Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor (F D Iskandar), group managing director and CEO of Glomac Bhd (KL:GLOMAC), has built a reputation for being a tireless advocate of Malaysia’s real estate sector. With a career spanning more than 35 years, his passion for property development and drive to lift the industry have seen him at the helm of numerous industry bodies and initiatives aimed at shaping the country’s property landscape.

When we met F D Iskandar for an interview, he had just wrapped up a meeting related to the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Malaysia at his office in Glomac Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Currently serving as a patron of the association, he was president from 2014 to 2018 and Rehda Selangor chairman from 2006 to 2010.

His extensive involvement in Rehda, as well as his roles with GreenRE Sdn Bhd and ESD Greentech Sdn Bhd, both subsidiaries of Rehda Malaysia, reflects his commitment to driving sustainability and efficiency in the sector. He was one of the founding directors of Malaysia Property Incorporated (MPI), a public-private partnership aimed at promoting the country’s property market to foreign investors.

“It is the passion to make the industry better that keeps me active in Rehda. One day, if people ask me what’s one thing I’d like to be thought of or seen as, I hope they remember that F  D Iskandar made some form of positive contribution to the property industry,” he tells City & Country.

F D Iskandar (centre) with (from left) The Edge Malaysia editor-in-chief Kathy Fong, The Edge Media Group publisher and group CEO Datuk Ho Kay Tat, Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming, The Edge Media Group chairman Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong, The Edge Malaysia editor emeritus Au Foong Yee and City & Country senior editor E Jacqui Chan (Picture by Mohd Izwan Mohd Nazam/The Edge)

For his work in and contribution to Malaysia’s property industry, F D Iskandar was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to the Real Estate Industry Award at The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards 2024.

A barrister by training, he graduated with a law degree from the University of Queensland in Australia and later obtained his Master of Business Administration before starting his legal career in Australia. Upon his return to Malaysia, he worked in various capacities at Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd (KL:KPS) before joining Glomac as general manager of business development.

F D Iskandar was a board member of the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) from 2018 to 2020 and chairman of the Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM) board of trustees from 2019 to 2021. He was a member of the City Advisory Board for Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) from 2014 to 2019 and has served as chairman of the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah), specialising in legal matters. He was also an independent director of Telekom Malaysia Bhd (KL:TM) from 2013 to 2018 and chairman of TM’s unit VADS Bhd from 2015 to 2018.

“When I came back to Malaysia, I worked at Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor because my master’s degree was paid for by Yayasan Selangor. It was also where I was first exposed to the property industry as Kumpulan Perangsang had hotels at that time,” says F D Iskandar.

It’s the passion to make the industry better, for the betterment of the industry, that’s why I’m still around.” — F D Iskandar (Photo by Suhaimi Yusuf/The Edge)

He joined Glomac in 1991, when the company was involved in a range of businesses, including restaurants, taxi services and property ventures. He proposed to the leadership that they should concentrate on an area they were genuinely interested in. After discussing it with his father Tan Sri Mohamed Mansor Fateh Din and Datuk Richard Fong, they concluded that property development would be the best direction. As a result, they decided to streamline the operations, reallocating most of the resources towards real estate projects. This marked the beginning of his deep involvement in the property industry. Mohamed Mansor and Fong are Glomac group executive chairman and group executive vice-chairman respectively.

F D Iskandar recalls how he was intrigued by the property industry. “The more you’re intrigued, the more you want to learn. The more you want to learn, the more challenges you see. And with that came the passion for property.

“It’s a very dynamic industry. The challenges and issues are always there. Some are the same, but some are new. In short, it’s the passion to make the industry better, for the betterment of the industry, that’s why I’m still around. Not only at Glomac, but also I’m still sharing [my insights and views] for the industry.”

F D Iskandar was instrumental in streamlining Glomac’s operations, reallocating most of its resources to real estate projects (Picture by Glomac)

Core principles

F D Iskandar has four principles that guide his decision-making process — research, ethical behaviour, innovation and humility to learn. He considers research essential, including when it comes to figuring out how to maximise land use in ways that will appeal to the market.

Ethical behaviour means knowing that a property is probably the single largest purchase of a person’s life. So, it is essential to put themselves in the position of the buyers and ensure the standards of conduct and quality are high, he says.

“Innovation is important because there will always be competition. What makes you unique? What’s so special about your product? You cannot go for a price war, because your margins will be gone at the end of the day,” he points out.

“And then, the humility to learn new things. People younger than you might have good or even better ideas than you. At the end of the day, listen. If they feel strongly about their ideas and it’s different from what you think, it’s time to do research and feasibility study. It’s non-stop learning …”

When Glomac Business Centre in Kelana Jaya was launched in the 1990s, strata-titled multi-storey offices with lifts were almost unheard of. F D Iskandar says such developments are common now. But back then, his decision to develop these was questioned.

“At the time, nobody had heard of strata-titled offices of five to six storeys. I saw it overseas, so when I came back, I wanted to try. They said, are you sure? That was the right time because there was a boom of Second Board-listed companies. We wanted to develop five- and six-storey offices, each with a sub-basement, and that would be their office building. It became very popular and Glomac was one of the first to develop such projects,” he recalls.

With this experience, F D Iskandar stresses the importance of making decisions, followed by empowering the staff and the subsequent implementation.

“Decisions must be made. How do you know if it’s the right or wrong decision? You cannot procrastinate, because a lot of people are depending on you. Once you make a decision, you have to work very hard to make sure the decision you made was the right one,” he says.

Aman Suria Damansara in Petaling Jaya is another project that he is proud of, one that is a testament to innovation. It was developed in the early 2000s, comprising landed properties with facilities in a gated and guarded environment. At the time, only condominiums offered such facilities and security.

Adaptability is also vital as it allows property developers to weather difficult times by offering what the market needs. In the 1990s, when Glomac was known as a commercial developer, it had to pivot to buy land for residential development when the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997 and demand for offices plunged.

“It is about adaptability. You have to adapt quickly. Life goes on, right? Yes, there are issues, problems and challenges, but you must move on,” says F D Iskandar.

Challenges of an ever-evolving industry

F D Iskandar sees the mission of a property developer as being able to provide shelter for the people, hence his involvement in various associations, where he tries to make home ownership easy. But the ever-evolving property development industry always has its challenges and cost is one of the main ones right now.

“Today, because of the development costs and other costs that have been passed to property developers, the margins are [low] now. At the end of the day, when the property developers can no longer bear the cost, it will be passed on to the purchasers. That’s why people are saying property is expensive,” he observes.

F D Iskandar says that in Malaysia, while most purchasers have no major issues in paying the monthly instalments, they cannot afford the initial cost of purchasing a house, which includes a 10% down payment and other costs.

“The government can assist purchasers by bringing back the HOC (Home Ownership Campaign). For the developers, [the government] can bring down the compliance costs and shorten the approval period. Shorter approval periods can help to save on the interest charged by banks, which eventually benefit the purchasers,” he adds.

“The government must realise that property developers are their friends as we provide infrastructure and contribute to GDP (gross domestic product). That’s why I am still volunteering at Rehda to bring positive things to buyers.”

With his busy schedule, it has been a challenge to strike a balance between work and life. The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns were a wake-up call for him.

“Once you’re passionate about something, I think it is good to be busy … My wife has been married to me for 29 years. From day one, if I come back from work before 7pm, she will ask if I am sick. Now, I go home at about 8.30pm,” he says.

“But I used to come home at 10pm or 12am. That is because we had a restaurant [Kelana Seafood], which shut at 1am. Back then, it was all cash transactions, so I needed to check on the closing. When I was dating her, I would have to leave the movie we were watching halfway. So, she’s used to it,” he quips, adding that he has five children aged 15 to 27.

“I see property as my passion. Therefore, it’s not so much work for me. And since Covid-19, I have tried to walk or swim at least two to three times a week. I also try to spend time with my wife and children, my parents and other members of my family. We try to have lunch or dinner together once every two weeks at least and we try to have holidays together once or twice a year.

“I think one’s support system is important — the support of your family, the support of your team and the support of your friends — and the environment that you work in.”

Source: The Edge Malaysia