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PropNex giving $6m to Community Chest to celebrate SG60

PropNex executive chairman Ismail Gafoor presenting a cheque for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund to ST associate editor Zakir Hussain on July 15. ST PHOTO

Singapore –  PropNex, Singapore’s largest real estate agency, will make a $6 million donation to the Community Chest to commemorate SG60, in addition to contributions to other charitable initiatives, including The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF).

The donations were announced on July 15 by the firm’s executive chairman Ismail Gafoor, at a ceremony for the company’s 25th anniversary celebration.

The event, which was hosted at the Marina Bay Sands convention centre, was attended by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

The $6 million donation, to be made over the span of 12 months, is the company’s single largest contribution to the charity. In addition, PropNex has pledged to donate $1.5 million annually from 2025 to 2027.

The property firm first started donating to Community Chest – the philanthropic arm of Singapore’s National Council of Social Service – in 2013, and has given the charity more than $10 million in the last 12 years.

Community Chest supports children with special needs, children at risk and low-income families, along with other causes.

Since 2009, PropNex has been supporting organisations focused on underprivileged children and education, including Hair For Hope and Food For Families.

Mr Gafoor said the firm places an emphasis on its employee volunteering.

He pointed out that employees would organise events for organisations such as the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home. In 2024, PropNex’s employees took the home’s children on an outing to Universal Studios.

“Giving money is easy,” said Mr Gafoor. “It must be a culture within the organisation.”

Mr Chew Sutat, chairman of Community Chest, said this was an example of sustainable philanthropy, as it “is not just about dollars and cents – it’s also about time”.

Separately, Mr Gafoor also announced that PropNex has set up the PropNex Foundation, a fund which would support the education needs of underprivileged students. To launch the foundation, some $254,000 in education grants will be awarded to 160 students in Singapore in 2025.

At the event, Mr Gafoor said his dedication to philanthropy was inspired by his father’s journey to build a better life for him and his five siblings as a newspaper delivery man.

“My dad came from nothing, no education. He’s a survivor. He came to Singapore and made a difference. I wanted to bring the same ethos to everyone,” he said.

Childhood stories like these can be found in Mr Gafoor’s new memoir, I Am Not Good Enough, which was also launched on July 15. The book’s publisher, Focus Publishing, is a subsidiary of SPH Media, which also owns The Straits Times.

Mr Gafoor said profits from the book will be donated to STSPMF, which provides pocket money to children from low-income families. He also made an initial donation of $25,000, and presented a mock cheque to Mr Zakir Hussain, a board trustee of STSPMF and ST associate editor.

At the event, Mr Gafoor also announced that, effective immediately, he would be stepping down as PropNex’s CEO and will be the firm’s executive chairman going forward. He added that deputy chief executive Kelvin Fong will be taking over as CEO.

I Am Not Good Enough is available at Kinokuniya, Popular and WH Smith bookstores.

The Straits Times © SPH Media. Reproduced with permission.