Women On Top: Rhonda Wong, CEO of Ohmyhome
Buying a house is one of the biggest purchases in one’s lifetime but yet the process is often confusing and cumbersome. To tackle the issue, Rhonda Wong, together with her sister Race Wong, started Ohmyhome, a one-stop solution for housing needs.
Yahoo Lifestyle SEA finds out more from Wong, the newly crowned Singapore winner for the Women of The Future Awards Southeast Asia 2020, on being a woman in a traditionally masculine industry, striking a work-life balance, and the future of Ohmyhome.
“We wanted to create solutions that could revolutionize the entire housing transaction experience, to provide people with a platform and services that are simple, fast and affordable,” Wong shared. Started in 2016 and expanded beyond Singapore, Ohmyhome now has a branch in both Malaysia and the Phillippines.
With the goal to streamline the housing transaction journey, Ohmyhome serves home buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants, providing agents, DIY platform, mortgage information, and legal help on their 24/7 platform.
A traditionally masculine industry, Wong let on that she had built a culture and made sure the work environment at Ohmyhome is free from all forms of discrimination.
“That’s one of the greatest beauties of building and leading your own space. With our team safe at work, we have the right environment to focus on our passion for building the perfect housing transaction world for our customers who may sometimes be treated differently by the other agents that they hire due to the size or price of their unit.”
Recognising and empowering female talent and leadership across industries, the Women of The Future Awards Southeast Asia 2020 celebrates inspirational women from Southeast Asia across 10 industry categories. The third edition of the awards was held on 25 June, and Wong is the Singapore winner for the awards.
“I am very honoured to be recognised alongside all the inspirational and visionary women at the Women of The Future Awards. It definitely inspires me to carry on shaping the Proptech industry to create a better future for all, especially with respect to the most important asset in their lives - their homes and property investments.”
As the CEO of Ohmyhome, we could only imagine how heavy Wong’s daily workload will be.
Asking her for tips on how to have a better work-life balance, the CEO shared that the key is in setting a routine. “Finding a routine that allows you to integrate family and work will help to alleviate some of the stress of balancing both as there is one less burden on your mental load.”
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many expats left Singapore for their own countries and property sales slowed down. Ohmyhome too, was not spared from the global economic slowdown. With offices in three countries, Wong has to come up with different approaches to combat the challenges faced in each market.
“When Singapore first implemented its Circuit Breaker measures and property viewings became impossible, it brought a surge of interest to Ohmyhome’s virtual tours. We found ourselves taking the lead ushering in a new era, where house buyers can purchase their next homes through virtual viewings without the traditional physical viewings through Ohmyhome platform.”
Setting goals to make Ohmyhome a global player in the Proptech sector, Wong also hopes that the platform can contribute to housing the less fortunate, investing for the middle class, preserving for the wealthy, and making homes safer for the young and the ageing in the future.
“Today, Ohmyhome is an agent of change and innovation, but our methods and speed of transacting will be the norm in the future.”
