Filipino Entrepreneur

Henry Sy. As a child, Henry Sy used to work twelve hours a day to help his father run their small family-owned convenience store. During the Second World War, their store was looted and burned so the young Sy switched to buying whatever he could to sell for a profit. Hard times and a humble background in retail shaped and molded the young Sy. Today, he is touted by the business community as the richest man in the Philippines. With over fifty malls and stores of various sizes, the most recognized of all famous Filipino businessmen has foothold in virtually all the major cities in the Philippines. They recently even expanded to Guam and China. To date, three of the ten largest malls in the world are owned and operated by his company.





Lucio Tan. Lucio Tan worked as a janitor in a cigarette factory. After a few promotions, he eventually resigned and started his own tobacco company. His tobacco company grew to capture a 60% share of the Philippine market. With its strong revenues, Tan was able to diversify. This famous Filipino businessman now owns several prominent Philippine companies, many of which are blue-chippers.  Among the top businessmen, Tan is arguably the most enigmatic.  Among his contemporaries, he is probably accessible and prefers to stay out of the limelight.





John Gokongwei. Another self-made man is John Gokongwei who lost his father at the age of thirteen. He had to work hard to help support his family by selling simple products like candles, soap and thread in a small local market and was able to expand to sell more lucrative products. He did this for many years until he ventured into the profitable instant coffee business. Nescafe of Nestle was the only instant coffee readily brand readily available so he focused on developing his own brand of instant coffee – Blend 45. His company did incredibly well and generated enough profits to develop other brands. Almost all of the famous Filipino food and beverage brands Gokongwei created are now market leaders in their respective categories. He eventually made his way in the local retail industry by building and running his own chain of successful shopping malls.