When Asif Ghafoor came to Hong Kong from Britain five years ago he was stunned at how outdated the technology for online property searches was in the city’s vibrant housing market. He also believed the market could be made more transparent. Having worked for more than a decade in equity technology for international banks, in 2012 Ghafoor started Spacious.hk, a property listing website that links up buyers, tenants and property agents.
How do you think Spacious.hk can impact the property market?
Many people in Hong Kong think developers have too much power and I totally agree. One goal of Spacious.hk is to give the market more transparency.
The rental market is poorly managed; tenants are often left in the dark. In Singapore, tenants can check every transaction with the government, but in Hong Kong they can only refer to agents on pricing information, and very often do not get the full picture.
We try to give users as much information about the property as possible. I have devoted a lot of effort to developing a website that makes use of maps to give users a clear picture of where the property is and information about the neighbourhood.
There is also a mobile app version that allows users to locate property easily when they are visiting neighbourhoods. I hope my work can help bring an extra level of transparency to the property market.
Asif Ghafoor, founder of Spacious Hong Kong
Why did you decide to start your own business?
Running my own business has always been something that I wanted to do. My father runs his own business and I want to do the same. My family has a property business in London and I have had a strong interest in the property market from a young age.
I think Hong Kong is a great place to start a business because it has so much energy. We develop all our technology and this is a major attraction for investors.
What do you think of the start-up culture of Hong Kong?
Hong Kong has a natural start-cup culture because there is entrepreneurship in the people; everybody here is looking for ways to make money. The start-up culture is still immature compared to places like London or San Francisco, but it is growing at a tremendous rate. I notice that many people who were previously in finance have decided to run start-ups after discovering that finance was not the best career option for them. There are also various support facilities for start-ups. As an incubatee of the Hong Kong Science Park, I was grateful for their financial assistance and support with office space.
How did you build your team?
I am the founder and director of the company and I have six people working on software development and business development for me. At Spacious.hk, staff are highly motivated to do well, because they not only get salary, every staff member is also a shareholder of the company.
In terms of nurturing talent, I know the importance of developing it from my days working in banks. I spent a lot of time mentoring the team so that they can contribute to the company.
The ultimate goal is to cover every urban area in Asia
What is your advice for people who are thinking of making the switch from being an employee to being a boss?
You have to be hands-on. Some people, when they move up to be a supervisor, think they can leave some of the jobs to the juniors. But as a start-up founder, you cannot do that; you have to do everything. I will clean out the dustbin, if this is what I have to do for the business.
As a start-up, there is no big brand name to support you. When it comes to external communication, I have to pay extra attention to my presentations because clients are not familiar with my company; it is definitely not the same as giving a presentation as an employee of a big brand name.
What are your future plans for Spacious.hk?
Having set up collaboration with 25 property agencies around Hong Kong, we have successfully attracted expats relocating to Hong Kong, local buyers and tenants to use the website.
The next step is to expand to Taipei and Singapore next year. The product that we have is highly transferrable, so expansion to another place will not be too much of a concern.
The ultimate goal is to cover every urban area in Asia.
