HENRY SY SUCCESS STORY

January 20, 2009 Rags to Riches Entrepreneur

HENRY SY SUCCESS STORY

January 20, 2009 Rags to Riches Entrepreneur

Today, I’m now going to feature the life story of the richest man in the Philippines. He is no
other than Henry Sy Sr, the retail magnate who owns all established 56 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.
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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
There is no such thing as overnight
quote from Henry Sy: ““
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.”

HENRY SY
SUCCESS STORY

NATIONAL BOOK STORE SUCCESS STORY

February 27, 2009 Rags to Riches Entrepreneur 27 Comments

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 Ramos 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.

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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!
Successful story of JOLLIBEE

Jollibee is a fast-food restaurant chain based in Philippines. Where by the founder

is Tony Tan CakTiong. Something to share with of the successful story of
JOLLIBEE!

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. 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. 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 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 would not 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.

Awards in 2008

JOLLIBEE bested some of Asia Pacific's biggest multinationals as it bagged the

FMCG and F & B Asia Pacific Supply Chain Excellence Award at the SCM Logistics
Excellence Award held in Singapore.

Zenith Foods Corporation, the commissary plant of JFC, was adjudged the
National winner of Meat Processing Plant AAA category in the search for Best
Meat Establishment of the National Meat Inspection Service.
JOLLIBEE wins Award of Excellence in Philippine Quill Awards for Media Relations
Program (30th anniversary campaign).

CMMA Best Radio Ad branded "Hongkong" radio ad

GOKONGWEI

We need blood and sweat and hard work to make the Philippine economy
compete globally, for our family businesses to be world class in this era of
globalization. We must compete not just with rhetoric and words. We need hard
work, perseverance, innovation, courage, and total dedication. We need to slug
it out."

He’s known to be a philanthropist. John Gokongwei, Jr. is a prominent Chinese

Filipino businessman with holdings in air transportation, banking, food
manufacturing, petrochemicals, power generation, publishing, real estate and
property development, telecom and textiles. In 2009 Forbes magazine issue,
Gokongwei has a networth of $720 million making him the fifth Philippine richest
businessman.The entrepreneurial career of John Gokongwei, Jr is one of the most
cited in Asia. Once a scion of a wealthy clan, the young Gokongwei overcame the
death of his father, the creditor’s seizure of their home, and the loss of the family
business to bounce back from adversity. The shock and humiliation so steeled him
that a bank’s rejection of his loan application failed to dishearten him in the
1950s, when he was starting his first factory. Nor did his failed attempts to join
San Miguel Corporation dim his spirit two decades later.

He was born August 11, 1926 in the scenic Gulangyu isle across Xiamen City, in
the Fujian Province of South China. But he spent his childhood and first became
an entrepreneur in the resource-poor yet dynamic trading port city of Cebu,
where his great- grand father, Pedro Lee Gotiaoco, had risen from poverty to
become one of the wealthiest merchants and leaders of the Chinese business
community. Later, the reversal of fortunes forced the teen-aged John to peddle
soap, thread and candles using his bike. By age 17, he was riding the batel,
traveling two to three weeks with products to sell from Cebu to Lucena and
then on to Manila. During World War II, the young Gokongwei also sold
diamonds in Cebu as a result of the trust placed on him by the older Chinese
traders, who were impressed with his initiative.

After the war, Gokongwei setup Amasia, a trading firm that imported textile
remnants, fruits, used clothing, and old newspapers and magazines from the U.S.,
and stocked them on the ground floor of a two-story apartment, above which
Gokongwei’s family lived. Next, he moved to Chinatown in Manila to start a corn-
milling factory producing glucose and cornstarch. The 30-year old entrepreneur
lacked capital, but had good shinyong or “trustworthiness,” so China Bank
officials Albino SyCip and Dee K. Chiong granted him a P500,000 clean loan to
start him off. Gokongwei has since moved from one venture to another,
reinvesting his earnings and working for half a century to build a conglomerate.
The Gokongweis’ flagship company had originally focused on “food, clothing and
shelter,” but today it has become the most diversified conglomerate in the
Philippines. It controls the biggest snack food producer, Universal Robina
Corporation, the URC branded Consumer Foods Group, and the URC Agro-
Industrial Group. Robinsons Land Corporation, developer of residential and
office condominiums, shopping malls and housing projects, boasts the largest
number of hotel rooms (1,140) in the country. The successful Robinsons malls
have built over half a million square meters of total leasing space nationwide.

Cebu Pacific Air, which entered the market in 1996 on a strategy of offering “low
fare, great value,” has grown to become the second largest domestic carrier in
the Philippines.

On March 04, 2003, Gokongwei made a rare appearance to celebrate the launch
of Sun Cellular by his Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc., the largest
fixed- wire telephone service provider in Luzon outside Metro Manila.

Gokongwei paid his dues to philanthropy when he established the Gokongwei

Brothers Foundation. In 1999 the foundation put up GBF training Center as an
advanced technical school for engineering graduates; it also launched the
Children’s Library, the multi-media libraries at the Robinsons shopping malls.

Oscar Lopez
The Lopezes' are one of the richest family in the Philippines.?
I was reading the book of Robert G. Allen, multiple streams of income, and he
mentioned that he met the Oscar Lopez and his family in the US when he was still on
his struggling years.

Robert is a self-made multimillionaire who made his fortune in real state. A best-seller
author of Multiple Streams of Income, One Minute Millionaire, Cracking the Millionaire
Code and The Challenge.

What moved me in the story is the generosity of the Mr. Oscar Lopez was so apparent
when they bring they bring along with them Robert in their family tour.

Mr. Oscar M. Lopez was born on April 19, 1930. He is married to Ma. Consuelo Lopez
and they got 8 children and 26 grandchildren. He is currently the chairman and chief
executive officer concurrently of Benpres Holdings Corporation (Benpres) and First
Philippine Holdings Corporation (First Holdings).

Benpres is the publicly-listed holding company of the Lopez family for major
investments in broadcast, telecommunications and cable, power generation and
distribution, and road and water infrastructure.

First Holdings is the specific associate holding company for power generation and
distribution. He is also the head of Meralco, the biggest power distribution plant in the
country and ABS-CBN which incidentally is the biggest televisin network in the country.
ABS-CBN owns the Filipino TV Network that broadcasts to large number of Filipino
workers abroad.

Mr. Oscar Lopez studied at the Harvard College and graduated cum laude (Bachelor of
Arts) in 1951. He finished his Master’s degree in Public Administration at the Littauer
School of Public Administration, also at Harvard, in 1955.

When Mr. Oscar M. Lopez took the helm of the Lopez Group of Companies in 1999, he
decided to apply the same hands-on management style to corporate social
responsibility as he did to the family's diverse portfolio of businesses, which included
143 firms employing more than 22,000 people.

Mr. Oscar Lopez brought in Tuck Global Consultancy, a branch of the Amos Tuck
School of Business at Dartmouth College, to examine the Lopez Group's social
responsibility activities in 2001. To help implement Tuck's recommendations, Oscar has
recently announced the creation of the Lopez Group Foundation, Inc., a new framework
for the coordination of his company's many and varied corporate philanthropy programs.

A staunch supporter of corporate social responsibility, Mr. Oscar Lopez is involved in a

number of social concerns. He is chairman and president of the Eugenio Lopez
Foundation , which houses a major Filipiniana museum and library. He is member of the
international board of Conservation International, a global environmental group devoted
to biodiversity conservation, and chairman of First Philippine Conservation, Inc. He is
also chairman of the Opthalmological Foundation of the Philippines, an eye care
outreach for indigents, and member of the Philippine Business for Social Progress.

In addition to priorities such as child welfare and education, the Mr. Oscar Lopez
philanthropic agenda includes environmental protection and poverty alleviation. To
conserve some of the world's richest-and most endangered-regions of biodiversity,
Oscar Lopez in 1999 established First Philippine Conservation Inc (FPCI), which
partners with Conservation International on projects such as protection of the country's
largest remaining block of old-growth rainforest in the Sierra Madre range. Oscar's son
Federico ("Piki") is president of FPCI. On the business side, Piki heads the Lopez
Group's holding company for its power generation investments, First Generation
Holdings Corp.

The Lopez portfolio also includes a range of community development initiatives. Under
the leadership of Manolo Lopez, Oscar's younger brother, for example, the family's
electric distribution company, Meralco, has undertaken an electrification program for
depressed urban and rural areas in its franchise that has benefited nearly 500,000
households. The Lopez Group is also partnering with Philippine Business for Social
Progress and a range of local stakeholders on an integrated development project for
4,440 families uprooted by a Manila Bay reclamation project in 1993.

Mr. Oscar Lopez was a recipient of MAP's Management Man of the Year Award for the
Year 2000. He is one of the top 20 finalists for the Asia Business Leader Awards Year
2004 given by CNBC and TNT International.
Mr. Oscar Lopez is also the 1st Filipino Businessman to receive the Officer's Cross of
the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2005)
To view the top 40 richest Filipinos for 2008, click here.

At age 5 his Father died.

At age 16 he quit school.

At age 17 he had already lost four jobs.

At age 18 he got married.

Between ages 18 and 22, he was a railroad conductor and failed.

He joined the army and washed out there.

He applied for law school he was rejected.

He became an insurance sales man and failed again.

At age 19 he became a father.

At age 20 his wife left him and took their baby daughter.

He became a cook and dishwasher in a small cafe.

He failed in an attempt to kidnap his own daughter, and eventually he convinced

his wife to return home.

At age 65 he retired.

On the 1st day of retirement he received a cheque from the Government for
$105.

He felt that the Government was saying that he couldn’t provide for himself.
He decided to commit suicide, it wasn’t worth living anymore; he had failed so
much.

He sat under a tree writing his will, but instead, he wrote what he would have
accomplished with his life. He realized there was much more that he hadn’t done.
There was one thing he could do better than anyone he knew. And that was how
to cook.

So he borrowed $87 against his cheque and bought and

fried up some chicken using his recipe, and went door to door to sell them to his
neighbours in Kentucky.

Remember at age 65 he was ready to commit suicide.

But at age 88 Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Empire
was a billionaire.

Moral of the story: Attitude. It's never too late to start all over.

MOST IMPORTANLY, IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE. NEVER GIVE UP NO

MATTER HOW HARD

IT GETS.

You have what it takes to be successful. Go for it and make a differrence. No guts
no glory