Schulich School of Business where Darren learned about the Developers’ Den competition, Canada’s longest running case competition. At Developers’ Den, students compete against each other to solve a challenging real estate problem, applying skills and knowledge learnt from the program.
“I knew some friends who had competed in the (Developers’ Den) competition in previous years,” says Darren. “After learning about their projects and about the overall competition, I fell in love with it. I knew it was something that I wanted to compete in.”
Darren entered the 2024 Developers’ Den competition and was part of the winning team in front of a panel of judges from across the industry. He credits the experience of meeting industry professionals as integral to helping him land his current position in real estate management.
“Winning the Developer’s Den opened so many doors,” says Darren. “It played out in front of so many people in the industry who are in attendance. It’s one of the few opportunities to truly pitch yourself in front of so many potential hiring managers looking for talent. Winning did a lot for me.”
Now as an alumnus, Darren is a member of the York University Black Alumni Network (YUBAN) where he has looked to share the same feeling of community that he treasured in student residence. He cites YUBAN as a great opportunity for Black alumni to build their community network and develop strong bonds and friendships.
“YUBAN is important in creating a network and a community,” says Darren. “A lot of people who are not from Canada can feel a bit isolated in a new country without their families and just like the families I made in student housing, this is another way to make a very strong connection with people.”
If you are interested in finding out more about how you can get involved with YUBAN or want to hear more about their upcoming initiatives, please contact Yasmine Mensah, Alumni Engagement Officer, at mensahy@yorku.ca.