Architect of change
The year 2018 has been The Year of Change, the time when digital disrupted all business sectors and forced them to change their business model. It was the year when digital disruption moved on to digital transformation of business models.
And it was the main factor in The Nation’s Business team picking Peerapong Jaroon-Ek, chief executive officer of Origin Property Plc as our Businessman of the Year.
Peerapong, now 42, has succeeded in driving yearly double-digit growth from 2009 until now, as the company adopted digital technology and artificial intelligence to design its residential projects. He drew on the tech to meet customers’ demand for speeded up construction processes. And the company developed its after-sales services, creating a range of products that differentiate the company in the real-estate sector.
And it has paid off handsomely as the company under Peerapong’s leadership boosted total revenue to Bt10 billion this year.
Peerapong established Origin Property Plc in the year 2009 drawing on savings of Bt1 million to develop its first condominium project worth Bt198 million on Sukhumvit 109, and selling out within five months.
“At that time, I believed that although the property sector faced high competition, it had room for me to do business. I decided to use digital and technology to change the business model, thinking it would change the industries red ocean to a blue ocean for me,” Peerapong said in a recent interview with The Nation.
Under his business model, Peerapong established Primo Service Solution Co Ltd, as a business arm to invest in startups. Primo would also develop digital technology to transform its business model from that of a property developer of residential projects to instead serve with homebuyers as a “Smart Service Living Solution” property firm.
The key to being a smart service living solution firm is to research and develop a technology platform to serve the demands of homebuyers who not only want to buy residential property, but also need ever-more lifestyle services.
Primo Service Solution Co Ltd was initially set up to collaborate with startups in the development of a “digital butler” – a living platform providing a selection of services to the residents of the company’s projects.
The unit also serves as an office for property management, housekeeping, brokerage and rental services, he said.
He added that the digital butler concept is in line with the Smart Service Living Solution in that the service meets all demands of customers demand and not only the building services, with the butler also providing a platform for shopping, entertainment and other services.
“We also use artificial intelligence for design and to speed up our construction process, so we were able to speed up our income from strong growth, even though the property sector as faced high competition from several property market leader firms from 2009 till now,” Peerapong said.
Digital was Peerapong’s tool to drive its business growth and transform its business model from property developer to living solutions firm.
“In my view digital helped us to learn who our customers are through [analysing] big data, and also helped us to use technology to support our construction process and develop new service to serve our customers’ demand. This was the way to boost the strong growth of our business from a small property firm nine years ago to now be in the top 10 of listed property firms in the market,” he said.
Origin Property Plc saw aggressive growth after investing Bt4 billion in 2017 to take a major stake in Proud Residences Co Ltd, the developer of luxury condominium The Park Sukhumvit 24.
Then, the company set up a joint venture firm with Japanese based Nomura Real Estate last year and announced a business plan to develop condominiums worth up to Bt18 billion in Bangkok from 2018 through 2020.
It also set up a new company, One Origin Co Ltd, to develop and manage recurring income businesses such as hotels, offices, and retail, with an investment value over than Bt10 billion from 2018 through 2020.
With an aggressive investment starting this year to 2023, the company expects its total revenue will achieve Bt32 billion in 2023 – up 100 per cent from its estimated total revenue of Bt16 billion for this year’s end.
“We expect Bt5 billion of total revenue from recurring incomes in the year 2022, as we also plan to apply for the digital firm, Primo Service Solution Co Ltd, to be a listed company in the Market for Alternative Investment in the next three years from now. This will sustain our business growth for the long term and balance our business model to be a smart service living solution firm,” he said.
Origin Property Plc has announced a total revenue of Bt10.69 billion and net profit to Bt2.39 billion for the first nine months of this year, up 166 per cent and 148 per cent from the same period of last year.
