"I'm an NOC Shanghai alumnus. The experience broadened my mindset and enabled me to understand how to navigate and operate within the market in China. These insights formed the foundation for my start-up to setup its manufacturing base in China."

- Steve Ong, Co-founder of ProSpace

Many large companies - particularly those that practice hot-desking -grapple with the issue of optimising office real estate use. Steve Ong, a graduate of the NUS School of Design and Environment and an NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) Shanghai alumnus, sought to develop a solution to this issue.

The NOC programme had planted the seeds of entrepreneurship in Steve, and also broadened his mindset on how business was conducted, especially in China. In 2015, Steve co-founded ProSpace with fellow NUS alumnus Song Qi Yue.

ProSpace provides corporations with non-intrusive and real-time analysis of workspace utilisation and productivity tools, reducing their data collection and planning cycles from six months to a mere five minutes. They have establised a good reputation for offering value to their clients and are currently positioning themselves for upcoming stages of growth.

The duo attribute their success to the great mentorship by NUS Enterprise mentors. NUS Enterprise has supported ProSpace through its initial starting phase by providing tax and accounting services on top of incubation space, as well as helping to secure the iJAM Tier 1 and Tier 2 grants from the (then) MDA.