Simon Ardonceau 2019 Speaker

Head of Strategic Consulting - Africa

JLL

Biography

Simon is the Head of JLL’s Strategic Consulting team in Africa which provides Strategic Advice and Real Estate Development Solutions including real estate related market assessments, development advisory and financial & investment analyses for projects across the African continent.

Together with his team, Simon provides strategic advisory services to private and institutional investors, developers, financiers, landlords and occupiers and has been involved on multiple high profile and complex developments across Sub-Saharan Africa the GCC, and North Africa.

He started his career in the real estate industry in 2006 as a broker in commercial real estate with Foncia Entreprise in Paris Central Business District and then joined BNP Paribas Real Estate. In 2010, Simon joined the Key Account team of the Agency Department of JLL Paris where he has developed an expertise in commercial real estate and has been involved in more than 40 large transactions in France representing a total of 340,000 sqm of office space leased and 50,000 sqm of office space acquired.

In 2013 he joined the Strategic Consulting team of JLL Dubai where he has been involved in numerous assignments including feasibilities studies, highest and best use studies, market research, market entry strategy across Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda,Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Djibouti, Madagascar, Mauritius, Algeria, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In 2016 Simon has joined JLL in Johannesburg to set up the Strategic Consulting department dedicated to Sub-Saharan Africa markets. In 2020, he relocated back to Dubai to oversee the growth of this division across the whole African continent.

Simon is currently enrolled at INSEAD in the Global Executive MBA program. He holds a Master Degree in Management from EDHEC Business School in France with a specialization in Real Estate Management from the European Business School in Frankfurt, Germany. He holds certificates in Real Estate Financial Modelling from New York University (REFM Level 2) as well as Certificates in Real Estate Valuation, Investment Management and Property Funding from the RICS institution and he is a RICS member. In addition to his native language of French, he is also fluent in English, with conversational knowledge of German, Spanish and basic knowledge of Russian.