Zara Realty, an organization based in Queens, New York, USA, is one that focuses on providing facilities mainly for housing purposes. Founded by the late George Subraj in 1982 – a Guyanese
who migrated to the United States in the 1970s – the business is one that has been known to meticulously cater to the needs of its clients. Subraj was able to realize immense success through his business endeavours, which in turn exposed his philanthropic nature, allowing him to eagerly give back to his homeland in any way possible. In fact, he started giving his support in the areas of health and education in Guyana.
Sadly, Subraj passed away in November of 2016. Be that as it may, his work lives on through his family. During an interview with the Guyana Inc. Magazine, Subraj’s brother, Jay Sobhraj, and son, Tony Subraj, revealed that the founder of the company was essentially an entrepreneur determined to
achieve his goals.
“After working various jobs in Queens, he saved up enough money to buy his first building, the beginning of a lifelong investment in his quality, affordable housing business – Zara Realty.”
In fact, the duo revealed that, “Zara Realty has never sold a building it has purchased in Queens, New York and has renovated and improved thousands of apartments in the communities it serves.”
Incidentally, many of the establishment’s clients are Guyanese immigrants living in New York. According to the principals, even after the death of Subraj, the establishment is one that has maintained a strong professional team which works with clients to help them meet their respective needs. The Zara team is one that swiftly responds to their concerns and works to ensure that they are provided with the highest quality service possible. “Generally, maintenance staff are assigned to each building and are on site and available when needed,” they revealed. “In New York, we rent out
primarily studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments, furnished and unfurnished, with new appliances, renovated kitchens and bathrooms, with full amenities such as laundry in the
building, dishwashers in individual units, in some buildings balconies and roof decks for recreation,” the principals revealed. To them, tenants are like family. For this reason, they shared, “We encourage communication between staff and tenants and we arrange frequent tenant appreciation events for adults and children where there is food, entertainment, raffles and, most importantly, a sense of camaraderie among people in the building. That is the greatest gift we can give.” Tony Subraj added too, “It is incredibly meaningful to be recognized for our charitable work. My father [George
Subraj] believed that compassion and virtue begin with action, which is why he started the Subraj Foundation to provide vital medical care to people in Guyana. My family and I are proud to continue
that important work and to expand and improve upon it.” The Foundation, now run by Tony
Subraj, sponsors the corneal and kidney transplants. Most recently, it partnered with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC] to offer free eye care at the hospital and at clinics strategically
located across the country, including Berbice, Yakusari Bhuvaneshwar Mandir, Black Bush Polder and the Linden Hospital complex. More than 1,000 patients were seen in just a few days, receiving eye care for ailments related to diabetes, hypertension and other medical problems, as well as free glasses. In addition to this, nine corneal transplants were completed, bringing the total number of transplants performed in Guyana in collaboration with the Subraj Foundation to 72. The Foundation
pioneered this type of procedure in Guyana, as well as supporting the country’s first ever kidney transplant, a service that it continues to support to date. Jay Sobhraj revealed that he also runs a
foundation, called the Jay and Sylvia Sobhraj Foundation, which sponsored the Psychology degree program and the cyber security initiative. He noted that since cybercrime has been found to be
especially rampant in Guyana and the police are not trained to investigate it, moves have been made to lend support in this regard. The objective, he said, is also to educate the public and the
business community on cybercrime even as he pointed out the “do’s” and don’ts” to help avoid becoming a victim. The support to the police force, he revealed, “is to continue our goal of bridging
the gap between the Police and the community. Community policing is very productive in preventing crime and very helpful in assisting in criminal investigations around the world, so why not in Guyana?” An Information Technology [IT] Centre sponsored by the company has been
helping to bridge the gap and create opportunities for the local Guyanese to be trained for IT jobs. Support from Zara Realty has also been forthcoming in the areas of sport too and even more
unbridled support has been assured by the principals for Guyana.