Mohamed Ismail Gafoor

After he left army, Ismail was in insurance briefly before starting a real estate business, Nooris Consultants, with his wife on 1 January 1996.[1] He dealt mainly in the Malay-Muslim property market with about 250 agents and about $10 million in annual revenue. To compete and develop further, he decided he had to merge with big players who dealt with other communities, and formed a partnership with the founders of Prulink Realty in 1999 called First Class Consultants. In 15 July 2000, together with three other companies, he formed PropNex. However, within six months, the conglomeration collapsed due to differences among the partners. Two partners pulled out and in 2004, he bought the other two companies and became the sole proprietor of PropNex. By 2019, his company's agents rose from 1,000 to the current 8,400 agents or more, the biggest in Singapore, and it has also branched out to Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Ismail is the third son of Abdul Gafoor, a Tamil from Kudavasal in Tamil Nadu. His father came to Singapore penniless in 1945 at the age of 17 and ventured into various small businesses, including distributing newspapers. Ismail grew up in a one-room rental flat in Lengkok Bahru, where his father set up his shop. From age seven, he would get up 4.30 every morning to deliver newspapers before going to school and then help out in his father's shop in the evening.[1][2]

During Ismail's National Service, his army buddy revealed that his uncle had sold a property along Cavenagh Road and made a profit of about $250,000. It was then that he decided that he wanted to own properties, believing that owning a property is the best way to be successful. In 1983, he signed up as an army regular for another six years as he did well in the army and was recognised. He met his wife Nooraini in the army. He extended his contract with the army for another two years. Later, he was offered a retirement pension of $1 million if he signed on full-time. In 1995, at the age of 32, he quit his army career at the rank of Colonel (COL).