Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 20, 2021 - December 26, 2021

No. 5 | Eco World Development Group Bhd
  2021 2020
Overall 5 8
Quantitative 8 7
Qualitative 5 6

Driving into Eco Grandeur, it is hard to miss the immaculate landscaping and imposing arches that lead to rows of stately, landed homes — hallmarks of an Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld Malaysia) development.

Sitting in a cosily fitted-out Co-Home show unit at Eco Grandeur’s show gallery in Bandar Puncak Alam, EcoWorld Malaysia president and CEO Datuk Chang Khim Wah shares his optimistic outlook for the property market. “We must be optimistic because we did RM3.1 billion in sales within 10 months of FY2021. We’re looking to close the year strong as well, as we see that the momentum and demand are still very much there for us and our projects.”

Since 2016, EcoWorld Malaysia has been recognised as being among the top-ranked developers at The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards. The feat is all the more noteworthy considering that the company was only set up in 2013.

The developer has a land bank of about 8,325.3 acres with a total gross development value of RM86.9 billion. It has built a presence in the Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and Penang, with 20 projects comprising affordable, upgrader and luxury homes, as well as integrated high-rise developments and green business parks.

Through Eco World International Bhd, the EcoWorld brand has extended its reach to the UK and Australia.

In December last year, EcoWorld Malaysia was included in the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index in recognition of its efforts in sustainability and good environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. The company was also accepted as a participant of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) when it committed to making the UNGC’s principles part of its strategy, culture and day-to-day operations.

Here, Chang talks about his plans and strategies for growing the company.

City & Country: How have the past 12 months been for EcoWorld Malaysia?

Datuk Chang Khim Wah: We’ve had to meet the challenges of lockdowns, the Covid-19 pandemic, adjusting to post-pandemic life and new work norms. It has been a challenging period, but it has also been a time of awakening, a time for us to learn.

We are quite lucky to have digitalised a lot of our processes, not just in terms of sales and marketing but also internally to improve the overall efficiency and productivity of the team. For instance, a huge proportion of the team was working from home during the lockdowns, but we were still very productive. We’ve also found that our sales during lockdowns are almost as good as pre-pandemic levels. This is helped by our strong branding.

No doubt, construction work was slightly delayed due to the lockdowns, but we managed to get certain permits to start certain works along the way. We also embarked on our corporate vaccination programme, whereby all our staff and their family members, as well as our consultants, contractors and site workers, were vaccinated so that we could all work safely and catch up on lost time.

While there were challenges, we found new ways to overcome the hurdles and have become even more efficient and detailed in our work. Though it has been a challenging period, it has been fulfilling as well. We are quite proud of the team as they have been agile and adaptive to the circumstances.

EcoWorld Malaysia surpassed its FY2021 sales target of RM2.875 billion but saw a year-on-year dip in net profit and revenue for 3QFY2021 ended July 31. What contributed to the higher sales figure, and what were the challenges faced?

We surpassed our sales target in 10 months at RM3.1 billion. We also surpassed last year’s sales of RM2.3 billion. Despite the challenges, I think we have adapted to online sales and social media marketing very well.

Also, a lot of people have come to see our projects over the last few years and they could see that we had put in a lot of effort to make our developments very liveable in terms of security, maintenance, built environment and community.

We also help residents move in as quickly as possible in all our projects, assist investors with tenant matching and help business owners to kick-start their business. For instance, when we handed over Esplanade (the first commercial phase at Eco Grandeur), all the ground floor units had been pre-leased. At our business parks, we help owners get licensing and renovations done. We’ve gone the extra mile to offer those services, and I think those efforts helped build confidence in the brand.

Of course, the lower interest rates assisted as well. But I think sales and demand for our projects have been very strong, partly because we offer a range of components in the property sector. Commercial and industrial properties have done particularly well this year. 

As for the year-on-year dip in 3QFY2021, that was basically due to the FMCO (Full Movement Control Order), so slower work progress, and progress billing is slightly delayed. This is more of a time factor, which we will catch up in the next two quarters. Nonetheless, the point to note is that our cumulative nine months’ results was much better this year than last year. We expect to see a good FY2022.

EcoWorld Malaysia has been focused on the co-creation concept. Will the company continue to focus on this segment, and why?

Co-creation is but one of the innovative ways we connect with our customers. Our campaign last year was #YouBelong. This year, our new campaign is ‘Together We Create’, which is about reaching out to all our customers to understand their needs and find out what we can do more.

Like our company vision of ‘Creating Tomorrow and Beyond’, we are telling our customers that we will create that vision together. We have done a lot of surveys to suss out the needs of both potential and existing customers. The data help us make better and faster decisions.

We have seen a very good response for this campaign, especially from the younger group, who see us as partners. This becomes a better experience for everyone, rather than the cold, distant relationship of just a buyer and seller. So far, people are happy with our co-created and innovative designs such as the Co-Home, ErgoHomes and Garden Home.

Please tell us about your upcoming projects.

We have 19 projects ongoing. The latest one is Eco Botanic 2 in Iskandar Malaysia, which we launched in March this year.

For 2022, we will be rolling out new-phase launches in our ongoing developments, and all our project launches will be built on one premise — to enhance the value of our ongoing developments. We have built strong foundations for them, and it is really time to enhance these for our customers, residents, shareholders and stakeholders.

Our new launches will also be on the premise of continued innovation to suit market needs. Some of our innovative products over the last few years such as Co-Home and ErgoHomes have attracted a lot of young people.

In addition, we’re looking to launch more duduk products, but with some variation in the design. Our duduk products sold very well. Units are about 1,000 sq ft and priced around RM300,000 to RM400,000. These are good apartments with just enough amenities to suit young people.

In addition to landed properties, suburban apartments and shopoffices, we will be launching new phases of business parks as well, as there is amazing demand for them. While border controls have slowed overseas investment, we expect more interest to come in when the borders reopen, hopefully, over the next few months. Nevertheless, our business parks, at this point in time, can actually depend on local demand as many manufacturers in the country are doing quite well, especially those involved in logistics, warehousing, medical supplies, packaging and even precision manufacturing and engineering.

We will also be looking to launch a new serviced apartment block at our Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) development, called SWNK Houze, next year. Meanwhile, the ongoing components at BBCC are almost completed, and we look forward to their opening within the next two to three months. The mall, Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport, has been handed over to Mitsui Fudosan Asia, and the transit hub, which has LRT, monorail and MRT services, is completed. The apartments and offices, as well as the entertainment block, which houses the Malaysian Grand Bazaar and the Zepp concert hall, will be completed soon. After five years of building BBCC, it is finally done, and we are very excited. I think it will be an iconic part of KL.

What are EcoWorld Malaysia’s sustainability targets, and why is this important to the company?

Sustainability has always been part of our DNA. It is why we do strata landed properties — to build communities so that the built environment can be sustained over time. It is an integral part of our business strategy.

We look at sustainability from three pillars — economical, environmental and social. We are also in the FTSE4Good Index and the UNGC to learn how to do even better than what we’ve done. Internally, we have a sustainability structure whereby the management and board of directors are involved in the decision-making process of the group to make sure that every component of sustainability is upheld.

In terms of projects, we are looking at sustainability as holistically as possible, and there is no better project to illustrate our sustainability efforts as Eco Grandeur, a joint venture project between EcoWorld Malaysia and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) that began in 2016. Five years ago, the 2,298-acre site, which includes the current Eco Business Park V, was an abandoned project, where a big part of the land had been cleared. The entire area was degraded. There were also about 980 families who were the original settlers, who were left without the money [compensation] and proper homes that were promised to them in the past 20 years.

When we came in with EPF, the first thing we did was launch the settlers’ homes called Laman Haris, where we built 987 units of proper 20ft by 70ft double-storey terraced houses for them and paid any outstanding settlement money that was previously owed to them. We made sure we took care of them first. We gave them proper landed homes with proper parks and amenities.

We subsequently launched Eco Grandeur’s Phase 1 and so on, with the 60-acre park and lakes, and rehabilitated the environment. Today, there are big, wide roads, as well as plants, trees and shrubs that are food for birds, butterflies … and we managed to preserve our lakes, so we can see a lot of dragonflies today. All this wouldn’t have happened without the cooperation of the settlers and local authorities, as well as the residents and investors. It is only when we do it together does it become a sustainable effort.

We’ve created the same environment in our other projects, perhaps just different in terms of scale, as Eco Grandeur is our biggest development.

Through our Eco World Foundation, we have been looking after 3,000 school children from primary school up to tertiary studies across the country. We help them with tuition fees, school equipment and food. During the pandemic, we have been following up with them via Zoom, WhatsApp and phone calls.

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