PropNex extends market lead on steady demand

SPANNING almost five decades, Mohamed Ismail Gafoor's obsession with real estate began with a childhood mired in poverty, one strewn with tales of how homelessness drove his grandmother and uncles to the brink of destruction.

"Growing up, my father told us how he and his siblings survived without a roof over their heads - they tried to seek shelter with relatives but were chased out, and at one point, my grandmother even brought him and his siblings to the river to commit suicide," recalled Mr Ismail, co-founder, executive chairman and chief executive officer of SGX-listed real estate services group PropNex Ltd.

Mr Ismail himself grew up in a one-room public housing rental flat with four other siblings, sleeping on a mattress on the floor and waking up at the crack of dawn to help deliver newspapers before heading to school. His afternoons were mostly spent helping his father in the family's provision shop.