Samir Manji grew up in commercial real estate — it was the family business — but when it was time to work professionally, he knew he wanted to build his own empire.

It wasn't his official first job, but the family had "stumbled" upon a distressed seniors housing in Vancouver that was for sale, and he had the opportunity to run it.

"I left Toronto and moved to Vancouver," said the president and CEO of Artis REIT, who is also chief executive of private equity firm Sandpiper Group.

At 24, he was a little young to be in the senior housing business and took a hands-off approach to property and management, settling into more of an oversight role of the asset.

"One morning my brother and I walked into the lobby, and there were a couple of wonderful older ladies sitting on the sofa. Residents. We went over to talk to them, and one of them asked, "Are you here to clean the carpets?'" said Manji with a laugh.

The future CEO had his eye on a bigger job and took the opportunity to make a couple more acquisitions, using that business to make it bigger through a publicly traded vehicle.

Eventually, that publicly traded business became Amica Mature Lifestyles, a TSX-listed company from 1997 until its sale to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in 2015 for the highest premium ever achieved in the Canadian public real estate industry.

"I was optimistic at the time of the sale," said Samir, who told disbelieving board members of Amica the company could be sold for $13 to $15 a share, only to see the eventual price of $18.75, or more than double its share price of about $8.

"It was an incredible journey, and I had the opportunity to meet an extraordinary group of 1,500 people who were passionate about the business and the residents."

Since then, Manji has been an active public markets investor and, in 2020, led a move to restructure the board at Artis, where he eventually took over as CEO.

Manji's first paying job dates back to his time with professional services firm KPMG, where he worked after getting his chartered account designation.

"I made an intentional request and was fortunate the partners granted my request to get exposure to real estate clients because my family was in the real estate business," said Manji, who didn't plan to be in the public accounting practice in the long term and joined the family firm in 1993.

"I wanted to be an entrepreneur and have some sort of involvement in the family business. But I learned a different side through audit and assurance work at the firm."

The legacy business was primarily multifamily assets, with some smaller hotels which were historically family-owned. His brother and twin sister worked with their father to expand that legacy business.

"We grew up with real estate around the kitchen table and observing what our father was doing," said Manji, who once spent a month working at the front desk at a motel on Robson Street, renting rooms.

"I don't know if that was my first job because I didn't get paid. I gained experience along the way. My other memory is sometimes, on Saturdays, my dad would go to a meeting or to a building, and he would take us with him. Sitting at the table and listening, I have fond memories."

Manji credits the journey to get his CA designation and the range of accounting, finance, tax and economics courses combined with work experience for helping him today.

"It gave me an understanding of different businesses, helped me develop financial acumen," he said.

The chief executive said he's learned that collaboration is key to running a business.

"It is better to start with lots of ideas and land on the best ones versus taking a more singular viewpoint," said Manji.