John Gokongwei Jr. is one
Filipino Entrepreneur worthy of salute. Not only has he survived the adversities of Life, he remained unafraid and visionary in his chosen profession (Entrepreneurship) - for love of Family and of Country. I find his speeches to Filipino Graduates (in their early 20s) timely and humbling in his own generous Experiencial Sharing. I foresee that a JGJ AutoBiography would be a bestseller. On the other hand, I ask the question: "Would JGJ talk differently to Filipino Seniors still wanting to be economically productive?"
Speech delivered last March 1, 2002 during the launch of the Ateneo de Manila University John Gokongwei School of ManagementGood morning.
I am John Gokongwei, Jr. I am not an Atenean but I feel at home with you. Today, at least.
Sixty-two years ago, I could not have dreamt of appearing before the Jesuits and their students to tell the story of MY life. I was no more than a student then, at San Carlos University in Cebu, when my father died suddenly. It left me, the eldest, the responsibility of taking care of my mother and five siblings. That was tough for someone who was 13. Creditors had just seized our home and business and I had no experience with earning a living.
But here I am--not all on account of my good looks or charming personality--but because I somehow survived. And when I look back, I know now that I did so because I recognized CHANGE when I saw it.
The first change was war. I had turned 15. My mother had already sent my brothers and sister to China where the cost of living was lower. From Cebu, she and I had to make money to send to them.
I turned to peddling. My day began at 5 in the morning. I would load my bicycle with soap, thread, and candles, and then bike to neighboring towns to sell my goods. On market days, I would rent a stall, lay out the goods from the bike, and make about 20 pesos a day, enough for me to survive and to buy even more goods for next time. Those days, you might call my BICYCLE AGE.
After two years of biking and peddling, at 17, I entered my BATEL AGE. The batel was a small, very utilitarian boat that defied the open sea and would take me farther from Cebu and all the way to Lucena, from where I would take a truck to Manila, with companions twice or thrice my age. The sea trips could take two to three weeks depending on the weather, and the land trips another five to six hours. (I was lighter then, you can imagine.)
On the batel, I read books like Gone with the Wind under the great blue sky to pass away the time, even if we traders were always in fear of sea pirates and the bad weather.
Once, our batel hit a rock and sank. Thank heavens for my rubber tires! Those were the goods I had with me to sell in Manila. Well, we all held on to those tires, which meant I saved all those traders and those traders saved all my tires.
At that time, the War was still going on. Ironically, I look back at the War with the fondest of memories. It was the great equalizer. Almost everyone I knew had lost big and small fortunes at the time. This meant we all started at ground zero. Ground zero meant living by our wits alone; ground zero meant starting equal; ground zero was where I discovered I was an entrepreneur.
When the War ended, I was 19. Because of the war, the economy was more dependent than ever on imports. So when I set up Amasia, my first company, it was to import textile remnants, fruit, old newspapers and magazines, and used clothing from the US.
There was a side benefit to this. I would wear some of my own stock, so I would have different clothes to wear when I went courting Elizabeth, the woman who would be my wife. But at the end of it, I made some money.
The Bicycle Age was over. The TRADING AGE began.
By then, my brothers and sister returned from China. Together, we worked in the trading business I had begun: as bodegeros, clerks, warehousemen, cashiers, and collectors. And all this while they were all still going to school; me, I stopped schooling. Like most Chinese-Filipino families, we worked where we lived, and at times, we had to endure the stench of rotten oranges and potatoes filling our two-story apartment.
By the early '50s, we were importing cigarettes and whiskey as well. Business was good. But two factors made me change strategies again. First, I saw that trading would in time become a low-margin business BECAUSE we were at the mercy of our suppliers and buyers. Second, I saw that the government was working on import-substitution policies to encourage local business. President Quirino wanted to shore up the country's foreign exchange reserves that had been depleted as a result of the high importation of the post-war years.
So I decided to enter the AGE of MANUFACTURING. In 1957, I started a corn milling plant producing glucose and cornstarch. Why cornstarch? Because I thought--and it turned out, correctly--that the unglamorous cornstarch would be in great demand from better known businesses like textiles, paper, ice cream, pharmaceuticals, and beer.
But there was one problem: I needed capital. That was not easy. I was 30, had no big company success to back me up, and I didn't know any bankers.
Thankfully, Dr. Albino Sycip, then chairman of China Bank, and DK Chiong, then president, gave me a clean loan of P500,000 to start my business. He would be asked later why he did that and he said something about knowing a good man when he saw one. (Maybe he knew something I didn't.) Anyway, from there Universal Corn Products, the predecessor of Universal Robina Corporation, was born.
Of course, the bigger cornstarch players did not give us an easy time. They engaged us in a price war. That is a nice way of saying they tried to kill us by selling low.
But we prevailed, and started to get clients like San Miguel Corporation. It was my first real taste of compet1t1on. And I liked it. I think THAT first experience prepared me for the bigger, tougher competitors in my future.
By 1961, cornstarch was becoming a commodity, and I saw that there was no future in a business where we had to keep lowering margins to survive.
It was time to get into the bigger, and riskier, game played by big multinationals like Procter and Gamble and Nestle. I saw that all they did to capture the market was to brand their products, for instance their coffee and their toothpaste. That is, give their coffee and toothpaste a name, a face, and an image that customers would instantly recognize and identify with quality. Me, I dreamt that one day I would be the Philippine Nestle or General Foods. So the Manufacturing Age for me was giving way to the AGE of BRANDS.
So, we put up CFC, and our first successful product was Blend 45, an instant coffee we put out to directly compete with Nestle's Nescafe. We positioned it as "the poor man's coffee," hired top movie star Susan Roces to endorse it, and employed Procter-and-Gamble veterans to sell it. Basically, we took a page out of the multinational book, and applied it to our business. We gave our coffee, snack food, candy, and chocolates a name, a face, an image. Today, Jack and Jill, Max candy, and Cloud 9 have become household names.
It was also at this time that I returned to school for an MBA--with all due respect to the Jesuits, at De La Salle University--and a decade later, for a 14-week advanced management program at Harvard. Going back to the university for studies which war had interrupted gave me an appreciation, believe me, for the beauty and the breadth of business life. This is something I believe I would never have gained if I had chosen to stop my education.
The success of URC opened up many opportunities for our group. We had the choice to focus on food where we were very successful-or to pursue other businesses. We decided that there were too many good opportunities to pass up, and that remaining in our comfort zone would stunt our growth. So we got into the Age of Expansion.
For the next two decades, we pursued businesses that answered positive on FOUR CRUCIAL QUESTIONS.
First: Is there a market?
Second: Could we compete against both local and foreign players?
Third: Could we find the right people for the job and did we have enough capital to pursue the business?
Last and most important: Did we have the stomach for it? That is, could we take the sleepless nights, the cutthroat compet1t1on?
We went into textiles, retail, real estate, telecommunications, aviation, banking, and petrochemicals because we said YES to all those questions. Still, in all those industries, we were faced with tough and worthy competitors: the mighty SM Department Stores and Malls, the unbeatable PLDT, the entrenched Philippine Airlines and the powerful San Miguel Corporation. Most pundits expected us to fail. They were wrong. Robinsons Stores and Mall, Digitel, Cebu Pacific Air and Universal Robina Corporation are now market leaders in their respective fields.
That's because they offered the public a choice.
Remember the story of David and Goliath? Every industry has its Goliath. But every David knows that all giants have their weaknesses. Every weakness is an opportunity.
In a few months, we will launch our mobile services to compete with two giants, Globe and Smart. Our stomachs are churning for sure, but we know that we faced similar challenges before, and we are hopeful we can prove the pundits wrong again.
In the past decade, which is one-sixth of my entire business life, the company has tripled in size. This was the decade when our companies raised money from the global equity and debt markets, brought our companies public, and hired the best professionals to run them. In six decades, we grew from a one-man team to a group with 30,000 employees.
Now I am in what you can probably call the AGE of GLOBALIZATION. I am always asked where I stand on this issue. I say that it does NOT matter where I stand because as sure as the Ateneo Basketball Team will win next year's UAAP championship, global barriers will come crashing down, and we have no choice but to prepare ourselves for that.
Still, our company will not take globalization sitting down. OUR future and the country's depend on how we act now. JG operates branded food concerns in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Hongkong, China, and soon, Vietnam. We also sell our snack foods in India, Korea, and Taiwan--one of the few ASEAN companies to do so.
In a few years, when foreign products find their way into OUR shopping carts as they already have, we want Piattos and Chippy to find their way into THEIR shopping carts as well. Our dream is to be the first group to plant the Philippine flag throughout Asia.
As I look back, I ask myself, "What if I had stopped at cornstarch?" I would probably be the owner of the biggest cornstarch group in the country today or just as possibly, be broke.
But I chose to live my life unafraid even during times when I WAS afraid. I discovered that opportunities don't find you;/ you find your opportunities. I found those opportunities when MY FATHER PASSED AWAY, WHEN WAR CAME, THROUGH CHANGES IN PRESIDENTS AND THEIR POLICIES, DURING MARTIAL LAW, DESPITE COUP DE ETATS, PAST ECONOMIC BOOMS AND BUSTS, AND IN THE MIDST OF MARKET SHIFTS AND MOVEMENTS.
Now I'm 75 and retired. And funny, but I often wonder what ever happened to my first bike! The bike that was my companion during those first years when my family had lost everything. I wonder where it is now? That bike reminds me that success is not necessarily about connections, or cutting corners, or chamba--the three Cs of bad business.
Call it trite--but, believe me, success CAN BE ACHIEVED through hard work, frugality, integrity, responsiveness to change--and most of all, boldness to dream. These have never been just easy slogans for me. I have lived by them.
I hope that many of you in this room will some day choose to be entrepreneurs. Choose to be entrepreneur because then YOU create value. Choose to be an entrepreneur because the products, services, and jobs you create then become the lifeblood of our nation. But most of all, choose to be an entrepreneur because then you desire a life of adventure, endless challenge, and the opportunity to be your BEST SELF.
Thank you.
San Carlos University SpeechJanuary 29, 2004Maayong hapon sa inyong tanan.
His Eminence, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, Rev. Father Roderick C. Salazar, Jr., President, University of San Carlos, Rev. Father Ben Nebres, President, Ateneo de Manila University, Senator John Osmena,Secretary Cesar Purisima, Dept. of Trade and Industry, Governor Pablo Garcia, Honorable Members of Congress from Cebu, [Congressman Raul del Mar, Congressman Simeon Kintanar, Congressman Antonio Cuenco, Congresswoman Clavell Asas Martinez, Congressman Joseph Ace Durano, Congressman Eduardo Gullas, Congressman Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, Congressman Antonio Yapha, Mayor Tomas Osmena, The Members of the Board of Trustees, Administrative Managers, Deans and Members of the Faculty, University of San Carlos, Distinguished Guest, Ladies and Gentlemen.
After an absence of 62 years, I am back in the school that I love-- where I finished my elementary school and high school. They say that England was built in the playing fields of Eton. I, meanwhile, was molded in the playing fields, classrooms, and chapels of San Carlos.
In San Carlos, I formed memorable friendships with Mario Mendezona, Paquito Borromeo, Dr. John Lim, Dr. Roberto Tojong, Ramiro Valenzuela, Roberto Estevez, Totoy Avellana, Dr. Mike Celdran, Chiling Garcia, Guillermo Gervacio, Jesus Go, Pepito Moras, and many others.
I learned from the Society of the Divine World the values that have guided me through the years.
First, discipline. I remember Father Smith, the head of discipline, punishing me for running past his office one day while classes were ongoing. The rule was never to run, but to walk slowly along corridors. My punishment was to stand in the corner of his office for three hours with my arms outstretched as if waiting to be crucified. He may have been a terror, but he taught me the value of discipline.
Second, love for learning. While I excelled in Math and Science, my favorite subjects were English, History, and Music taught by Fathers Krueger and Gries. I even learned to play the flute, a skill which I have—with deep regret-- since forgotten. I remember getting my first case of hives during our elementary school graduation rites. I was gunning for the gold and was very nervous that I would not get it. Fortunately, I did. The second time I got hives was when the girl I wanted to marry did not respond positively at first. Today, she is my wife, Elizabeth.
I would like to thank the following teachers-- Mr. Espiritu, Captain Trinidad, Mr. Fernandez, and Judge Militante, who is with us today and others.
Third, a Christian education. I remember attending a 5-minute prayer everyday. In fact, I was an altar boy. From San Carlos, I learned the importance of charity. Today, the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation gives every year a sum equivalent to 3 percent of JG Summit’s profit to educate talented Filipinos from all over the archipelago in engineering and the sciences, and to support education through donations to deserving institutions. Our school offers free advanced technical programs like industrial electronics, \process instrumentation, and others because we believe in the importance of practical sciences to bring this country further.
While in San Carlos, I never thought I would ever be an entrepreneur. I wanted to become a fighter pilot instead. But a series of events-- the death of my father and the outbreak of the War soon after-- forced me to drop out of school, and make a living selling candles, soap and thread in Cebu. I was 15 and I was supporting my family. Now, we are running an airline, Cebu Pacific.
Since then, I have not stopped working. From selling these commodities, I have graduated to more complex businesses. JG Summit, the company I founded, is engaged in seven core businesses. These are food manufacturing, textile manufacturing, petrochemicals, realestate, telecommunications, airlines, and banking. We are now the only Filipino multinational with operations in China, Singapore, Hongkong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and this year, Vietnam. And within five years, we will fly Cebu Pacific Air to the US and Europe, and make sure that the word “Cebu” is on everybody’s lips.
My 62 years as an entrepreneur operating in many industries across Asia has given me a unique understanding of how business operates in different countries. I would like to share with you what I have learned today, if you would indulge me.
The question most asked of me as a businessman is whether the Filipino entrepreneur will survive in the new world? The answer to this is very important because we are faced with globalization through WTO and AFTA, where trade barriers will come tumbling down, and we will have to fight much stronger rivals.
Let me be more specific. We are now facing a preview of what the WTO and AFTA will bring. The AFTA lowers taxes of almost all imports to 5 percent and below. This means that cheap imports will soon flood our countries—rubber tires, garments, textiles and garments from Indonesia, petrochemicals from Singapore and Thailand, and many other products from various countries--making many local industries unviable. It also means that multinational companies will continue to move their factories overseas along with jobs, where they can manufacture more cheaply and efficiently.
In fact, Thailand can produce candies at a much cheaper price than here. With the almost-zero trade barriers, branded candies, some of them Filipino in origin, will be made there and exported to us. This will be a very common scenario in the future if we do not change. If this continues, we will be a country that creates nothing and imports everything.
I compare the Philippines to Thailand because of our similarities. We have almost the same population size. We have 86 million people, Thailand has 62 million. We share the same racial mix. We share the same abundant natural resources of fertile soil, palm oil, coconuts, and others. But why does the average Thai earn more than twice the average Filipino?
Therefore, the answer to this question—Can the Filipino slug it out in the boxing ring of the global economy?—is maybe. We may have a productive and educated labor force, but we do not have an effective entrepreneurial class who are the main drivers of growth in any country. Who else will create jobs after all? Sadly, in the Philippines, we have too few entrepreneurs and the few we have are wary of foreign compet1t1on.
We can only grow entrepreneurs and become a contender like Manny Pacquiao—a Filipino I admire immensely for being a world champ-- if risks are lessened and the following conditions are put in place.
First, access to capital, both short-term and long-term.
In Thailand where we operate a very profitable food manufacturing business, we borrow at rates as low as 2.3 percent for short term loans. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, we can only borrow at seven to eight percent. This means that the average Thai businessman is able to borrow money for a third the cost of his Filipino counterpart.
Even more important is access to long-term peso financing or financing payable in five years and longer. In Thailand, entrepreneurs can borrow at 5 percent for long-term. This allows them to build compet1t1ve industry and develop tourism necessary for any country’s development. That is why Thailand’s tourism industry is booming while ours is not progressing as well even if our beaches are more beautiful than theirs.
Here, there is a shortage of this type of financing. My recommendation is for companies to issue bonds in small denominations—say P5,000 with a maturity of at least five years— which will help finance industries, commercial and tourism projects and at the same time allow the average Filipino to partake in the economic fruits of such investments. For example, a housewife can choose to invest her money in a retail bond that will give her a higher return on her peso than what she is now earning.
In order to deepen the domestic capital market, government can create an institutional structure that will review tightly the issuance of bonds and keep taxes on such instruments at a minimum. The structure must also allow bonds to be traded like equity so that investors are assured of liquidity.
Second, better labor management. Our wages are compet1t1ve to Thailand’s but it is difficult for many local entrepreneurs to forecast their labor costs. For example, there may be times when labor may ask more than what the entrepreneur can give, hurting both of them in the end. Or when an employee does not share the same vision as the entrepreneur and becomes a liability to the whole organization.
I would like to recommend that the following law be passed that will please both labor and the entrepreneur. To give an extra one to six months separation pay on top of the present legislated separation pay— but to allow entrepreneurs to let go of people without any questions asked. This provides sufficient compensation for an employee to tide him over while he looks for another source of income. But this also allows the entrepreneur to be flexible when his business is bad. Furthermore, when an entrepreneur is allowed this flexibility, he is likely to hire more people, resulting in higher employment in general.
Third, cheaper power. In Thailand, our operations can buy power at P3.5 per kilowatt hour. Here, we pay P7 per kilowatt hour.
But we cannot fault Meralco and other power distributors for charging high rates because they have to buy power at a high rate as well. Therefore, I would like to recommend another win-win situation. Allow entrepreneurs to build power plants to supply their own power needs and then to sell excess power to each other within a certain boundary. This way Meralco need not lower
their rates and business can bring down their costs.
Just to give you an example of how we can cut down power costs. We have built power plants for two of our power-dependent businesses—petrochemicals and textiles. We did this because high power costs had killed most of our competitors in both industries.
With our own power plants, we can generate power at P2.75 per kilowatt hour. Imagine the savings Filipino entrepreneurs could generate at those rates! Besides, we will also be able to produce enough power to avoid the forecasted power shortage in 2006.
Fourth, agricultural productivity management. In the past, we produced rice and sugar for export. Today, we import both. Meanwhile, Thailand is one of the largest rice exporters in the world, and they can produce sugar at half our costs. Why is that?
Agriculture can be a pillar of our economy just as it is in Thailand. After all, many of our industries need the output from farms. We need sugar for candies, bakery products, and soft drinks. We need corn for the feed of our chickens and hogs. If only we could produce this at a cost comparable to Thailand, we could trim our costs, generate more profit and even pass some of this on to the consumer.
But more importantly, our farms must be geared to compete so that we can create jobs.
Finally, foreign exchange management. The fluctuation of the peso against the dollar over the past few years has ruined many businesses and has scared many entrepreneurs who need to borrow for projects.
In July, 1997, at the start of the last Asian crisis, the average rate for one U.S dollar was 29.48 Thai baht and 29.33 Philippine peso, about the same. Today, the baht has devalued to 39 baht to the dollar but the peso is inching its way to 56 pesos versus the dollar.
The Filipino businessman who borrowed a dollar worth P29 in July, 1997 must pay (_______) for the same dollar today.
In sum, if we had the same favorable conditions as Thailand—access to low-interest financing, long term financing through bond issues, realistic labor management, lower cost of power, more effective agricultural programs, and a more stable peso—we would entice a lot of entrepreneurs to invest. This will improve the investment climate dramatically.
With this investment environment, we will create an entrepreneurial class that will be more willing to take risks and therefore more prepared to take on the compet1t1on of the new world. I have refrained from speaking about graft and corruption, peace and order, population management, and poor infrastructure. That these must be solved is obvious.
After all, it is as simple and clear as human nature. It is important for entrepreneurs to estimate our risks and cost structures before we invest.
To end, I believe that there can be a better future for the Philippines and the Filipino. But we must first face reality. We cannot hide from the changes brought by the WTO and AFTA and must prepare by creating a class of Filipino entrepreneurs who will be able to compete with the best in the world. Entrepreneurs will create jobs and let me be clear in saying that no matter who the next president is, job creation must be top priority. I repeat job creation must be top priority.
I hope that these humble suggestions gleaned from 62 years of experience gives the government an idea of how the mind of an entrepreneur works, and hopefully bold and far-reaching reforms can be implemented to make the Philippine economy globally compet1t1ve, and to make the Philippine future brighter, more optimistic and exciting.
Thank you for honoring me with this doctorate. Coming from an institution that I love, I am filled with happiness and exhilaration. Thank you for also allowing me to share my thoughts on how to make our country better—in the only way I know how.
To all of you and especially my friends in San Carlos, I’m glad to be back after 62 years.
Kaninyong tanan, ug ilabi na gyud sa akong mga higala sa USC, ako malipayong nahibalik human sa saysinta y dos (62) ka tuig.
Nagpasalamat ako sa tibuk kung kasing-kasing.
Commencement AddressAteneo de Manila UniversityMarch 27, 2004 ByJohn L. Gokongwei, Jr. I wish I were one of you today, instead of a 77-year-old man, giving a speech you will probably forget when you wake up from your hangover tomorrow.
You may be surprised I feel this way. Many of you are feeling fearful and apprehensive about your future.
You are thinking that, perhaps, your Ateneo diploma will not mean a whole lot in the future in a country with too many problems. And you are probably right.
You are thinking that our country is slipping—no, sliding. Again, you may be right.
Twenty years ago, we were at par with countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Today, we are left way behind.
You know the facts.
Twenty years ago, the per capita income of the Filipino was 1,000 US dollars. Today, it’s 1,100 dollars. That’s a growth of only ten percent in twenty years. Meanwhile, Thailand’s per capita income today is double ours; Malaysia, triple ours; and Singapore, almost twenty times ours.
With globalization coming, you know it is even more urgent to wake up. Trade barriers are falling, which means we will have to compete harder.
In the new world, entrepreneurs will be forced to invest their money where it is most efficient. And that is not necessarily in the Philippines. Even for Filipino entrepreneurs, that can be the case.
For example, a Filipino brand like Maxx candy can be manufactured in Bangkok—where labor, taxes, power and financing are cheaper and more efficient—and then exported to other ASEAN countries.
This will be a common scenario—if things do not change.
Pretty soon, we will become a nation that buys everything and produces practically nothing. We will be like the prodigal son who took his father’s money and spent it all. The difference is that we do not have a generous father to run back to.
But despite this, I am still very excited about the future. I will tell you why later.
You have been taught at the Ateneo to be “a person for others.” Of course, that is noble: To serve your countrymen.
Question is: How?
And my answer is: Be an entrepreneur!
You may think I am just a foolish man talking mundane stuff when the question before him is almost philosophical. But I am being very thoughtful here, and if I may presume this about myself, being patriotic as well.
Entrepreneurship is the answer.
We need young people who will find the idea, grab the opportunity, take risk, and set aside comfort to set up businesses that will provide jobs.
But why? What are jobs?
Jobs are what allow people to feel useful and build their self-esteem. Jobs make people productive members of the community. Jobs make people feel they are worthy citizens. And jobs make a country worthy players in the world market.
In that order of things, it is the entrepreneurs who have the power to harness the creativity and talents of others to achieve a common good. This should leave the world a better place than it was.
Let me make it clear: Job creation is a priority for any nation to move forward.
For example, it is the young entrepreneurs of Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore who created the dynamic businesses that have propelled their countries to the top. Young people like yourselves.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, progress is slow. Very little is new. Hardly anything is fresh. With a few exceptions, the biggest companies before the war—like PLDT, Ayala, and San Miguel—are still the biggest companies today.
All right, being from the Ateneo, many of you probably have offers from these corporations already. You may even have offers from JG Summit.
I say: Great! Take these offers, work as hard as you can, learn everything these companies can teach—and then leave!
If you dream of creating something great, do not let a 9-to-5 job—even a high-paying one—lull you into a complacent, comfortable life. Let that high-paying job propel you toward entrepreneurship instead.
When I speak of the hardship ahead, I do not mean to be skeptical but realistic.
Even you Ateneans, who are famous for your eloquence, you cannot talk your way out of this one. There is nothing to do but to deal with it.
I learned this lesson when, as a 13-year-old, I lost my dad.
Before that, I was like many of you: a privileged kid. I went to Cebu’s best school; lived in a big house; and got free entrance to the Vision, the largest movie house in Cebu, which my father owned.
Then my dad died, and I lost all these. My family had become poor—poor enough to split my family. My mother and five siblings moved to China where the cost of living was lower. I was placed under the care of my Grand Uncle Manuel Gotianuy, who put me through school. But just two years later, the war broke out, and even my Uncle Manuel could no longer see me through.
I was out in the streets—literally.
Looking back, this time was one of the best times of my life. We lost everything, true, but so did everybody! War was the great equalizer. In that setting, anyone who was willing to size up the situation, use his wits, and work hard, could make it!
It was every man for himself, and I had to find a way to support myself and my family. I decided to be a market vendor.
Why?
Because it was something that I, a 15-year-old boy in short pants, could do.
I started by selling simple products in the palengke half an hour by bike from the city. I had a bicycle. I would wake up at five in the morning, load thread, soap and candles into my bike, and rush to the palengke.
I would rent a stall for one peso a day, lay out my goods on a table as big as this podium, and begin selling. I did that the whole day.
I sold about twenty pesos of goods every day. Today, twenty pesos will only allow you to send twenty text messages to your crush, but 63 years ago, it was enough to support my family. And it left me enough to plow back into my small, but growing, business.
I was the youngest vendor in the palengke, but that didn’t faze me. In fact, I rather saw it as an opportunity. Remember, that was 63 years and 100 pounds ago, so I could move faster, stay under the sun more, and keep selling longer than everyone else.
Then, when I had enough money and more confidence, I decided to travel to Manila from Cebu to sell all kinds of goods like rubber tires.
Instead of my bike, I now traveled on a batel—a boat so small that on windless days, we would just float there. On bad days, the trip could take two weeks!
During one trip, our batel sank! We would have all perished in the sea were it not for my inventory of tires. The viajeros were happy because my tires saved their lives, and I was happy because the viajeros, by hanging on to them, saved my tires. On these long and lonely trips I had to entertain myself with books, like Gone With The Wind.
After the war, I had saved up 50,000 pesos. That was when you could buy a chicken for 20 centavos and a car for 2,000 pesos. I was 19 years old.
Now I had enough money to bring my family home from China. Once they were all here, they helped me expand our trading business to include imports. Remember that the war had left the Philippines with very few goods. So we imported whatever was needed and imported them from everywhere—including used clothes and textile remnants from the United States. We were probably the first ukay-ukay dealers here.
Then, when I had gained more experience and built my rep*tation, I borrowed money from the bank and got into manufacturing. I saw that coffee was abundant, and Nescafe of Nestle was too expensive for a country still rebuilding from the war, so my company created Blend 45.
That was our first branded hit. And from there, we had enough profits to launch Jack and Jill.
From one market stall, we are now in nine core businesses—including retail, real estate, publishing, petrochemicals, textiles, banking, food manufacturing, Cebu Pacific Air and Sun Cellular.
When we had shown success in the smaller businesses, we were able to raise money in the capital markets—through IPOs and bond offerings-- and then get into more complex, capital-intensive enterprises. We did it slow, but sure.
Success doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the small successes achieved day by day that build a company. So, don’t be impatient or focused on immediate financial rewards. I only started flying business class when I got too fat to fit in the economy seats.
And I even wore a used overcoat while courting my wife—it came from my ukay-ukay business. Thank God Elizabeth didn’t mind the mothball smell of my overcoat or maybe she wouldn’t have married me.
Save what you earn and plow it back.
And never forget your families! Your parents denied themselves many things to send you here. They could have traveled around the world a couple of times with the money they set aside for your education, and your social life, and your comforts.
Remember them—and thank them.
When you have families of your own, you must be home with them for at least one meal everyday.
I did that while I was building my company. Now, with all my six children married, I ask that we spend every Sunday lunch together, when everything under the sun is discussed.
As it is with business, so it is with family. There are no short cuts for building either one.
Remember, no short cuts.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, your patron saint, and founder of this 450-year old organization I admire, described an ideal Jesuit as one who “lives with one foot raised.” I believe that means someone who is always ready to respond to opportunities.
Saint Ignatius knew that, to build a successful organization, he needed to recruit and educate men who were not afraid of change but were in fact excited by it.
In fact, the Jesuits were one of the earliest pract1t1oners of globalization. As early as the 16th century, upon reaching a foreign country, they compiled dictionaries in local languages like Tamil and Vietnamese so that they could spread their message in the local language. In a few centuries, they have been able to spread their mission in many countries through education.
The Jesuits have another quote. “Make the whole world your house” which means that the ideal Jesuit must be at home everywhere. By adapting to change, but at the same time staying true to their beliefs, the Society of Jesus has become the long-lasting and successful organization it is today and has made the world their house.
So, let live with one foot raised in facing the next big opportunity: globalization.
Globalization can be your greatest enemy. It will be your downfall if you are too afraid and too weak to fight it out. But it can also be your biggest ally.
With the Asian Free Trade agreement and tariffs near zero, your market has grown from 80 million Filipinos to half a billion Southeast Asians.
Imagine what that means to you as an entrepreneur if you are able to find a need and fill it. And imagine, too, what that will do for the economy of our country!
Yes, our government may not be perfect, and our economic environment not ideal, but true entrepreneurs will find opportunities anywhere.
Look at the young Filipino entrepreneurs who made it. When I say young—and I’m 77, remember—I am talking about those in their 50s and below. Tony Tan of Jollibee, Ben Chan of Bench, Rolando Hortaleza of Splash, and Wilson Lim of Abensons.
They’re the guys who weren’t content with the 9-to-5 job, who were willing to delay their gratification and comfort, and who created something new, something fresh.
Something Filipinos are now very proud of.
They all started small but now sell their hamburgers, T-shirts and cosmetics in Asia, America, and the Middle East.
In doing so, these young Filipino entrepreneurs created jobs while doing something they were passionate about.
Globalization is an opportunity of a lifetime—for you. And that is why I want to be out there with you instead of here behind this podium—perhaps too old and too slow to seize the opportunities you can.
Let me leave you with one last thought.
Trade barriers have fallen. The only barriers left are the barriers you have in your mind.
So, Ateneans, Class of 2004, heed the call of entrepreneurship.
With a little bit of will and a little bit of imagination, you can turn this crisis into your patriotic moment—and truly become a person for others.
“Live with one foot raised and make the world your house.”
To this great University, my sincerest thanks for this singular honor conferred on me today.
To the graduates, congratulations and Godspeed.
“Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam”.
Thank you.
Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph/board/index.php?topic=21090.0
