Organic resilience and a strong sense of mission got Prima Paramount off to a flying start 10 years ago, and have kept this customer-focused, community-centric developer thriving and delighting its residential, commercial and industrial stakeholders.

The Prima Paramount Group has come a long way from its ‘baptism of fire’ beginnings in 1997 as a ‘white-knight’ developer that revived an abandoned project in Kuala Lumpur. The currency crisis that erupted took everyone by surprise, and it was only due to ‘organic resilience’ and prudent financial management that the company was able to survive, and thrive.

“It was a matter of doing the right thing in the right place at the right time – anticipating what the market can handle and not being too ambitious in the glamour and scale of our development,” says Ooi Chee Hong, the group’s director.

“Fortunately, we also had sufficient organic resilience to take a knock on the selling price and still come through – the project is now 100 per cent sold,” he says.

Solid and Diverse Portfolio

It is from such trying beginnings that great strength develops. Prima Paramount has since built an impressive RM1 billion portfolio of mixed developments, including residential, commercial and industrial projects. It has also sealed its reputation for delivering projects of quality and value and on time.

With its hallmark being care and attention even after sales, the group’s current headliner is Prima Saujana, a RM500 million, 202-acre township that offers 2,700 units of residential and commercial properties just off the Cheras-Kajang Highway. Its offerings include the 33-acre Saujana Villa enclave of elegant bungalows and semi-Ds. Other projects include:

Not Just Selling Buildings but Developing Communities

For the founders of Prima Paramount, property development is not just about making and selling buildings, but an ideal way to build homes and communities.

“Development is not a cowboy business. For long-term success you must have an ideal sense of mission, of what you can do for people. If your aim is only to benefit yourself, you can make that work for a while. But over time, the kinks in your system will start to show and you will see your customers going away.

“While the aim of business is certainly to make a profit, when you have a mission of creating good homes you are also helping to create good families and eventually a healthier society.”

This can mean taking a bit more time to plan the design of the building, or even the whole layout of the development, to provide more green to the residents. For Prima Paramount, it meant taking away one bungalow lot from its Saujana Villa development and using the land to provide a clubhouse instead for residents’ enjoyment. Every future project parcel of Prima Saujana will also have a community centre, adds Ooi.

For its commercial projects, the developer does not just build shops, but also works with the authorities to conduct events and help drive traffic to its complex. Meanwhile, it is also trying to incorporate hypermarkets and public transportation into its development – all part of going the extra mile for its stakeholders.

Perhaps it is this care and attention to continuously develop good communities that explains why Prima Paramount is not in a rush to expand overseas, a tactic some developers are pursuing almost as a fad.

“This will be in the later part of our business plan,” smiles Ooi. Once the group has rounded off its creation of good communities in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Baru, the business model can be replicated overseas in locations like Vietnam and India.

Serenity and Self-Reflection

The calmness and focus on doing the right thing the right way is a philosophy based on life, says Ooi: “Bricks and mortar are the hardware, but the software driving you is the sense that whatever you are doing should benefit not only yourself, but also your customers.”

This is a philosophy he has held even as an Ipoh schoolboy, driving around viewing beautiful houses with his uncle, and this was the driving force which led him to become an architect.

As a managing director overseeing a billion-dollar portfolio during economically turbulent times, Ooi relies on two pillars to keep his mind serene and healthy. While one helps to improve and expand the mind, the other helps to keep it on track.

“All of us have too many things we’re rushing with, so many challenges and demands on our time. Whether you pray, self-reflect or meditate, you need to find some quiet time within yourself every day. Just take 10 minutes and look back to see and ask yourself, ‘What did I do, what was good or not so good, and how could I have done it better?’

“All of us come with baggage and we can’t change ourselves overnight. Our parameters will tend to steer off-course over time. So, this act of self-reflection, of looking back and checking, will give us appropriate guideposts to correct ourselves and stay on course,” says the serene Ong.