Filipinos have played a key role in the growth of Singaporean proptech Ohmyhome. In fact, two Filipinos are members of the 10-man elite group of professionals who helped it grow to its lofty position.
As Ohmyhome grew, more Filipinos joined the team, working hard to help and sharing their talent to help the company achieve its vision: building better lives through better housing journeys.
As Southeast Asia’s leading property technology company, Ohmyhome continues to achieve remarkable success starting in Singapore and Malaysia with over 5,000 property transactions and an impressive 99-percent customer satisfaction rating.
With Ohmyhome setting up operations in the Philippines, the company expects the PH group to replicate the achievements in Malaysia and Singapore through the same collaborative efforts to enhance Ohmyhome’s reputation for fast and efficient property transactions.
Rhonda Wong, Ohmyhome chief executive officer, speaks highly of the company’s work force of more than 80 employees working in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines offices. “When we build a product or design a service, all team members from the three different countries function towards making that service work,” Rhonda explained in a press statement.
Rhonda’s sister and cofounder Race Wong, Ohmyhome chief product officer, said teamwork is an important part of Ohmyhone’s success.
“It doesn’t matter where a team member is based. We regard each other as family so we have a tight relationship. With the region’s quarantine measures still in place, our people work from home most of the time using online communication tools,” she said.
Rhonda and Race are especially pleased that their hardworking and dedicated team feels a strong sense of ownership at Ohmyhome. The siblings say they run the team like their own family. “In fact, we spend more time with our teammates than with our own kids,” Race pointed out.
Although it offers a broad range of services, Rhonda and Race do not consider 80 a large group, which means that most members are focused on individual job functions. “We do not need to hire more people because we believe that a small but proficient team empowers everyone to see meaning in their job and produce meaningful results,” Race explained.
Ohmyhome’s core team currently has 25 Filipinos who work in its Philippine office in Quezon City. But back in 2017, they only had four comprising the technical team. Race and Rhonda recalled how the tiny crew had to camp in Internet cafés and hotel lobbies. “Our office was not ready, then, because the process of renting one and acquiring Internet service took longer than expected. It was quite tough for the team back then, but looking back, those were pretty fun times.”
The Ohmyhome Philippine team, however, quickly grew. Within two years, it had to move to an office with enough space to accommodate the company’s sales and operations people. With everything falling into place, Ohmyhome was in the run-up to its official launch in the Philippines.
Rhonda and Race now disclose that Ohmyhome’s technical group that launched the app in the Philippines belonged to the same core team that launched it from day 1 in Singapore and in Malaysia in 2019. “Therefore,” Rhonda said, “they are experienced in the data and research required to adapt Ohmyhome’s platform to the Philippine real-estate market. Initial preparations only took three months and the actual engineering work took another three months.”
Rhonda revealed there are a number of Ohmyhome Filipino employees who had worked in local real-estate industry and this has helped the proptech firm in handling challenges such as unreliable agents, a lack of transparency, slow feedback and decentralized property services, problems the Philippines share with other countries in Southeast Asia.
The entry of Ohmyhome is a welcome development as it can help Filipino property owners through its platform to sell or rent out their own properties. The traditional system is quite cumbersome. Usually, an owner will check with their friends or network for prospective buyers. Ohmyhome seeks to address through its unique hybrid model that combines a do-it-yourself (DIY) platform and professional agency services that can assist clients in their entire housing journey.
To address these issues, the Ohmyhome Philippine team made numerous modifications to the platform and customized it to suit the Philippine market. For instance, real-estate jargon or terminology was localized for clearer communications. Project or property information in listings was tweaked for the local property market. Content and other data were also amended for a seamless user experience for the Filipino property transactor.
Moreover, Ohmyhome PH also pointed out that they are different from existing property portals that functions as a marketplace for agents to sell properties in the country. At Ohmyhome, Philippine properties are listed by developers, homeowners, and in-house agents to ensure quality listings.
“We have created a new experience of property transactions,” Rhonda explained. “Our unique business model provides a full-stack solution for our customers—from search, post, agent services, mortgage, conveyancing, legal, renovations to movers and other property-related services.”
“While the technology is ready,” Rhonda and Race Wong said, “we will be rolling out our services—in phases—in the next nine months. Filipinos will soon enjoy the efficient and reliable seamless service Ohmyhome provides.”