Kelvin Fong takes the helm of PropNex as CEO, Ismail Gafoor remains Executive Chairman
The leadership change comes as PropNex commemorates its 25th anniversary, noting the occasion with several neighborhood efforts and the establishment of a $10 million endowment fund.
In a press function on July 15 revealing the leadership shift and various other company efforts, Gafoor said that the division of the duties of executive chairman and chief executive officer enhances the company’s general corporate governance by formalising the division of control and monitoring.
The freshly developed PropNex Foundation was formally launched at a company-wide event at Marina Bay Sands on July 15, graced by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, that looked after the very first disbursement of $254,000 to 160 students.
The endowment fund will aid to anchor a PropNex Foundation, jointly developed by Gafoor and PropNex co-founder Alan Lim, that plan to expand the fund to $25 million over the following 10 years. Returns from the foundation’s investment will go towards programmes that sustain indigent students and educational initiatives.
Other leadership appointments at PropNex were introduced in March. Dominic Lee who was supervising the high-end team for the last ten years, is head of investment sales. Simultaneously, Jason Tan represented principal technique specialist. He was the advisory partner branch district director at PropNex, leading a group of over 1,000 sales representatives. Tan also acted as a tech expert on PropNex’s proprietary apps: Investment Suite and Business Suite.
Mainboard-listed real estate firm PropNex has already declared that Kelvin Fong is going to take the business as its brand-new CEO, stepping up from his former duty as deputy chief executive officer. Outgoing CEO Ismail Gafoor, who co-founded the homegrown agency 25 years back, will remain as the firm’s exec chairperson. He is going to continue to be actively involved in leading the business’s strategic path, stakeholder engagement, and Board leadership.
Gafoor moves back after top PropNex Real estate to become a dominant realty company in Singapore. During his tenure, he supervised the company’s listing on the Singapore Exchange in July 2018, as well as the company’s regional development recently. Nowadays, PropNex has established an industry existence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia. It has a consolidated network of greater than 16,000 real estate agents.
“PropNex has actually consistently demonstrated that still as we remain to grow our sales force in Singapore and in the area, we have actually prevented operational slowness and focused on increasing the general efficiency of our representatives,” states Gafoor, mentioning internal figures that suggest transactions by PropNex agents accounted for roughly 64% of all resale HDB, private residential brand-new launches, and resale condominium transactions in Singapore last year.
The duties of deputy CEO will be shared within six essential heads, namely Eddie Lim, senior vice-president and head firm officer; Marcus Luah, director of business growth; Bobby Sng, head of development leadership; Ken Ng, head of development business; Benjamin Tan, head of business strategy; and Cijay Tew, head of training and development. PropNex claims that there are no strategies to fill the deputy CEO function currently.
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Ultimately, Gafoor released a self-enrichment book labelled I Am Not Good Enough, that shows his personal life journey, accumulating PropNex and his management values. Profits from the sale of the 27-chapter book are going to be contributed to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. The book will be offered from July 16.
He adds that as CEO, his attention will be on empowering PropNex’s more than 13,000 sales force in Singapore, innovating its services, and boosting operational effectiveness. Its total salesperson head count in Singapore translates to about 35% of the market share.
PropNex also introduced a $6 million payment to the Neighborhood Chest over a 12-month period, the largest single donation to the charity in its history. The amount was raised through voluntary pledges of a portion of sales commissions by PropNex agents, along with team and administration. The local agency authorized a memorandum of understanding with Community Chest, pledging to donate $1.5 million every year from 2025 to 2027.
Fong joined PropNex in 2002 and was assigned an executive head in June 2018 and subsequently promoted to deputy CEO in August 2023. “I’ve had the privilege of growing together with PropNex for over two decades, and I’m deeply committed to maintaining the society that has actually made us who we are,” states Fong.
