By Felix Chong

FOR chief executive officer Mohamed Ismail of P & N Holdings, honesty, integrity and ethics are the touchstones of his company - better known as PropNex, the biggest real estate company in Singapore.

'I want to give this industry a positive image of professionalism,' says the 45-year-old former army captain at his office at HDB Hub.

Mr Ismail left Mindef in 1995 to set up a two-person real estate outfit with his wife, Ms Nooraini Noordin, during the property boom in 1996.

The company, Nooris, made over $1 million in gross commission in its first year of operation, and it eventually grew to be the biggest Malay-Muslim real estate company.

In 2 000, Mr Ismail formed an alliance with Prulink, Country and two other agencies, which led to the formation of PropNex Groupings. Prop- Nex was fully merged in 2004.

'I run this company based on values,' says Mr Ismail, who owns four properties in Singapore and one in Kuala Lumpur.

'For example, two months ago, we decided to terminate 2,800 agents who were not performing.

'PropNex has also initiated a bold move in making it mandatory for agents to compulsorily acquire indemnity insurance of $100,000 each.

'That costs us premiums to the tune of $500,000. If any agent is not prepared to pay for this cover, coupled with 12 hours of training every year, then he cannot continue to be a Prop- Nex agent,' he explains.

In addition, PropNex sets the industry standard in offering the agents a dual-career path.

Started in 2000, it allows the agents with leadership qualities to be groomed as managers and be given profit-sharing opportunities.

'A lot of our competitors thought it was a matter of time before we would go bust,' he recalls of the initial reaction to this scheme.

'Today, I'm proud to say the entire industry is following our model.'

This level of professionalism explains why PropNex, which commands 40 per cent of market share of public housing and over 30 per cent of the private secondary market, transacted property deals in excess of $12 billion last year. The gross commission received was $130 million.

'This is not a one-man award,' says Mr Ismail on being one of the top entrepreneurs.

'It's also recognition for my team.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on October 22, 2008.