After floodwater undermined their West Auckland home, Rishi Buggaveeti and Sonika Ravula used the disruption as a catalyst to build Oasis Base Group into an organisation spanning property, investment and cross-border solutions.<\/p>\n
\n When the Auckland Anniversary floods hit in January 2023, Rishi Buggaveeti and Sonika Ravula had just brought their
\n newborn daughter home from hospital.\n <\/p>\n
Within weeks, the West Auckland home they had expected to grow old in was gone, undermined by flood-damaged ground on the hillside beneath it.<\/p>\n
For the husband-and-wife founders of Oasis Base Group, the loss was bewildering. But it crystallised a new ambition \u2013 to build a resilient, internationally connected business that combines property, design-led thinking and early-stage investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were comfortable \u2013 probably too comfortable,\u201d says Buggaveeti. \u201cThen this happened, and it completely changed things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple downsized, relocated to Wellington, and focused on the business they had started years earlier as a town-planning and landscape-architecture consultancy and expanded into land development in 2019.<\/p>\n
Oasis Base Group evolved into a multi-sector enterprise spanning larger-scale subdivisions and developments under Oasis Base Property, and venture investment through Optional Gravity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had two options,\u201d Buggaveeti says. \u201cWe could try to find something else and carry on as we were, or go somewhere we thought we could actually grow further and start fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ravula, there was no carrying on as normal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep joking with Rishi that the house ejected us. It pushed us to our destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Complementary skills have shaped that destiny. Buggaveeti, a qualified town planner with a longstanding affinity for land, brings technical property expertise and financial discipline. Ravula who built and worked in India\u2019s emerging startup ecosystem earlier in her career, brings brand, growth, marketing and investment perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings the drive, and I bring the purpose,\u201d says Ravula. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s a clash for us, but that balance is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building for resilience<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s property arm, Oasis Base Property, is the foundation of the business. It focuses on premium, lifestyle-oriented land developments in New Zealand, including projects in Wellington, Taup\u014d, Palmerston North and the K\u0101piti Coast.<\/p>\n
Buggaveeti says the approach is deliberately selective. Instead of pursuing development at scale for its own sake, Oasis Base Property aims for manageable project timeframes and avoids becoming overexposed to a single local market.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur model focuses on sites below $5 million, with a target development timeframe of 12 months,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Its development decisions draw on Buggaveeti\u2019s planning background. Flood risk, geotechnical conditions, soils, infrastructure and the local market all form part of the analysis. He may assess hundreds of sites before finding one that meets the group\u2019s criteria.<\/p>\n
The experience of losing their own home has given that discipline added meaning. Oasis Base Property seeks to build beyond minimum compliance requirements, with climate resilience and long-term liveability embedded in site selection, infrastructure and design.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we do projects, we seek to design beyond minimum compliance requirements, taking a more conservative approach to flood risk and climate resilience,\u201d Buggaveeti says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not about making quick money and moving on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buggaveeti wants to challenge the assumption that developers are disconnected from the people who ultimately live in their projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes buyers from two or three years ago still get in touch,\u201d he says. \u201cI really like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group will invest and partner with NZ businesses across health, agriculture, climate and infrastructure in the coming years.<\/p>\n
Beyond property<\/p>\n
While property remains a New Zealand-focused business, Oasis Base Group\u2019s broader ambitions are international.<\/p>\n
Optional Gravity \u2013 the couple\u2019s early-stage investment platform, founded and led by Ravula \u2013 reflects her thesis to work with founders at the intersection of technology, sustainability and scalable business models.<\/p>\n
It holds select early-stage investments in companies including Wellumio, the Wellington-based brain imaging company; Goodmelts, a wellness-focused fragrance Indian brand; and QuantZen, a post-quantum cybersecurity firm based in UAE; along with several others.<\/p>\n
The goal is not simply to invest capital, but to help promising businesses navigate cross-border growth.<\/p>\n
Through connections across New Zealand, India, the United Arab Emirates and the wider Asia-Pacific region, the group sees an opportunity to help early-stage companies access new customers, networks and investment pathways.<\/p>\n
Ravula sees particular potential in helping smaller New Zealand businesses look beyond the traditional pull of the United States.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s enormous and diverse consumer market, alongside the UAE\u2019s role as a commercial and logistics hub, offers another route to international expansion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not trying to be a consultant that tells someone how to do it,\u201d Buggaveeti says. \u201cWe want to believe in the business, invest in it, become an active partner and help it take the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Built to adapt<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s global expansion has not been without further disruption. After establishing in Dubai, escalating conflict in the region created another period of uncertainty just as their family was settling in.<\/p>\n
Again they adapted, using the opportunity to spend more time in India, where they have set up a venture studio in Hyderabad, while retaining the core business connections in New Zealand and the UAE.<\/p>\n
The experience reinforced a lesson first learned after the floods: plans matter, but rigid plans can become a liability.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realised not to set really hard plans on where we need to be,\u201d says Buggaveeti. \u201cNew Zealand, Dubai and India are three familiar places for us. We are happy wherever we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ravula and Buggaveeti, that flexibility remains central to the Oasis Base Group story, though they remain firmly connected to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
What began with a home lost to floodwaters has become a more expansive proposition, a platform built to endure change and help others find opportunity within it. <\/p>\n
For more information visit Oasis Base Group – Driving progress with a purpose<\/a><\/p>\n Connect with the founders, Rishi<\/a> and Sonika<\/a> here.<\/p>\n