Growing up in a low-income household of frontline workers gave Daniel Thong the impetus to start a business that empowers them
Sometimes, life’s mission comes calling in the most unexpected of places. Daniel Thong’s aha moment happened during his university days in London when he was hunting for a home cleaning service. After finding one through an app, it made him wonder if he could develop his own version in Singapore. The end goal? To help uplift the lives of frontline workers.
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Fast forward to 2024, and Thong is now the co-founder and CEO of Nimbus Facility Services. The online B2B and B2C property management platform allows enterprise owners and residential users to book cleaning and management services.
With a 200-strong workforce and a footprint that recently extended to Melbourne, Nimbus was recognised as one of the fastest-growing companies in Singapore by Statista and The Straits Times in January.
Since establishing Nimbus in 2017, Thong has actively led conversations on and raised awareness of having a minimum wage for workers. Not long after pioneering his company’s variable and high basic wage model, the Singapore government implemented the Progressive Wage Model (PWM).
The PWM covers workers in cleaning, security, retail, and food services, and waste management sectors. Nimbus’s workers receive salaries that are about 15 to 20 percent higher than the industry norm. Its cleaning team is also entitled to the company’s Employee Share Options Scheme—which is an industry first.
The London School of Economics graduate, who holds a master’s degree from the University of Oxford, shares more about his professional journey.
I grew up in a blue-collar family. I was raised by my mum’s side of the family. My uncle is a plumber and my aunties are cleaners. I grew up in a three-bedroom flat in Ang Mo Kio, where everybody slept on the floor and all the rooms were occupied.
My aha moment happened in university. I was trying to find a cleaner to clean my house. At the time, Europe had solutions through on-demand apps. I was amazed and started to think about opportunities to help alleviate, elevate and uplift frontline workers in Asia.
I like contrarian ideas. I don’t think the business opportunities are big when the ideas are obvious. You have to find ideas that are not so appealing, that are unobvious. When you have a small insight, you then drill deeper into the problem statement. I was lucky to have persevered in this unorthodox industry. It’s easier to open up the market and find a niche for yourself.
It’s difficult to swim against the tide. But sometimes when you do that, you also meet interesting people who can help you along the way. If you’re mission-driven, it helps with attracting the right group of people.
One of the reasons we’re in Australia is because directionally, Singapore is trying to curb foreign worker inflows. And generally, there is an implementation of minimum wage, which Melbourne has done. There are a lot of parallels. So we’re not only extending to a bigger market but going into one that is probably where Singapore will be in the next five to 10 years.
See more honourees from Singapore on the Tatler Gen.T List.