Manny Pangilinan’s Life Success Story

I would start featuring success stories of famous entrepreneurs and leaders to serve as inspiration to others. Today, I will feature the life story of the highest paid Philippine Chief Executive Officer Manny Pangilinan, the CEO of the most profitable company and the largest company by market value – Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Company or PLDT, the Philippine’s pioneer in telecommunications.

His life story came from his speech during the Ateneo Graduation last 2006 where he himself studied. During his speech, he narrated his own rags to riches story in three journeys from being a student to eventually becoming a corporate magnate. Let’s learn from him and be inspired.

Opening

This day of academic ceremony must be a day of touching, personal memories. It is also a day to pause, and give honor and praise to your parents and to the good Lord for the grace to be at this place, at this time. While all of us may be seated, we’re actually standing on their shoulders, proud and thankful. Your years in college were a journey of discovery and preparation, a discovery of yourself and the gifts bestowed upon you. You’re now about to commence a new journey, of becoming an adult, of finding your place in society, of starting a future. Today, I’d like to share with you my own journey, as I traveled from being a student, to being a professional manager and an OFW, and now, an entrepreneur and corporate activist.

First part of the journey: A Student

The first part of my journey begins with my family. My lolo (grandfather) started as a public school teacher in Pampanga and Tarlac, rising through the ranks to become superintendent of public schools and, eventually, secretary of education. My dad began his career as a messenger at Philippine National Bank, and retired as president of Traders Royal Bank, one of the larger banks in the ’80s. During my elementary years, I had ten centavos to buy a bottle of Coke, five centavos for crackers, another ten centavos to take the bus home from San Beda in Mendiola, which I made sure I wouldn’t lose, otherwise I would have walked home. In college, my weekly allowance at the Ateneo was P10, and that included my jeepney fares. I have a lot of classmates who have cars and others even have their own drivers. They were lucky. Someday, I said to myself, I will reach all those. My scholarships in both San Beda and Ateneo were only my lucky charms.

In late 1965, as my own graduation was approaching, I had come home from the Ateneo one Saturday afternoon, and spoke with my dad about taking an MBA in the States. I was met with silence, which meant there wasn’t enough money for an education abroad, that if I really wanted it, I had find a way myself. Fortunately, Procter & Gamble was offering a rare scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. It was a national competition. I entered-and won. For three generations of my family, life meant coping with challenges despite modest means, relying on God-given talent, hard work and a passionate determination to succeed.

Second part of the journey: A professional manager

Let me now turn to the second part of this journey. After two years in Philadelphia, I returned home, hopeful about landing a managerial position in a large company. I struck out at first bat. My benefactor, Procter & Gamble, turned down my application. So I ended up taking the first job I was offered, as executive assistant to the president at Phinma for P1,000 a month. Without any job experience, we can’t be choosers, right? Grab the first decent job that comes your way, immerse yourself in work, and soon, you’ll find the right job, or it will find you.

After six years with Phinma, I decided to work abroad. There were the usual reasons: the glamor of being an expat in Hong Kong, the stifling staleness of my local career but, more importantly, I needed to find myself, to prove that I can stand on my own and succeed. The warmth of family ties, the comfort of an extended family system so embedded in our society were indeed beguiling, but I wanted to assert my independence.

I was recruited by Bancom International, a Philippine investment bank based in Hong Kong. It was a stimulating experience. I learned the dynamics of international finance from my Chinese colleagues, not from the Filipino executives. Thereafter, I was seconded to a joint venture investment bank with American Express. I had expected to be appointed CEO of that new bank, but wasn’t. While disappointed and even depressed, I soldiered on and, sure enough, this venture failed inside of two years. A huge dilemma confronted a young man of 30 years: return to Manila or stay with AMEX? I decided to remain a soldier of fortune in Hong Kong. Why? Because after this setback, I wanted to prove something to myself. I felt I had to prove to AMEX the Filipino can. Indeed, after four years with AMEX, I received a phone call from my boss in London. He said, “You’ve outgrown Hong Kong and are now ready for London, and to fast track your career.” After reflection, I politely said, no. I’ve proven the point to myself and to AMEX, and that had been enough. Besides, I felt Asia is my home — and so it shall be.

Third part: An entrepreneur and corporate activist

The third, and final part, starts with First Pacific. Whilst working in the region, I met some clients – foremost being Anthoni Salim – who were willing to support my idea of a regional banking and trading business. With their help, I founded First Pacific in Hong Kong in 1981. I started out with only six people, on 50 square meters of office space, and little capital. Now, the companies that constitute First Pacific have sales of $5 billion, with more than 60,000 employees across the region. But I won’t tell you about our successes at First Pacific. Instead, I’ll describe our failures – some of which indeed became total failures, but some of which we turned around and made a success.

In 1989, we were negotiating to acquire Hanimax, maker of middle to low-end cameras based in Sydney, Australia. I took the overnight flight to Sydney from Hong Kong, confident that when I arrived the following morning, a letter from an international bank approving our financing would await me. But lo and behold, it was a letter of disapproval. So there I was in Sydney, committed to purchase Hanimax, but without enough money to complete it. Providentially, there was a competing bidder who sought to take us out of the race by offering a sum of money. That practice is called “greenmail.” Our gambit won $7 million that day when we had no cards to play. But there’s a sequel to this. Buoyed by confidence – perhaps overconfidence, even hubris – we were off to the races again, and decided quickly to buy another company. This was Tech Pacific, Australia’s largest distributor of computer products. It was indeed a large company with sales in excess of a billion dollars! Well, it was a disaster. It took us three years, and enormous pain and effort, to turn its fortunes around. I fell sick from stress and anxiety and, on several occasions, contemplated resigning. But we stood to our tackle and, after those three years, Tech Pacific is now Asia’s largest distributor of computer products.

In 1998, I came home, after 22 years abroad – after what father (Roque) Ferriols often calls “the days of wasted youth.” When we invested in PLDT seven years ago, we faced the massive task of repair and renewal. Critics told us that we couldn’t change the culture of monopoly, that misdemeanors in PLDT couldn’t be eradicated, that our fixed line business had no future. But we made the tough and unpopular decisions at PLDT. Like reducing the number of employees from 14,000 to 9,000. Like changing dubious practices and encouraging honesty and transparency. Like converting the mindset of bureaucrats to that of innovators and entrepreneurs. Decisions about people are always difficult for us because First Pacific is an Asian company with Asian values. But head count reduction was critical for PLDT to survive.

Now that PLDT has recovered, and is now the most profitable company in the country, my confidence in the Filipino’s ability to succeed has been absolutely affirmed. In fact, despite the downsizing I mentioned earlier, we now have more people under our wings – about 19,000 – simply because PLDT is now a different company. And to most of you who might be familiar with Piltel or Talk N’ Text – it was a company in extremis. I’ve had to tell creditor banks that Piltel could not pay its debts – the first time I’ve done that in my life. My officemates told me to close Piltel. I didn’t agree. I believed that the cellular frequency it owns, as well as its brand, are potentially valuable, as they have become today. Also, I did not want to imperil the financial health of local banks to which Piltel owed much.

After five years of rehab, Piltel’s return to profitability has been close to supernatural. It is now the country’s most profitable company – after PLDT and Smart. Finally, some of you have raised with me the question – is business bad? Let me respond by saying, business is not all bad. It is people – some people at least – that may make business bad. No business can prosper in the long term without the right values. The best performing companies are those that manage their businesses which meet ethical standards. Transparency, accountability, integrity, discipline – all these good governance principles – must permeate every policy, every process, of the company, as they do at First Pacific and PLDT.

Closing:

Thefore I close, I’d like to make a personal request. I’d like to ask each of you a favor. Give me bragging rights. Do something great. Sometime in the future, I want to hear some incredible thing you’ve done. And I’d like to brag that I spoke at your graduation. In return, I offer you a few more pieces of advice. Keep it real. Stay true to what’s best in yourself, to the best of your experience here at the Ateneo. Trust your instincts. Believe in yourself. Engage in sports, you’ll need it as you age. Make art, or at least, value it. Be brave. Be bold. Find something that moves you or pisses you off, but do something about it. You have a voice, speak up.
Take a stand for what’s right. Make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is cool, isn’t it? But I also want to offer a warning: you will meet people who’ll entice you to compromise your principles. They’ll try to seduce you and distract you with money, power, security and perhaps, most dangerously, a sense of belonging. Don’t let them; it’s not worth it.
You can have genuine values and still get that job. You can have a conscience and still make money.

Let me send you off with one final thought. I was born poor, but poor was not born in me. And it shouldn’t be born in you either. You can make it. Whatever you may wish to do with your future, you can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes always. Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith. In the end, faith will not disappoint. You must not disappoint.

My First Financial Planning Seminar

Last July 31, I was given the chance to be a resource speaker for the very first financial planning seminar that I conducted. I was at first nervous as this was my very first speaking stint but that nervousness was slowly swallowed as I discussed my topics.

It was a success! It was attended by around 50 attendees from our company. I was first introduced as a BS Mathematics graduate from Ateneo de Manila University, mentioned my two former employment background and my feature in Good House Keeping magazine as financial expert.

A lot of thanks for that introduction. I’ve never been given such recognition in my entire life. After that, I started discussing my financial planning powerpoint presentation.

For the readers of this blog, I would present here the details of my handout given to those who attended so that at least even though you were not able to attend, it’s as if you attended my first financial planning seminar. Basically, it’s just a summary of some of the contents of this blog.

Goals:
Goals empower us. It gives us direction. Life is full of paths. We can either go in the right direction or in the wrong direction. Goals provide us the right direction. It sets our priorities. It gives us the motivation.
When you list down your goals, you are giving direction to your life. In listing your goals, list them “smartly”. S-Specific, M-Manageable, A-Achievable, R-Realistic, T-Time Bound

S-Specific. Our goals should be specified to give us direction. To set a specific goal, it must answer any one of the following “W” questions:
o Who: Who is involved?
o What: What do I want to accomplish?
o Where: Identify a location
o When: Establish a time frame
o Which: Identify requirement and constraints
o Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
Sample: I want to become a millionaire! But a specific goal would say, “Get a job for 10 years, establish your own food business and use your network of friends and acquaintances”

M – Measurable. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as “How much?” “How many?” “How will I know when it is accomplished?” Sample: I want to become a millionaire by age of 26!

A – Achievable. When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways on how to achieve them. In the process, you develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, talents and capacity to achieve them. When you list your goals, you see yourself as worthy of these goals.

R – Realistic. To be realistic, a goal must have an objective that you are both “willing” and “able” to work. If you truly “believe” that you can achieve your goal, then it is realistic.

T – Time Bound. Goal should be grounded by time frame because if there’s no time frame, then there’s no sense of urgency. If you just say, “someday” then it won’t work. By setting a time frame, you are setting your mind to begin working in achieving that goal.

ABC to achieve goals:
ASPIRE: You start with what you want to achieve. Be specific; follow the “S-M-A-R-T” goal system. You say to yourself: “I WILL ACHIEVE THIS!”
BELIEVE: After you’ve listed down the goals that you aspire, believe in yourself that you can achieve it! I already saw a lot of people achieved it, if they can do it, then why won’t I? You say to yourself: “I CAN DO IT!”
COMMIT: The next step is to commit. This is the hardest part because your patience, attitude and determination will be tested to its fullest. It’s a test for survival. You say to yourself: “I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!”

Law of Attraction: Positive Thinking + Action = Goals
- Napoleon Hill (author of Think and Grow Rich): We become what we think about
- Newton’s Universal Gravitation: Every object in the universe was attracted by every other object -> e=mc2
- WILL POWER: What your mind conceives, your body can achieve.

Examples of Will Power:

Marathon Race: At the start of the game, the runner conditions his mind. His will power says: “I CAN DO IT!” This will power pushes his body to try harder and run faster to overcome opponents. It was the soul driving the body. The power was not in the muscles but in his will! You will notice that at the end of the race, the will let up and the body will collapse.

Rags to Riches Story: They never consider their economic status to be a hindrance to become successful in life.

Roselle Ambubuyog: A BS Mathematics student in Ateneo who graduated Summa Cum Laude and got the title valedictorian of the Year! - BUT both eyes are blind.

Motivational Quotes:
- “I will do today what other people won’t so that I can have tomorrow what other people can’t”
- “When you want something, all the universe will conspire in helping you to achieve it”
- “Show me a person backed with passion, conviction and resolve and I’ll show you a winner”
- “When a team of dedicated individuals makes a commitment to act as one, the sky is the limit”

Frugality: Ways to Manage Funds in Work Life
- Pay yourself first:
       Income – Savings = Expense
       Pareto’s Principle of 80/20:
           - In business, put most of your efforts on the 20% of things that bring 80% of income to your business.
           - In saving, put at least 20% to savings.

Frugality: Ways to Manage Funds in Home Life

Save Money on Electric Bills
       - Drop the temp. Lower the temperature on your water heater’s thermostat
       - Change bulbs. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) use a quarter of the electricity of regular incandescent light bulbs.
       - Check filters. Remember to replace aircon filters and heat-pump filters to keep these systems running efficiently.
       - Pull the plug. Remember to pull the plug for any electrical appliances that are not in use.

Save Money on Water Bills
o Get a gadget. Get yourself a low-flow faucet aerator. It uses less water while increasing water pressure.
o Fix leaks. Check for leaks in pipes, hoses, especially in the toilet.
o Recycle water. Collect rain water to water the plants. Just be sure not to stock it very long to avoid developing a breeding ground for dengue.
o Add a hose nose. Use a hose with a shut-off nozzle when you water the plants so that there will be no wasted water if the hose is not in use.
o Wash full loads. Cleaning less than a full load of clothes or dishes wastes both water and energy.

Frugality: Ways to Manage Funds in Family Life

Save Money in Dining and Entertainment
o Know before you go. Scan over your local newspaper, check radio stations and company websites for coupons, promos, and special discounts.
o Master menu magic. Drink water instead of ice teas, alcoholic beverages, and juices. Bypass that meaty main dish. Order a meatless meal or if it’s not enough, try two appetizers or several side orders.
o Get discount coupons. Take advantage of discount coupons and treats given by sales persons in different malls.
o Win your treat. Join contest that have prices for gift certificates, free movie passes, and free vacation packages. Some of these contests are held in radio stations.
o Ask to pay less. Use discount treats that come along with your credit card. Or if you are a senior citizen or a student, ask if they have special promos for you.
o Keep your fun cheap. Attend free cultural events and other low-priced entertainment. Or just watch a DVD movie at home with your friends.

Investments: Making Your Money Work For You

Emergency Bank
o Set up a minimum of 6 months up to one year of your monthly income for your emergency fund to cover up for emergency expenses such as job layoffs, hospitalization, and other emergency expenses
Evaluate Your Investments: Risk, Liquidity, Return
o Risk is the possibility of losing the amount you invested
 Risk-Averse
 Moderate Risk
 Risky
o Liquidity is how an investment can easily turn back to cash
 How urgent do you need your money now?
o Return is the interest income of the investment or ROI
 The higher the return that we want, the riskier the investment

Investment Lessons You Need To Know
o Your Enemy: Inflation. Inflation is the rise of prices of commodity. It depreciates the purchasing power of our currency. Therefore, we must find a good investment that has returns higher than the annual inflation rate.
o Your Ally: Time. Time is of essence to investment because it takes time for you to reap the returns of your investment. In a simple savings account, time is beneficial as portrayed by compound interest.
o Know your investments. Be sure to know what the sources of the returns are and how those returns were made. Understand and learn in the process.
o Diversify. Diversify all your investments not only in one type of investment but also to others so that if it fails, you don’t lose everything.
o Minimize unnecessary expenses and taxes. Look for investments that have low taxes and other unnecessary expenses because it depletes the possible return for your money.
o Match your investment with your risk appetite: Evaluate each investment with risk, return and liquidity
o Start early. The early bird catches the worm. Time is essential in investment.

Investments: Where to Invest Extra Cash?

Risk-Averse:
o Savings Account
 Lend money to bank and bank will invest it. In return, bank will give you low interest but you can withdraw our money anytime.
o Time Deposits
 Lend money to bank and bank will invest it. In return, bank will give you higher interest but your investment is subject to a withholding period and you cannot withraw your money anytime you want.
o Special Deposit Account (SDAs)
 You lend your money to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas like a bond and they will give you higher interest but it requires a huge capital ranging from 100K to 1M.
Moderate Risk:
 Bonds – Investment Outlet Units (IOUs). You lend your money to corporation and they will pay you interest (corporate bonds)
Risky:
o Stock Market
o Real Estate

Robert Kiyosaki: Increase your financial intelligence
 Rat Race – a term coined by Kiyosaki to mimic our general income-spend attitude (i.e., when you receive your pay, you expense it out right away to pay bills, buy clothes, etc.)
 Cash flow quadrant:
o Employee – These are people who work for a boss and who love security. No work, no pay.
o Self-Employed – They work for themselves and don’t have a boss. They can decide for themselves. These are people who love to be independent (i.e. doctors, lawyers, etc.) No work, no pay.
o Big Business Owner – They love delegating tasks. They concentrate more on activities which produces most profits. They hire people who are more intelligent than them to make them rich.
o Investor – People who already built assets. These assets are working hard for them to make them rich. They don’t work for money but their money is working hard for them.

Robert Kiyosaki: Secrets of the Rich
Secret 1: What is Financial Intelligence?
o Income statement and balance sheet – two important simple concepts you need to know to increase financial intelligence
o Asset vs. Liability – Assets provide cash to our pocket. Liabilities deplete cash from our pocket. Asset will FEED us. Liabilities will EAT us.
o Is house and asset or liability?
Secret 2: Cash Flow Patterns of Poor, Middle Class and Rich Persons
o Poor: Every income from job goes out to expenses right away
o Middle Class: Every income from job goes to liabilities that they thought are assets, and then eventually goes out as expenses
o Rich: Every income from job, they use to buy assets that will provide them passive income in the future.
Secret 3: Increase Passive Income

Robert Kiyosaki: Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
 Good debt helps us manage our finances
 Bad debt is a burden because it drains our finances
 Debt leveraging: Using debt to your advantage
o Take advantage of credit cards
 Cashless Transaction – credit cards allow cashless transactions that are less prone to hold ups and snatchers
 Emergency Cash – credit cards have cash advance facility that you can use in case of emergency
 Float Advantage – buy now pay later.
 Huge Discounts – credit cards companies have tie ups with several merchants for discounts
 Reward Points – accumulate points in exchange of freebies
 Raffle Points – aside fro m reward points, credit card companies conduct raffle promos from time to time.

Robert Kiyosaki: Game of Money
 1st Quarter (25-35 years old)
o Savings should be your top priority
o Learn investment options
o Get insurance
 2nd Quarter (35-45 years old)
o Plan for your children’s future
o Make sure you have enough for your emergency bank
o Have a business
HALF TIME – Mid-Life Crisis
 3rd Quarter (45-55 years old)
o Allocate much of your income to investment capital – review your investment portfolio and ask if you need to transfer funds to other nvestments
 4th Quarter (55-65 years old)
o Protect your capital – try to preserve your capital so that you can live with on its interest, And make sure to make your last will in order.
OVER TIME
GAME OVER

Robert Kiyosaki: Cash Flow Game – From Rat Race to Fast Track
Doodads. Doodads are simply the expensive wants that we can’t resist.
Opportunity. Opportunites serve as deals for you to grab. It is broken down into two: small deal and big deal. Small deals are deals that involves small money while big deals involve large sums of money. Deals can either be stocks, mutual fund, business, or real estate opportunities.
Market. Markets serve as opportunities for holders of assets. When you land in this option, you are offered by a buyer.
Baby. Baby depicts the real happening of raising a family. In the game, when you land in this option, there will be an additional cost that will be added to your expenses. And there will be a maximum of 3 babies in the entire game.
Paycheck. Paycheck depicts the real world of employment.
Downsizing. Downsizing also depicts the real happening of being fired or unemployed. In this case, you will lose 2 turns and lose a portion of your cash to fund your needs.
Charity. Lastly, charity relies on the concept of the law of reciprocation.

THANK YOU!
I hope you enjoyed my very first financial planning seminar!
Unfortunately, the company does not want me to post pictures or posters of the seminar so I cannot post it. But thanks to the certificate given to me and little present from the team.

What does it take to become successful?

What does it take to become successful? Success has a lot of meaning to each of us. You can achieve success financially, success emotionally, success spiritually, etc.

In a recent addition to my learnings to become a successful entrepreneur and investor, I’ve learned about John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.

John Wooden is a retired American basketball coach. He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player (class of 1961) and as a coach (class of 1973). He has authored a lecture and a book about the Pyramid of Success. The Pyramid of Success consists different philosophical building blocks for winning at basketball which can then be applied to become successful in life.


According to John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, “Success” is at the apex of the pyramid.

“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming,” says John Wooden

In order to achieve this success, one must follow 15 traits to become successful. These traits are so-called building blocks of success. Let’s discuss each of these traits starting from the bottom to the top.

Industriousness. John Wooden says: “Hardwork results in worthwhile accomplishments.” True enough, I think success is 90% perspiration and 10% luck. You need to act in order to succeed.

Honesty. John Wooden says: “Truthfulness should always prevail. Tell it like it is and not how you wish it to be.” Honesty is the best policy and the truth will set you free.

Friendship and loyalty. John Wooden says: “Friendship comes from mutual esteem, respect, and devotion. A sincere liking for all.” No man is an island. In order to achieve success, you must mingle with successful people. Find mentors and learn from them.

Cooperation. John Wooden says: “Cooperation with all levels of your co-workers is essential. Help others and see the other side”.” Two heads are always better than one. No once can be successful in its own. It is always a team effort. Learn to cooperate by sharing your knowledge and gain some knowledge as well from other people.

Enthusiasm. John Wooden says: “Your heart must be in your work. Stimulate others.” You must have the passion in what you do for if you have that passion and you keep it burning, your chances of achieving success in reaching those goals are high.

Self-Control. John Wooden says: “Keep emotions under control. Delicate adjustment between mind and body is needed. Keep judgment and common sense.” As the famous self-motivation coach Anthony Robbins said that our emotions are one of the keys to our health. Your emotions are somehow connected to your health and success. If you are a happy person, you will attract a lot of positive things. Positive things are always associated with success. Same thing goes for negative emotions. If you are always angry, then chances are you will attract negative emotions too.

Alertness. John Wooden says: “Ask rigorous questions. Be skilled in scientific reasoning.” Curiousity leads to knowledge.

Initiative. John Wooden says: “Summon the courage to make a decision and take action.” Sometimes, you need to take the initiative to take the proper actions without being told to do. Be proactive!

Intentness. John Wooden says: “Harness your ability to resist temptation and stay with your course. Concentrate on your objective and be determined to reach your goal.” If there’s a will, there’s a way. Aim high and stay focus in achieving your goals. It all boils down on how strong your will power is.

Condition. John Wooden says: “Mental, moral, physical and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated.” Everything that is excess and deficient is detrimental. Moderation is the key.

Skill. John Wooden says: “Skills are knowledge of and the ability to properly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared. Cover every details.” Skill must be developed. Constant education is the key in improving one’s skills.

Team Spirit. John Wooden says: “You must have an eagerness to sacrifice personal interests or glory for the welfare of all. The team comes first.” Sometimes, we need to set aside our personal concerns for the higher benefit of most people. Successful leaders are servants to their people.

Poise. John Wooden says: “Just be yourself. Be at ease in any situation. Never fight yourself.” Be true to yourself. Be comfortable in any situation. Don’t be pretentious.

Confidence. John Wooden says: “You should respect without fear. Be confident, not cocky. Confidence may come from faith in yourself in knowing that you are prepared.” Having faith in one’s self is the key. To have faith is to be prepared. You cannot win a war unless you are prepared. Same thing for success. Success comes with thorough preparation and planning.

Competitive Greatness. John Wooden says: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Be at your best when your best is needed. Real love of a hard battle.” Ultimately, success relies in yourself. It’s you who will make yourself successful and not others. Develop that attitude to be the best when your best is needed.
How about you, what’s your idea of success? What does it take for you to become successful?

Ragnarok Success Story

Are you an on-line gamer? If you are, then definitely you are familiar with the game Ragnarok? But how did Ragnarok start? How did it become as one of the online games that hit it big in the market?

What fascinated me is the guerilla marketing that they implemented to market the product. Entrepreneurs are really innovative. They come up with resourceful ideas to make it big without incurring too many expenses.

Level Up! is the company behind the successful online game Ragnarok. It was run by father and son Nonoy and Ben Colayco. Nonoy Colayco has been in the fields of finance, investments and funds management. From the early 80s to the mid 90s, he held various positions in the Foreign Investments department of American International Group or AIG.

Nonoy is currently the Managing Director of Argosy Partners, Inc. and a Senior Partner of Argosy Advisers, a private equity advisory firm. Apart from advising clients on where to invest, Nonoy and his partners also invest their own funds in business ventures they believe in. Concurrently, Nonoy is also the Country Chairman of Jardine Matheson, the Chairman of Republic Cement, Chairman of Colliers Philippines, Member of the Advisory Board of JG Summit, Director of Aboitiz Transport Group, and a Director of several other companies.

During a business trip to Korea before, he smelled the opportunity that online gaming had to offer. He met with his former AIG colleagues to explore the potential of online gaming here in the Philippines. He didn’t know anything about video games and online gaming but he knew that Filipinos are fond of gaming. This prompted him to turn to his son Ben Colayco who at that time is having second thoughts if he will pursue an MBA degree.

Ben Colyaco was passionate about one thing: gaming. When he graduated from high school, he decided to take up law. He took up Political Science at New York University and after graduating, he decided to take up law proper. Nonoy Colayco is having doubts if his son Ben is really interested in pursuing to become a lawyer. He advised Ben to take up a break, do whatever he wants to do for one year, and from there decide whether or not to pursue a law degree.

Ben decided to follow his dad’s advice. He joined Grey Advertising and got his first marketing experience. While in Grey, Ben learned how to come up with advertising campaigns for detergent brands. After a year, Ben was no longer interested in pursuing a law degree. He changed his mind and got interested to pursue MBA instead. He told his dad Nonoy about his plans. Nonoy said he won’t pay for it and encouraged Ben to go back in the Philippines to spearhead a new business project. Ben decided to quit his MBA plans and went back in the Philippines.

Nonoy recalled that at the time they started, the network game Counterstrike was the hit online game. Basically, kids would go into gaming centers like internet cafes and play the game against other kids who were connected in a network. But their plan is to bring gaming to a whole new level, a level they called “MMOG” or Massively Multiplayer On-Line Games. The internet was growing and gaming was going towards that direction.

However, Ben asked how they are going to monetize it? How do they get people to pay for the games? For network gaming, it was easy – you just pay the cashier of the gaming center or internet café. But how would it be in the case of MMOGs? Anyone could virtually play anywhere with the use of the internet. So they thought that there should only be one center point of registration. And the only way to do it was for gamers to log-in and be required to pay before they play.

When both father and son Ben and Nonoy started spreading the word about their planned business, a lot of people were skeptical about it. But they went on unfazed. They got the publishing rights for two online games – Oz World and 3D Chat.

These games were not that popular but they served as their testing ground to see the response of the market most especially the number of subscribers and the ability of the infrastructure to handle large amounts of traffic. The results were not spectacular but they decided to continue on and got a more popular game. It was the time they got Ragnarok from Korea.

Rather than advertise in traditional ways such as newspapers, televisions, radio, and other means, they concentrated on distribution. This is the part where I liked most. They implemented some form of guerilla marketing. What they did was to produce as many Ragnarok installations as they could. They literally flooded the market with these CDs by giving them away. They gave it to publishers of local comic books and gaming magazines. They distributed them in anime, sci-fi and toy conventions. They sponsored proms and high school parties and they gave out these CDs. They connected with their target customers which are the youth. They made friends with the kids.

Pretty soon, kids were hanging out in their office. They developed “street credibility” by being one of them. It didn’t take long before news about Ragnarok spread. Before they knew it, they already had around 20,000 subscribers. It was at that point that they knew they had accomplished something special.
If life was indeed a game, Nonoy and Ben were definitely the undisputed top scorers and masters of the game! The game was not yet over for these Ragnarok pioneers. They were already looking beyond the Philippines for expansion and they were eyeing Brazil and India as potential markets.

Source: Go Negosyo

Hortaleza Success Story

Dr. Rolando Hortaleza, the owner of the local Splash Corporation competing and knocking down multinational brands, Unilever and Procter and Gamble Philippines, is the featured entrepreneur success story today.

In an interview with The Philippine Star last August 2005, Dr. Hortaleza tells about the “bitter taste” of success after carefully assessing that he could not support his wife and their daughter with his income if he practiced Medicine - he dared his fate to become an entrepreneur.

Hortaleza says that success is just a matter of dreaming. In reality, however, dreaming only constitutes 50% of the total picture of success. Aspiration is one thing and materialization of the ambition is another. Let us view another rags to riches entrepreneur as we witness the life story of success of Hortaleza’s Splash Corporation:

In 1985, with a paltry capital of P12,000 (the total cash gifts he and his wife received as their wedding presents), he ventured into repacking acetone and cuticle remover after he paid P5,000 to his cousin in exchange for a special formula for these “chemicals.” Sans sophisticated technology, Hortaleza, his wife Rosalinda Ang-Hortaleza (also a doctor) and an all-around assistant transferred those substances from drums to small. amber bottles using tabo (water dipper) to make their very first cosmetic products under the company name RBH Cosmetics. Inside their two-storey, 500-square-meter house in Valenzuela, their very first products were manufactured.

“Many times, I would siphon acetone and cuticle remover to small bottles. And many times, too, I would accidentally ingest them,” Hortaleza said adding that their first year of business venture earned for them a little over P100,000.

Like all entrepreneurs, Hortaleza was itching to hit it big. Seeing a crown of opportunity in making hair spray in 1987 - because big hair style was the fad then - his company offered a high-quality, low-price alternative to the imported hair spray products. As many a woman used his hair spray, Hortaleza stumbled upon a spray of luck as he earned his first P1 million in sales that year.

It was only in 1993 that their technology became sophisticated. By that time, too, their company name had metamorphosed into other names - from Hortaleza Cosmetics in 1986, it was renamed Splash Cosmetics in 1987, Splash Manufacturing Corp. in 1991, until it became Splash Corp. in 2001.

To date, Hortaleza’s company is worth billions courtesy of its three arms - local distribution and international distribution of Splash and retailing (HBC). From acetone, cuticle remover and hair spray, his company now processes and distributes soap, lotion and exfoliating products like Extraderm, Skin White, Maxipeel and Biolink. From three people working f or Hortaleza Cosmetics in 1985, the company has 1,600 employees now with the inclusion of 40 Indonesians who are employed in his factory in Jakarta, Indonesia.

More than a success story, Hortaleza would like to believe that theirs is a story of hope, a story of humble beginnings. There were times, he said, that instant capital was hard to come by so he resorted to informal channels like borrowing from the Chinese community. At one point, he borrowed from loan sharks just to see his business through.

“I always believe that at the end of the day it will always be people issue. As long as you’re surrounded by passionate people, you can make sure that your endeavor will take off,” he said, adding that their faith in God is the tie that binds all actions of their company.
You can buy technology. You can buy or build structures. But you can’t buy passion and loyalty. Hortaleza is very thankful he didn’t have to buy determination and dedication from his people. For he practices what he preaches, Hortaleza’s people are all wired up to think and act that what they’re doing is for the betterment not only of themselves but of their country.
“The pursuit to succeed should not be taken as an end but rather as a means to the end. We run after profit to sustain life. We bought equipment and nourished ourselves. It’s about time we contributed to the society,” he philosophized.

Relating well with people is one of Hortaleza’s unwavering armor to feel the pulse of the masa. This trait of his is the reason there’s no labor union in his company. What’s the need for one when, in fact, Hortaleza is within arm’s reach of his employees? He is also very concerned about his suppliers, he put up World Partners Bank so accredited clienteles of Splash can enjoy “partnership of equals” when they do their financing transaction with the bank.

“I’m jologs. I play basketball with them. I sit down and eat with my employees in the factory and we tell each other stories about anything under the sun. I listen to their problems,” he said. Most of his employees call him Kuya, a term that does not alienate them from him. He and his wife also stood as principal sponsors in the weddings of their employees. Even his children - two boys and two girls who go to Ateneo and Poveda - are so grounded they spend time with their employees very often.

Even as a young kid, Hortaleza recalled, he has always been maka-masa. “For one thing, I grew up in a below-middle class community in Sampaloc.” At the age of 10, he would bring lunch to the employees of his parents in their small retailing business called Hortaleza Vaciador where, after school, he would help by sharpening nippers, pushers, scissors and cutters.

Now that Hortaleza’s company has grown big and has weathered the storm posed by competing against multinational skin care brands (Splash is the No. 1 skin care product in the Philippines and No. 6 in the international market, the only local company in a pool of international brand names), many companies want to buy them out especially now that they recently launched “neutraceutical” products like flavored virgin coconut oil and ampalaya tablets.
But Hortaleza said he’s not selling his company because it is the flagship of the Philippines when it comes to skin care products, a domain dominated by North America and Europe.

Truly, Dr. Rolando Hortaleza is another epitome of a rags to riches entrepreneur story. He has proved that with the right goals and actions towards those goals, competing with bigger companies is definitely possible.
Salute towards more success Dr. Hortaleza!

Tony Tan Caktiong and Jollibee Success Story

Tony Tan Caktiong’s Jollibee has been one of the most admired, most copied, most innovative and most professionally-run company here in the Philippines. It has been the number one fastfood chain overtaking giants such as Mc Donalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC.

How did a local jolly red bee knocked down a multinational red-haired clown named Ronald? Let’s see another inspiring story of the founder of one of my ideal businesses. With its success, a Jollibee franchise has now a tag price of P25+ Million (US$ 500,000+). Wow!


Tony Tan Caktiong’s Life and his Jollibee company is another rags to riches story of an entrepreneur that truly inspires everyone. Tony was the third of seven siblings born to poor parents who migrated from the Fujian province in China to look for a better life here in the Philippines. His father began as a chef in a Chinese Temple. Not later on his father was invited to open a restaurant business in Davao so the whole family moved south. All together, they helped one another in managing the restaurant business which in turn became profitable. This allowed young Tony to return back to Manila and pursue his course Chemical Engineering at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

In 1975, Tony and his colleagues went on a visit to a Magnolia Ice Cream plant located in Quezon City and learned that it was offering franchise when he saw a poster for it. By the month of May, with his family savings, he took P350,000 to grab the franchise opportunity and opened two Magnolia ice cream parlors named Cubao Ice Cream House located near the Coronet Theater, and Quiapo Ice Cream House located beside the bridge – the one going to ilalim – near a Mercury Drug outlet. They all worked hands-on but as the business propels, they noticed they could not do it all so they started to set up an organization hired store managers, and trained people.

Tony started with just two ice cream. Then after two years, he offered chicken and hamburger sandwiches, because customers were telling them they didn’t want to be eating ice cream all the time. They prepared the food in the back kitchen, and soon noticed that people were lining up more for hamburgers than for ice cream. Then in 1978, when they already had six ice cream parlors, they asked themselves: “Why don’t we change into a hamburger house?”

That was also the time they decided to incorporate and realized thet they needed a brand name. They were looking for a symbol that would represent the group, and because Tony was very impressed with Disneyland characters, they decided on a bee. The bee is a busy creature that produces honey – one of life’s sweetest things. They thought it would be a very good symbol to represent everybody. They decided they would all be very busy and happy at the same time, because if they were busy but not happy, it wouldn’t be worth it. That’s why they put the word jolly and just changed the “y” into “i” to form a brand name - JOLLIBEE.
“It wasn’t long before we heard that the multinationals were coming in – including McDonald’s. Friends started asking us if we were going to get a McDonald’s franchise but I remember saying, if you franchise, you can’t grow outside the Philippines”, says Tony.

McDonald’s came in 1982, but they didn’t feel threatened because they were a little naïve and Jollibee was doing very well. They found McDonald’s to be very good at everything, but it didn’t know the local culture. They knew the Filipino’s taste buds and what he liked in food, so they offered him flavorful and good-tasting products. He likes pasta, so they started offering spaghetti. He likes chicken, so they came up with good fried chicken by mixing different flavors. They also knew something important all along: Filipino taste is sweet. This is very Filipino – very Asian. He said: “If we eat anything sweet; we don’t really think it’s sweet; but try giving it to a foreigner and they’d be surprised.”





Tony narrates: “Filipinos also like to smell their food before they eat it. They want to be sure it smells delicious before they take a bite. Sometimes they would open a kettle and say, what’s this? It smells good! This was proved by the Langhap-Sarap advertising campaign by Basic [Footcone and Belding]. They did it for us initially for the hamburger, and when it became successful, we started using it as a campaign slogan for the other products.”

It didn’t take them long to introduce new products when they were starting out. The family members would discuss what new products customers would like, and without much marketing they’d bring something out – like spaghetti. Tony’s sister is also a good cook, so she would come up with a new recipe, they would comment on it, and then she’d fix the recipe before they started offering it. “Before, it was simple. Now, there’s a formal structure. There’s a big Research and Development (R&D) department and a marketing department. The marketing department gets inputs from customers and the products they like, and then communicate that to R&D. R&D then develops it. We have an internal taste panel that taste the food and comment on it, and when a formulation is needed they do it. The next step is a consumer panel test. We have the product taste-tested by consumers, and if it’s okay, we test the product in a few stores. Before it was easy, but now it takes three to six months to roll out a new product. Another time-consuming process is training our people on how to prepare and serve the new product.” says Tony.

Jollibee group has also become bigger. Now they have Chowking, Greenwich, Delifrance, and the recently acquired Red Ribbon. Greenwich pizza started as an over-the-counter pizza store at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan, Metro Manila, in 1971. One time, the founder approached Tony to ask if they were interested – at that time she has 50 kiosks and having difficulty managing the business – when she asked them if they were interested, Tony said, “why not? Let’s form a joint venture.” They took over the management in 1994, but they retained the taste of her products because it suits the local market. On the other hand, they took over Chowking in 2000 because Chinese food is also very popular among Filipinos, but there was no good company serving the market. So they took over and worked on it.

“Delifrance is doing so-so. And the reason is because we’re still not used to eating bread as a meal – therefore, the market is limited to the AB classes. It can’t grow into a mass-market type. Our latest acquisition was Red Ribbon Bakeshop last 2005 to include cakes, rolls, breads and pastries in their line of products. For us to sustain a good growth rate on a long-term basis, we have to continue acquiring businesses”, Tony relates.

They had to let go of Binggo. They found that the convenience store was in a totally different industry. At one time, they had around 20 stores, but they found it hard supplying them because the volume they were buying for them was just too small to attract good suppliers. They had to let it go.

They’re also bullish on China because they’ve acquired Yonghe King and its 91 stores. “It’s making money. So there’s no pressure to turn it around; the challenge is how to expand the brand. China is huge; it’s like having several countries in one country. If we do well, we can have several thousand stores there. If Jollibee has more than 500 stores for 80 million Filipinos, how many stores can you put up for 1.3 Billion Chinese? Kentucky Fried Chicken alone is opening 200 stores a year in China. It’s doing very well”, says Tony.
“Many countries share our taste in food, and the opportunity is in going to China, India and Indonesia- countries with large populations. We usually do a very broad 10-year horizon but it’s not detailed. We have a five-year plan, a three-year plan, and a one-year plan. We have plans for China and India, but if we want to go to India, we’ll need a long-term plan. We might have to start putting Indian people into the organization and it would probably take at least three years before we sent them back. In China, we had an opportunity to break into the market with Yonghe, but because our people didn’t speak the language, we had to hire translators to help us out. We still send our people there, but they have to work with translators. We also need good people here. We’re lucky to be the leader, but it’s still a competitive market. You can’t afford mistakes because customers will leave if they’re not happy with you. The food business is still very basic. It’s still about taste. It’s still about How did you serve me? Is your place nice? Am I treated well? Do I get value? If you think about it, if we’re going out to eat, these are the basic things we look out for, but the execution is the difficult part. It’s not like other businesses where it’s the concept or the knowledge that’s difficult. Here, there’s no secret; it’s very easy, but it’s the execution that’s hard. If you ask a lot of restaurant, they know all these things. Executing day by day is what’s hard.”, Tony continues.

When asked what’s the secret of Jollibee’s success, Tony says: “If you have to ask, the secret of Jollibee’s success is sharing. We share our success with people; we give good compensation; we share any honor that comes our way. Actually, this idea of sharing didn’t come from me. It came from a friend. He said: You know why you’re successful? You know how to share. A lot of people do not share, but in Jollibee you share a lot with your people.”

Truly, Tony Tan Caktiong is another exemplar example of an inspiring entrepreneur. He had all the achievements from Management Man of the Year in 2002 to an Agora Award for Outstanding Marketing Achievement, from a Triple A Alumni Award from the Asian Institute of Management to a Ten Outstanding Young Men Award for Entrepreneurship. And to cap it all, he also won the World Entrepreneur of The Year 2004 by Ernst & Young besting other 31 world entrepreneur competitors.

On July 25, 2007, Jollibee Group launched Tio Pepe’s Karinderia in EDSA Central in Mandaluyong, it’s pilot restaurant to professionalize Filipino’s “Carinderia” Industry.

As of 2007, Jollibee had under its wing 1,385 stores in the country: Jollibee (583); Chowking (367); Greenwich (237); Red Ribbon (163); and Delifrance (35)

Overseas, Jollibee Group has 174 stores: Yonghe King in China (102); Jollibee in US (12); Red Ribbon in US (19); Chowking in US (12); Chowking in Dubai (7); Chowking in Indonesia (5); Jollibee in Other Countries (16) and one Chun Shui Tang, a teahouse in Taiwan.

Source: Excerpts from Go Negosyo and Entrepreneur Magazine.

National Book Store Success Story

National Book Store, the Philippine’s largest chain of bookstores is the featured success story for today as we witness the life story of the woman behind it, Socorro Ramos or more commonly know to her staffs as Nanay Coring.

Her story is truly an inspiring one as she built the business National Book Store from scratch with a lot of challenges and hurdles as she and her husband Jose Ramos literally built and rebuilt the business three times from scratch. That’s the true entrepreneurial spirit with enough courage and determination.


Nanay Coring or Maria Socorro Cancio in her early years was born in Sta. Cruz, Laguna on September 23, 1923. Ever she was young, she grew up in an entrepreneurial environment as one of the six children born to entrepreneur parents and grandmother. Her parents used to ran a store selling a lot of stuffs from slippers to clothes and a lot more while her grandmother had a market stall where the young Socorro got used to seeing customers withdraw items on credit. Unfortunately, her grandmother did not manage the business carefully not maintaining a list of those items availed on credit and their business fell.

After that event, they went to Manila. Her mother struggled hard to feed six children and the young Socorro considered herself as lucky if she got money from her mother. Her elder sisters helped the family by working in a candy and bubble gum factory and she spent her summer doing summer jobs too. In one instance, young Socorro was hired to peel off the paper used in old cigarettes so that it can be reuse to make new fresh cigarette sticks. She received 5 centavos per pack of cigarettes. But the young Socorro started her entrepreneurial skills and hired kids and their neighborhood paying them 5 centavos for every two pack of cigarettes leveraging her efforts. Since then, the young Socorro was on her way to become an entrepreneur as early as 10 years old!

Immediately after graduating from Arellano High School, she worked as a salesgirl at Goodwill Book Store owned by the family of her present husband Jose Ramos. Socorro’s brother Manuel married one of the Ramos children and in 1940, they needed someone to look after the branch they set up along Escolta Street, on the ground floor of Panciteria National. Jose Ramos took over it and asked Socorro to work on him in that branch. They renamed it as National Book Store.

Their love story began but her parents were against with it as Socorro was just 18 years old back then. She was told to stay in the province to keep away from marrying Jose Ramos. But as they say, true love never dies, the young Socorro with just 11 pesos in her pocket, struggled to went back to Manila to marry Jose. Because of this act, her family was so furious and angry that they considered her dead already. It was short-lived though lasting only until Socorro gave birth to her twins named Alfredo, who is now the President of National Book Store and Benjamin, now the Vice President.

As mentioned above, the business National Book Store faced a lot of challenges as it was built and rebuilt three times from scratch!


First, Socorro admitted that it was not easy to start the business from scratch. She recalled that during the Japanese occupation, they would look on each and every book title on sale. If they found questionable books, they would just tear the pages off leaving them useless. So instead of selling books, Socorro and Jose decided to fill their bookshelves with stuffs from candies, soap, slippers, papers, and cigarettes. During the war, she would transfer goods to her smaller stores.

Second, when the Japanese were driven away, it was now the time for the Americans. Their National Book Store stall in Escolta was damaged in the war. They recovered a bit by selling unused greeting cards and uncensored books, which they had hidden in their home.

Third, in 1945, they relocated their National Book Store previously located at Escolta to Avenida. The business is doing quite well during first few post-war school years but unfortunately, three years after, a typhoon blew the roof of their store and they were left with soaked books and stuffs that were worthless. Again, for the third time, they have to start from zero.

They struggled hard to rebuilt National Book Store for the third time. But since then, every centavo that they earned were used to buy the lot where the Rizal Avenue Branch of National Book Store stands to this day.
Today, National Book Store is considered as the largest chain of bookstores in the country. They have ventured into several businesses already such as a convenience-type store named NBS Book Express, publishing companies named Cacho-Hermanos printing press, Anvil Books and Capitol-Atlas Publishing, another book store named Powerbooks, music store named Tower Records and Music One, Gift Gate, the home of Hello Kitty and Swatch, and a department store named Crossings department store. Socorro’s children and relatives ran all these.

Socorro Ramos’ life and success story and the challenges that she faced with her business National Book Store business was another inspiring story. In fact, it was recognized when she was chosen as the Ernst and Young’s Philippine Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005.

Today, at the age of 85, Socorro Ramos or Nanay Coring acts as the General Manager of National Book Store. And she told that the core values in her success are to keep learning, being actively involved in the business, being able to read changes and act on them immediately, and most of all, never give up!

Credits: Go NeGOsyo

Manny Pacquiao Success Story

I’m sure all Filipinos around the world know the name Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. He is currently the undisputed, “pound-per-pound” champion of the world and was tagged as “The Destroyer!”

He rose from extreme poverty to being the wealthiest boxer in the world today. What’s more amazing is he does not brag about his wealth and achievements. Despite his status right now, he remains humble, God-fearing, and respectful to his opponents and fans. Let’s look at another “rags to riches” story as we peek at Manny’s success story.


Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao was born on December 17, 1978 in Kibawe, Bukidnon in MIndanao here in the Philippines. Born of a typical poverty-stricken Filipino family, Manny Pacquiao left elementary school when his father left his mother to be with another woman. As an out of school boy, he helped his mom by selling breads and home made doughnuts peddling the streets of General Santos City.

As a young boy, Manny had his interests in boxing already. When not wandering the streets to sell his merchandise, he would be seen visiting other nearby villages and towns to compete for boxing matches most especially during town fiestas for a reward of just P150 (~US$3) for winners and P100 (~US$2) for the loser. The money that he gets would be a great help for his mom to support their living expenses.
Pacquiao started his professional boxing career at the age of 16 at 106 lbs. With his agility and power in boxing, he won a lot of boxing fights. One day, he got invited by one of the boxing personalities to go to Manila to hone his skills in boxing. He did not hesitate and asked the perimission of his Mother Dionisia who later on refused to give him her consent telling Manny that boxing is a brutal sport that can pose a lot of danger to his life. With his eagerness in boxing, Manny still went on and sailed to Manila to continue his training.

In Manila, Manny trained himself with dedication. In his early boxing fights, he kept on winning but unfortunately, just like what other unknown boxers at that time, he earns a little money from his wins which was not enough for him to send money to his mom. To increase his income, he later on employed himself in the gym where he trained as a employee doing gardening and cleaning and occasionally doing construction works while pursuing his career in boxing.

Manny had such an amazing dedication in his boxing training that he trained like there was no tomorrow. Each day he would wake up the earliest and leave when all others left already. With his commitment, he raked eleven straight wins before he had his first professional loss to Rustico Torrecampo on February 9, 1996. Torrecampo was the only Filipino so far who had defeated Manny.

Manny continued with his fights knocking out opponents in Japan, Thailand and South Korea. It did not take long before he got his World Champion title on December 24, 1998 at a very early age of 19 when he defeated Chatchai Sasakul, the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) World Flyweight Champion at that time.

Pacquiao went on with his fights training harder and increasing his weight to join heavier boxing division. He had his first boxing fight held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas Nevada during his fight with the then International Boxing Federation (IBF) Super Bantamweight Champion Lehlohonolo Ledwaba in June 2001. Apparently, he just receive a small money on his prize but he already made a noise in his American fans.
Manny went on to defend his new title then with the trainig of his coach Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym improving his hand speed and mental preparation. He was then recognized as a World Champion when he defeated Marco Antonio Barrera with a TKO in the 11th Round. Since then, his fights would empty the streets of Manila and all other cities sending people over to their homes to watch his fights making a zero criminal-related incidence in the country during the duration of his fight.

Only six months after he had his fight with Barrera, on May 8, 2004, he challenged another boxing fighter Juan Miguel Marquez who at that time held the titles of both World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) Featherweight Champion. The fight ended up with a draw that left fans of both sides feeling bitter. However, Manny managed to collect his first million dollar in this fight.

Pacquiao once again moved up in a higher division and pursued a fight with another Mexican fighter by the name of Eric Morales on March 19, 2005 who handed him his first defeat in the boxing world stage - Las Vegas Nevada. However, Manny retaliated by knocking out Morales in their second fight on January 21, 2006.

On July 2006, Manny had a fight with Oscar Larios, the two time Super Bantamweight Champion held here at Philippines in Araneta Coliseum. The fight ended up with a TKO by Manny knocking down Larios on the 12th round. A series of fight by Manny went after Larios that includes Jorge Solis, a second fight with Barrera, a rematch with Marquez, a fight with Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya, and last with Ricky Hatton which Pacquiao managed to win them all making him super famous in the boxing world and raking millions of dollars.

Ranking in one of the top richest Filipinos, Manny Pacquiao remains humble. Aside from being a great boxer considered by Time Magazine as one of the greatest athletes in 2009 making him as one of the most influential people for this year 2009, he was also included by Forbes Magazine in its annual Celebrity 100 list for this year 2009. Forbes listed Manny as the 6th highest paid athlete wtih a total of $40 million from second half of 2008 to first half of 2009. He was also the first Filipino athlete to have been honored to appear on a postage stamp.


When asked with his formula for success, Manny often says dedication, perseverance, courage, extreme self-discipline and prayer are his secrets. He once claimed:

”Anyone will succeed in whatever field of endeavor in life by acquiring the same virtues and character that boxing world champions do.”

Truly, Manny Pacquiao is one of the best athlete in the world not only in his profession but also to his friends as well. He never flashed his money, never wore gold and diamonds to brag to his friends, nor he treated people like they are inferior to him. He kept his same old friends and welcomed them to his mansion and always gives credits to the people who are the dearest to him.
Manny is a pioneer for young individuals who seeks success in life, respect for others, and a symbol of modesty and professionalism! Let’s all support him as one nation in his fight against the Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto this coming November 14. I am very sure that once again, he will bring home the bacon!
Long live Manny and thanks for making all the Filipinos proud all over the world!
We all hope that you get another WBO Welterweight Championship belt this Saturday, March 13, 2010 as we watch Pacquiao vs. Clottey Live Stream.

Source: Socyberty and Wikipedia

Henry Sy Success Story

Today, I’m now going to feature the life story of the richest man in the Philippines. He is no other than Henry Sy, the retail magnate who owns all established 33 SM Malls and also a banking magnate who owns Banco De Oro-EPCI Bank and majority share in China Bank.
This is another inspiring story as we witness his rags to riches story on how he built all SM Malls and became one of the biggest bankers enabling him to become the richest man in our country surpassing both Lucio Tan and the Ayalas.

Let’s learn and be inspired from another successful entrepreneur story as his daughter Teresita Sy-Coson narrates the story of his father’s success:


Our company, SM, as many of you may already know, came from the hard work of my dad, Henry Sy, Sr. It is a rags to riches story that even myself did not realize until I went to trace his roots in China.
His journey from the thatched hut I saw there to the shopping centers he has today is something that amazes even myself.

His determination, his discipline and his thriftiness have produced an astute and street smart businessman who has influenced a lot of people. Including us, his children.

My father’s perseverance during the different crises our country has gone through has made our active business pursuits possible for a half century. True, he was disappointed with the economy many times, but he never saw the reason to quit and instead pursued his goals relentlessly.

He had many obstacles – both external and internal – in his business, and there were times he could not understand why things had to be so complicated for him to pursue his business objectives.

It has been written – and I can attest that it is true – that Henry Sy started from the bottom.

He came to the Philippines at the young age of 12, and worked in his father’s small sari-sari store more than 12 hours everyday to help him. It was located on Echague St., which is now Carlos Palanca Sr. St. in Quiapo, Manila. There, he devised ways to increase his income by developing small portions of products – much like the sachets we see today in the supermarkets.

He was able to make multiple sales in order to make extra income, spending so much time in the store that he had no time to go out and play with friends in the neighborhood. It did not take a long time for him to realize, however, that he can only do so much in a sari-sari store environment.

WWII came and the sari-sari store was looted and burned. He did a lot of buying and selling of odd things during the war to enable the family to survive.

This must have provided him the hands-on training for his stamina in business. At one time, he was hit by shrapnel while selling, and quite fortunately was brought to the hospital by his good friend in a kariton.

Without that friend, he could have bled to death. He treasured that friendship and later expressed his gratitude after the war by making that friend his partner in a shoe store. The partnership lasted for more than 40 years until the shoe store had to give away to the building renovations of the lessor.

After the war ended in 1945, he ventured into selling American shoes imported by enterprising Gis.
He later saw the opportunities of opening a shoe store, and not long after he was managing three shoe store in partnership with friends.

With the pleasure of a growing family while at the same time pursuing studies at FEU in the early 50s, he sought more ways to augment his income.

He studied the market and decided to be different. While other young men went to the US to pursue a higher education, he went on a long business trip to the East Coast, and came home with a lot of merchandising ideas.

For a time, he was selling a lot of shoes, accessories, and leather goods, hoping to change the way shoe manufacturers look at the industry.

Sensing a lot of opportunities, he decided to open SHOE MART – “SM” – the first air-conditioned shoe store that merchandised shoes in a very inviting and classy format. With the success of that store, he went on to open more shoe stores, but he could not get enough suppliers.

Many shoe manufacturers at that time could not understand why they had to listen to this shoe retailer who had very definite ideas on what he wanted to sell. They did not cooperate by providing him with the volume he needed, and because of that limitation, he gradually shifted to apparel – and thereafter other merchandise – with the help of my mother.

He was continuously learning from his customers, suppliers, and employees. This on-the-job research gave him enough confidence to expand to a department store chain. Many things in life grow out of needs, and to meet the needs, you become determined. With determination you will take extra challenges and do things differently – which will most likely bring success.

We opened our first department store in 1972, two months after Martial Law was declared. The business had a slow start, but progressed steadily. During the Martial Law years, he continued to open more department stores, reaching a point wherein he could not get space he needed in the existing shopping centers during that time. He then decided think long term, and invest in properties for malls, which were patterned after suburban shopping centers, which he had been studying for some time.

When we started the construction of our first mall in 1983, the Philippines was in the midst of a debt moratorium and experienced hyper inflation. The economy decline was further aggravated by the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. Many bankers predicted our demise because my dad came from nowhere – he may had a few department stores and shoe stores at that time, but he was not one of the financial heavy-weights at that time.

Unaffected by criticism, and armed with sheer determination and optimism, he persisted and opened in 1985 with our department store and supermarket and a few tenants. Many potential lessees were saying no to lease offers.

At about the same time, given the social unrest of the times, our own Shoemart Makati was faced with ugly strikes. He almost gave up, but through the encouragement of his employees and customers, he continued. At that time, he decided emotionally draining disturbances should not overpower him or detract him from his goals. Since that time, he has not faltered in his confidence, and became even more determined to continue the business. He also convinced everyone of us in the organization to follow his optimism.

Later, we expanded, slowly building malls at that time to get our formula right. The expansion was not without difficulties. When constructing Sta. Mesa and Megamall, we were faced with delays in construction due to cement shortages and the 1989 coups.

When the 1997 Asian crisis came, we were planning our mall expansion, including the Mall of Asia, which was then envisioned to be the biggest mall in the region.

Because my dad felt the tsunami-like effects of the region wide crisis, which was unlike any other he had experienced, we had to change plans. We deferred opening the Mall of Asia, and went on with the opening of other malls.

We grew in numbers instead of size, serving different smaller markets. We have also expanded our retail business beyond department stores to include supermarkets, hardware stores, appliance superstores, and other retail formats.

At about the same time, we looked into the banking business – both at our bank and at the industry. At the time, our main bank, Banco de Oro was a medium sized bank. Because we were quite conservative in lending, the deluge of bad loans that characterized the times did not affect us. Given that, we thought it was an opportune time to grow amidst some instabilities. We reorganized and strengthened our organizations for about three years and developed growth strategies that started in the year 2000.

Encouraged by the consolidation program of Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) in making Philippine banks more competitive relative to the region, Banco De Oro made few acquisitions because of the moratorium on banking. It acquired the Dao Heng Philippines branch, the First eBank, the Banco Santander Philippines branch, the United Overseas Bank branches, and most recently – Equitable PCI Bank.
Opportunity is where you find it, not where it finds you. Crisis and weakness indicate one can look for opportunities. Transforming problems into opportunities can bring good returns. Prosperity and growth come only to a business that systematically exploits its potentials and systematically optimizes its performances.
Our business – especially that of shopping centers is a long term business. It takes at least eight years to pay back. We feel that the country will always be around, and with Filipinos’ love for shopping, there will always be customers we can sell to.

We also have to continuously innovate. Our other retail formats like supermarkets, hardware stores, appliance stores, home stores, toy superstores, baby stores, and Watsons are continuously evolving with the shopping habits of our customers. Because they frequently visit the store, we make sure we have new products all the time so that their shopping experience will not be boring.

Our group’s policy is to look for opportunities at all times, and to be ready to act when it comes. While crises may have brought opportunities, we continue our plans in good or bad times with some changes to suit our demands of the time.

May Henry Sy’s success rubs off to us as well. As a final note, I would like to leave this quote from Henry Sy: ““There is no such thing as overnight success or easy money. If you fail, do not be discouraged; try again. When you do well, do not change your ways. Success is not just good luck: it is a combination of hard work, good credit standing, opportunity, readiness and timing. Success will not last if you do not take care of it.”

Lucio Tan Success Story

Lucio Tan, probably the most controversial of all the Filipino Tycoons, is the featured success story today. He was once the longest running richest man in the Philippines not until last year when his great rival retail tycoon Henry Sy overtook him in the throne.

Although some of us knew Lucio Tan got involved in various controversies as in the case of tax evasion, having a lot of children in different wives, and having close friends in politics like former Philippine Presidents Marcos and Estrada, he is still another epitome of success.

Let’s look another rags to riches entrepreneur story as we witness the success story of Dr. Lucio Tan.


Lucio Tan was born on July 17, 1934 in China’s Fujian province. His family moved to Philippines, in Naga, where he was a child. He worked his way through college studying Chemistry in Far Eastern University but quit before graduating, set up a business that deals with scrap in the late 1950s and and later on found a job in a tobacco factory where he was tasked to buy leaf tobacco in the Ilocos provinces.

Because of this experience, Lucio Tan started his own cigarette company named Fortune Tobacco in 1966. It was also during this time when his close friend Ferdinand Marcos was newly elected as President. The tobacco business was a success and it expanded introducing a budget brand ‘Hope’ in 1975. By year 1980, Fortune Tobacco was the Philippines’ largest cigarette manufacturer.

In 1977, Lucio Tan acquired from the Philippine Government the then bankrupt bank General Bank and Trust Co. (Genbank) for only P500,000 which was described by many as a sweetheart deal. It was later renamed to Allied Bank.

In 1982, Lucio Tan established and put up Asia Brewery where he used to his benefit, the Marcos ruling that lifted the ban on the establishment of new beer companies. Back then, it was the only brewery allowed to compete with the market leader San Miguel Corp.

In 1993, Lucio Tan secured control of the country’s airline carrier Philippine Air Lines (PAL).

While a lot of articles say that Lucio Tan benefited a lot from tax concessions and privileges that the Marcos Regime gave to him in exchange for a rumored 60% on all his shareholdings, on December 7, 2007, the Philippine Supreme Court affirmed the decision dismissing the state’s sequestration of Lucio Tan’s companies. The court’s decision says that “there can be no question that indeed, petitioner’s orders of sequestration are void and have no legal effect.”

Today, Lucio Tan is still one of the richest person in the Philippines ranking him as second to Henry Sy last year 2008 with a total asset of %1.5 Billion. His Lucio Tan Group of Companies now owns several industries that includes liquor (Tanduay Holdings, Inc. and Asia Brewery), tobacco (Fortune Tobacco), aviation (Philippine Airlines), banking (Allied Bank and Philippine National Bank), real estate (Eton Properties Philippines), and education (Univerity of the East).

Source: huayinet.org

Dado Banatao Success Story

I was reading GoNegosyo and I read about the life story of Dado Banatao. He was considered as the Filipino version of Bill Gates since both came up from a technical background, introduced technologies that transformed the computer industry, and built large successful companies from the ground up.

I was really amazed on how far Dado already went in pursuing his dreams especially knowing his roots. And as such, he was the featured story for today in the rags to riches entrepreneur section of this blog. I hope you would find another inspiring success story.

Dado Banatao was born on May 23, 1946 to a rice farmer and housekeeper where he grew up in a little barrio named Malabhac in the farming town of Iguig in Cagayan Valley Province. When he was a kid, Banatao used to walk barefoot to school along the dirt roads. He then went to Ateneo de Tuguegarao and at 15 pursued college education at Mapua Institute of Technology where he graduated cum laude with an Electrical Engineering degree.


Dado was then offered a job after graduation at Meralco but then he turned down the offer after knowing the starting salary. He instead applied as a pilot trainee at Philippine Airlines, which paid much more. Little did he know that a turning point of his career will come when Boeing pirated him as a design engineer and brought him to US.He then enjoyed engineering and later on pursued further studies taking a Masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University, which he completed in 1972 to be trained properly on his craft.

After graduating with his Masters degree, Dado then worked at some of the leading-edge technology companies that include National Semiconductor, Intersil, and Commodore International where he designed the first single chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator. In 1981, while he was working at Seeq Technology, the inventor of Ethernet approached the company to look for a more efficient way of linking computers. Banatao was then assigned with the task that led him to his breakthrough discovery of by putting the Ethernet controller on a single chip instead of big boards. That was then the first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transreceiver chip.

With that breakthrough discovery, Dado then decided to start his company and be his own boss. With US$500,000 seed capital that came mostly from friends, he put up Mostron i 1985 to develop chip sets. As a start up company, he had to be cost efficient and resourceful. He then used equipment from another company that wasn’t used on weekends to debug chips. Later his hard work and dedication paid off when his company developed the first system logic chip set for the PC-XT and PC-AT, which lowered the cost of building the personal computer and made it much more powerful.

About the same time, Dado started his second company named Chips and Technologies (C&T), which created enhanced graphics adapter chip sets. With its success, sales during the first quarter amounted to US$12 million. In less than a year, the company went public by listing its shares in the stock market and the market’s response was remarkable. It was one of the fastest Initial Public Offering (IPO) listings in the history of US stock market. In 1996, multinational semiconductor giant Intel bought C&T making Banatao richer by US$430 million.

But even before this huge success, Banatao had already reached millions when he started his third company named S3. It was a company that pioneered the local bus concept for the PC in 1989 and introduced the first Windows accelerator chip in 1990. Way back in 1993, S3 was then considered as the third most profitable technology company in the world when it went public having an IPO worth of US$30 million.

Dado Banatao is now a multimillionaire investor. He invested in a lot of networking companies that were eventually sold before he joined the venture capital firm Mayfield Fund in 1998. After two years, the company offered him to promote to a general partner but Dado refused it and instead decided to start his own venture capital firm named Tallwood Venture Capital with a capital of US$300 million, all of which came from his own pocket. He then believed that independence is more important than security.

Today Dado Banatao manages several businesses. His Cielo Communications is developing the vertical cavity surface emitting laser or Versel, which speeds the transmission of data along optical lines. His SIRF Technology is designing a chip for a global positioning system which utilizes satellites to locate objects. His Marvell Technology had a highly successful public offering with the stock price soaring more than 300% during its first day of trading. He has proven to be a master investor and venture capitalist. He invests, oversees, and sells several companies that include Cyras Systems acquired by Ciena; Newport Communications acquired by Broadcom; Acclaim Communications acquired by Level One; Stream Machines acquired by Cirrus Logic; Marvell Technology Group and New Moo software.

He has more than three homes in the US, including resort properties in Lake Tahoe and Sonoma San Francisco. From his childhood roots of walking barefoot, he now drives his high-performance luxury cars and he flies his own fast jets. Yet despite these blessings, Dado Banatao still contributes to the society and to the country. His Banatao Filipino American Fund assists Northern California high school students of Filipino heritage in pursuing a college education in engineering. Aside from this, he also went back to his childhood town of Iguig in Cagayan Valley where he built a computer center at his grade school making it the only public school with the most modern computer network.

Truly Dado Banatao has come along way being a veteran entrepreneur and venture capitalist of Silicon Valley. May his successful life story continue to inspire us to pursue our dreams, ambitions and aspirations despite adversities in life. Keep the fire burning. As this blog says, Dream… Believe… Act… Achieve.