Mr. Ng Keong Wee (NKW),Mr. Eric Lai Wee Meng (EL) of Peridot Development Sdn Bhd

World Leading Developer Companies' Interview No.7

SEKAI Property Editorial team interviewed Mr. Ng Keong Wee (Managing Director) and Mr. Eric Lai Wee Meng (Executive Director) from Peridot Development which has been developing different types of projects such as residential, commercial and industrial projects in Malaysia.

Right：Mr. Ng Keong Wee (Managing Director) of Peridot Development Sdn Bhd (NKW)

Left：Mr. Eric Lai Wee Meng (Executive Director) of Peridot Development Sdn Bhd (EL)

【About the person】
Could you tell me about your personal background?

NKW:   Graduated with Masters in Civil Engineering, but I focus on not only for Civil Engineering but also mathematics, finance, and statistics. It is not related to each other but these studies gave me wide experiences and knowledge. I joined the property industry after graduating and have 9 years of experience in the property industry. In 2012, I set up Peridot Development with partners due to the common interest in the property industry.

EL:    Graduated with Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering and Masters in Finance, and has started in the finance line for about 5 years before I joined the construction industry. Along the way, I have been involved in property development as well. Altogether, I have been in this field for the past 20 years. We started a few projects together and later on we tied up and constitute Peridot Development. Actually, we have known each other for a long time and we are family friends.

How did you get interested in real estate industry?

NKW:    The interest in real estate has been with me since I was doing my university years. It started off with questions and curiosity on how this building was constructed or how that project was planned, and also to seek for the answers to these questions until now it became my interest and my job. And yes, I do love my job.

EL:    While I was in the construction industry, I have come across the opportunity to be involved in property development. Since then, my career path has been moved to this line and has been fully involved since. And I think it is the better part for me and I can be more creative and exciting.

Have you learned any lesson throughout your business career?

NKW:    Teamwork and foundation. It is important to have a good teamwork, of course, I know it is not easy. I do not want the staffs to come here just for work, I want them to be happy.  And foundation; the start of a business begins from a solid foundation. So it’s important to make sure you have a strong foundation. With that, we can go further.

EL:    Foundation & Ambition. To have a successful career, you have to have a solid foundation in knowledge and life in general; for example with family and friends. Ambition is where it will take you as far as you can go.

What is your goal of life?

NKW:    Enjoy what you do and to have a balance in everything. For thinking about our staffs, I want to have good relations with our staffs. In order to get good relations, I have to be approachable with our staffs, pay proper salary, give advice and confidence.  Sometimes we do activities to go out together, take one day off. We believe if staffs are happy, productivity will come as well. 

EL:    My goal is to learn as long as I live - whether it has to do with work or life in general. I believe the day you stop learning is the day you leave this world. And I hope to see Peridot growing to a reputable company well known for the development industry. Sometimes we need tough speaking to manage all staffs, but we are welcome any suggestions all the time to improve our projects and company.

【About the company】

What are the advantages of your company?

We have a young and energetic setup. Besides that, we also have all the expertise we need for a development company: in the architecture, engineering, financial, marketing and business development field. Moreover, our team is very “hands-on” - from office matters to customer service. With the staffs, we are very open for them to approach to us. While with the customers, we always strive to maintain a good relationship with them and also to provide them with good after-sales service. Our company is not a big company, so it is the advantage to make a decision faster and each person has higher responsibility and knows what we have to do.

What is your company’s goal?

Our company tagline is “Building BRIGHTER, Living BETTER”. Whereby we strive to deliver innovative products and value-added properties to our customers and retain sustainable relationships with our business partners & communities. On top of that, we also strive to be socially responsible and environmentally friendly. We want to give what we think it’s best for our customers in terms of usability and for the investors in terms of their ROI.

How are you going to achieve this goal?

Our team is very “hands-on”. Each of us is focused on what we do, be it for value engineering, cost control and getting the approval in time to meet the deadlines. Besides, our marketing team is also strong as after sales service team as well. This is because we believe that the relationship with our customers does not end when we hand over the keys to them. Thus providing good after sales service is also an important practice for our company.

【About the project】

What is the latest project of your company?

We will be launching 2 new projects this year. Firstly is MARQ Bizpark which is a commercial project along Jalan Kapar at North Klang; which will be launched soon. MARQ comprises of 3-storeys Semi-detached and 3-storeys clusters retail offices. The other project is the NUSA Series @ Taman Manggis Jaya – a residential project at Banting; which will be launched at the end of this year. NUSA comprises of double storey semi-detached and cluster homes. Locations of both projects are very accessible, it is near to highway and port. Those who are doing business such as import and export, it is very strategic location, usage is very flexible for retail, logistic side, show house and show gallery and so on.  We are getting inquiries on both projects even before we launch. Currently, we are still creating awareness for the projects before the launch of the project.

What is the target for this property?

MARQ is a niche development, which is designed to cater for upgrades and for those who want to an office to showcase their product. On top of that, MARQ is also a flexible “all-in-one business” project as it is designed to cater a variety of business and industrial probabilities. NUSA is a project whereby there will be a central park with all the units facing the park. It is catered for locals at the area and upgrades as well. This is due to our successful venture into Banting with our previous project – Taman Nilam Residenz, we had received many inquiries for new projects with the bigger house. Lastly, we also target the international market as well. As for our project, MARQ is a very good product for the international market to invest or purchase for own use as it is strategically located near the bustling Port Klang.

What’s the aim of the project in terms of the number of how many customers you are going to have, benefits and the influences on urban development?

MARQ is a low-density commercial project with modern design. And we have managed to come out with a product which can cater for a wide scope of usage. NUSA is a low-density residential project with 30 units of semi-detached houses facing the central park. Moreover, it is a new concept in the town of Banting. We are not selling cheap houses. We are always thinking of the value and the price reflects the value such as quality, design, and usage of the product.

What is the greatest project in your company?

Every project is great, as all our projects are great in their own way. Our team had put in tremendous effort in every project to make it successful. However, our signature project will be PRIME @ Axis Industrial Park, which we have received the Asia-Pacific Property Award for that project. PRIME is our first industrial project, our team put in a lot of effort to make it a success in terms of construction and sales. And we gained a lot of new experience from this project in terms of the building structure, rules and regulations, authority matters, market, and sales.

How did you come up with the idea of this project?

The properties around this piece of land are majority detached factories. So we want to design a product which can cater for light industry – which was not available in the area then. This is to cater for the market for the light industry.

What are the differences of this project from the ones in other firms?

Every project is different. Our teams are hands-on and we strive to deliver a value added product to our customers.The value added is not only in terms of return on investment but also to the value of quality of the product and also the value of service which we provide to the customers such as following up and keeping touch with them. 

How is it going to become the advantages?

With a good value of quality of the product, our customers will be happy with the quality of the product they had purchased and spread the news via word-of-mouth; which can create good branding for our company. As with good value of service, for example, our marketing team, will make sure that the handover of keys procedures is smooth and make sure the customers are happy throughout the process. Happy customers can help to create good branding for our company as well. It is important for us to add some value to make better points than other developers.

【About real estate market】

How do you think of the current situation of the real estate market in your country and what about the future?

We are always positive with the property market and looking for opportunities. However, the market is changing and pretty selective at the moment and there is still demand for the mid-range landed property. At the end of the day, every person needs a home to stay and every business needs a premise to run the business.

【Message】

Do you have anything that you would like to tell foreign investors?

It is better to come to Malaysia once and see the projects. Malaysia is a lovely country and free of natural disaster. And property is the most solid form of investment since the olden days. So, with the current currency, it makes it even more attractive for foreigners to venture into Malaysia’s property market, be it for investment or own use. The foreign investors would have done their research before making any purchase. So, if their research is done right and calculation is done right, they would know that our product is a good one to invest in.