TOP 10 BEST RAGS-TO-RICHES PINOY STORIES

Lecture 3

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 From the very beginning was the idea. Then came
the struggles. The next thing you know these
people have become uber millionaires and top
billionaires. And yes, they’re all Filipinos.

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 TOP 10 BEST RAGS-TO-RICHES PINOY STORIES
How could you have known? It seems they never stood out in the crowd. Except, perhaps for the fire in their
eyes. For the most part, these people are like the mustard seed the good ‘ole Bible so aptly described. They
start so small, insignificant. Were they but a bunch of cockroaches, you would have slapped dead them with
your slippers. Right away. No hesitations.But no, at the right time, like yeast to dough, they rise, they go big.
Bigger than everybody. Somehow, you start thinking: What gives? What’s their secret?Or did they stop
eating rice altogether? Have they found a secret formula? Super delicious Krabby Patty burgers perhaps. Like
what SpongeBob cooks.

Fine ladies of the hour and brave gentlemen, please allow me. Here’s 10 of the best stories of people who
started with nothing and ended up with everything. Money-wise. Devour!

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 Tycoon #10: Mariano Que Here’s your first catch: a story of a peddler.
Mariano Que worked for a drugstore before
WWII erupted in the Philippines. Seeing
the demand for sulfa drugs after the war
and using his little pharmaceutical
knowledge Que bought sulfathiazole tablets
worth a 100 pesos and made profit by
peddling them as single doses to
poverty-stricken sectors. He worked smart,
though.

Eventually he was able to build a wooden

pushcart allowing him to peddle more
drugs.

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 Tycoon #10: Mariano Que Que kept at it making sure the drugs he
sold were of quality and unexpired. By
1945, he had enough money to put up his
first drugstore. He named it Mercury
Drug with the messenger to the Roman
Gods as his business symbol. Today,
Mercury Drug is one of the biggest chain
of drugstores in the country and Mariano
Que is rich many times over.
Business: Mercury Drug – 900 stores/
11,000 employees, PhP 42.98 billion in
revenue (2003)

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 Tycoon #9: Socorro Ramos Born in 1923 in Sta. Cruz Laguna, Socorro Cancio
had to do odd jobs as a young girl to augment the
income of her family. For instance, she peeled paper
off discarded cigarettes. She was paid 5 centavos per
pack to do this. Also, her other siblings had to work
in candy and bubble gum factories to help.

Her elder sister married the son of an established

bookstore owner landing Socorro a job as a salesgirl
in one of the book stalls. This was her first stint with
bookstores and the business of books.It seems the
young lady was destined to pursue a career related to
books for soon enough she met Jose, the son of a
bookstore-business clan. Though their love was
forbidden by her parents, Ms. Cancio married Jose
Ramos.

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 Tycoon #9: Socorro Ramos Jose transformed one of the branches of his
family’s bookstore and renamed it National
Book Store. Success did not come to them
immediately though as their first store was
totally destroyed during the war. When they
decided to rebuild in Avenida, their store was
caught by a storm leaving all books worthless.
Still they pursued the business, putting in
tighter measures. Today, NBS (National Book
Store) is present in most big malls, and is the
foremost purveyors of books in the country.

Business: National Book Store, 128 branches

nationwide

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 Tycoon #8: DiosdadoBanatao Who would have thought a child who used
to walk barefoot to get elementary and high
school education would become the “Bill
Gates” of the Philippines? I’m talking
about DiosdadoBanatao. Born to a rice
farmer and a plain housewife in a barrio in
Cagayan Valley, Banatao had to do just that
to finish Malabbac Elementary School.
Decided to pursue higher learning, Dado as
he was called pursued his Electrical
Engineering degree in MIT (Mapua
Institute of Technology) graduating cum
laude.

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 Faith would soon find Dado in the United States as he
Tycoon #8: DiosdadoBanatao was offered a design engineer job for Boeing Co., after a
stint with Philippine Airlines as a pilot trainee. There he
completed a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering
and finished it in Stanford University. Joining the
now-famous Homebrew Computer Club he met the likes
of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Dado’s design capabilities allowed him to develop

several milestone products in the computer industry (e.g.,
single-chip controller, chip sets). Soon enough, he
founded his own companies. One of which, Chips and
Technologies Co., was bought by Intel for a whopping
$430 million. Today Malabbac Elementary School is the
only public school with the most advanced computer
system – thanks to Dado.

Business: Monstroni, Chips and Technologies.

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 Tycoon #7: Corazon D. Ong Now, a heartwarming story of a mother
turned businesswoman. Corazon Ong
was working as a dietitian for a
hospital. However, she decided to give
up her job to focus on her family. She
put her dietitian skills to good use in
preparing “baon” for her husband Jose
and native snacks for her 2 kids. She
experimented with a new filling for
siopao for instance.

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 Tycoon #7: Corazon D. Ong Eventually, she developed a skinless longanisa
for her homemade siopao. Once the neighbors
tasted it, it became such a hit. Word spread
fast. And soon enough she had to borrow PhP
60,000 to fill in on all the incoming
orders.Eventually, she founded CDO
Foodsphere in 1995 which soon become a
household name in quality food products. The
business united them as her son and husband
are now full time in helping her grow the
business.
Business: CDO Foodsphere, Most
Outstanding Meat Processing in the Country
(1999-2003) Consumer Union

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 Tycoon #6:Julie Gandiongco How would you like to start business when
you’re in your 50’s? Seems too late, right?
But that did not stop Julie Gandiongco to
succeed.
Julie kept herself always busy, keeping a
sari-sari store and accepting sewing jobs
from the neighborhood everytime her
husband, Diegs, transferred location as a
Pepsico employee. From Bohol to Cebu to
Zamboanga to Ormoc. She went where her
husband was assigned, packed up
everything – her children and sewing
business, to start all over again.

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 Diegs resigned his job to concentrate on a 30-hectare
Tycoon #6:Julie Gandiongco sugar plantation in Dumaguete. Again Julie went with
him helping supervise farm hands. However, the price for
sugar suddenly dropped worldwide. And with it, their
future. Soon they lost the farm and had to move back to
Cebu.

Not wanting to get back to sewing, she applied and

became a canteen concessionaire for a rattan export
company. That opened doors. Though based on credit as
most workers pay only on payday, Julie soon realized her
customers’ need for bread. Meeting a baker who want to
work for her, she opened her first bakeshop, aptly named
it Julie’s Bakeshop. She was 50.

Business: Julie’s Bakeshop, 500 stores nationwide

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 Tycoon #5: Alfredo Yao Now we go to a son of a side walk vendor.
Alfredo Yao’s father died when he was but 12
years old. He had 5 siblings. To feed the
family her mother sold just about anything a
side walk vendor could sell. With a relative’s
help, the young Alfredo was able to finish
elementary and high school. However, even
with odd jobs working in a warehouse of a
packaging company, he was unable to finish
his degree in MIT (Mapua Institute of
Technology).

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 Tycoon #5: Alfredo Yao With the help of a cousin who was working for a
printing press business, Alfredo Yao learned the
rudiments of printing cellophane wrappers both
for candies and biscuits. Boldly, he decided to
venture into the printing press business.
Perfecting his products, Yao made use of the
potential of “doy packs”, flexible foil packs.
Soon, he found use for this packs by venturing
into the juice manufacturing business himself
founding Zest-O in the process, leading the way
for ready-to-drink juices. His juices has secured
80% of the packed juice market in the country
and has been exported all over the world.

Business: Zest-O

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 Tycoon #4: Tony Tan Caktiong You know, being the son of a cook for a Buddhist
temple can be a good jumping board for success.
Tony was born in 1960 to a working-class family
from Fujian, China. His family migrated to the
Philippines after WWII. His father cooked for a
Buddhist temple to feed the family and living on
a tight budget was able to open a Chinese
restaurant in Davao. As a young child, Tony
became a busboy in the family business –
cleaning tables, serving customers and washing
the dishes.With hisfather’s perseverance, Tony
earned a BS Chemical Engineering degree at
UST (University of Sto. Tomas).

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 Tycoon #4: Tony Tan Caktiong Following the path of his father, Tony ventured into
business buying ice cream parlor franchises, the once
famous Magnolia Ice Cream House. He borrowed
seed money from his family’s pooled savings.
Finding out his customerslonged to fill their
stomachs before indulging in his cold treats, he
offered burgers and chicken in his store. Soon
enough, burgers outsold the ice cream products. As a
result, Tony and his siblings decided to convert the
now 6 ice cream parlors into burger restaurants. And
named it Jollibee. Today, Tony is one of the richest in
the country, and a certified billionaire with net worth
of $1.25 Bn.

Business: Jollibee Foods Corporation – 2,510 stores

worldwide/PhP 82.1Bn sales (2011)

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 Tycoon #3: John Gokongwei John Gokongwei was born in Fujian
Province, China. His family migrated and
thru business became well-off in Cebu,
Philippines. However, John’s father died
when he was 13 and with it their affluence.
To support his mother and siblings, John
peddled along the streets of Cebu and wet
markets in various towns, selling soaps –
anything and everything that can be carried
on his bicycle. In effect, he became a
market vendor, the youngest of his kind.

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 Tycoon #3: John Gokongwei For bigger profit, he traded in Manila at the
age of 17 transporting items by sea. Riding a
small, sail-powered outrigger called a batel,
the young Gokongwei braved the high seas.
On one such trip, he had a brush with death as
the batel hit a rock and capsized. Good thing
he and fellow passengers were saved by
clinging on to therubber tires that he intended
to sell.

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 Tycoon #3: John Gokongwei Soon Gokongwei ventured into business setting
up his first company Amasia. He imported
everything he can from the U.S. (e.g., textile,
newspapers, magazines, used clothing, cigarettes,
whisky) and sold them in the country. With his
good name established, he was able to secure a
PhP 500,000 loan from China Bank to start a
manufacturing business, putting up a corn milling
plant and naming it UniversalRobina. The rest is
history. Today, John Gokongwei is one of the few
billionaires in the country with estimated wealth
of $4.2 Bn (2012).

Business: Universal Robina, Cebu Pacific,

Robinsons

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 Tycoon #2: Lucio Tan For a man that doesn’t smoke, it’s hard to
believe Lucio Tan owns the biggest
cigarette manufacturing company in the
country, Fortune Tobacco.
Born also in Fujian Province, China on July
17, 1934 Mr. Tan had modest beginnings.
As a child he had to work in Bataan
Tobacco Factory to help the family.

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 He was able to push himself to elementary and high
Tycoon #2: Lucio Tan school. Via a work-study program he earned some units
at the University of the East for Chemical Engineering.
Although unable to finish college, he sawthe big
opportunity and put up his own cigarette company in
1966 starting with just 2 cigarette-making machines.
Eventually, he was able to introduce such budget brands
as “Hope”.

He never looked back and through his sharp business

acumen was able to salvage dying businesses and grow
them to dynamic structures. Examples include Philippine
Airlines and Tanduay Distillers. Today 80% of the
cigarette market in the Philippines is captured by his
company and PAL is the leading carrier in the airline
industry.

Business: PAL, Fortune Tobacco (among 300 others)

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 Tycoon #1: Henry Sy And now for the biggest of them all. His is the
story of how one sari-sari store vendor became
the “shopping mall king” of Asia.

Born on Christmas Day, 1923 in Xiamen, China,

Henry Sy was introduced to retail early despite
the poverty. In his early teens, the entire family
moved to the Philippines and his father opened
up a small variety store in Manila. Life was hard
and with nowhere to sleep, the young Sy had to
sleep inside the store clearing up the counters to
do so.

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 Tycoon #1: Henry Sy WWII, however, destroyed that store to the
sorrow of his father. Instead of giving up, Henry
Sy pushed through earning income via buying
and selling shoes from enterprising American
G.I.s. The little success of his shoe-selling
business inspired him to open up a small shoe
store in Quiapo, Manila in 1958. He named it
Shoe Mart.

By 1972, Henry Sy had transformed his small

shoe store into his first standalone department
store. Today, Mr. Sy is the richest business
magnate in the Philippines, worth over $11.9
billion (2014) with a handful of his malls gracing
the Top 25 biggest malls of the world.

Prepared by: Gladys G. Orellana https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RDWaC1-kTsQHuBFaXdhd7njRZUzH234A3hACROKcZ-Y/edit?usp=sharing

 Tycoon #1: Henry Sy Business: SM Prime Holdings, BDO, ChinaBank

Ok, take a deep breath everyone. Whew! That

was one big list we got there. Hope that gave you
something to nitpick about.

If you feel like the list came up short please drop

me your 2 cents in the comments section below.
Too bad I can only fit 10 on a top 10 list. Just
kidding!
Also, please do your fair share of passing this
little info-tainment around. I’m pretty sure if we
keep at it, somebody out there will get the
message.

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 Tycoon #1: Henry Sy Let me end this little information tête-
à-tête of ours by quoting a great
American industrialist. He said: “A poor
man is not the one without a cent. A poor
man is the one without a dream.”
Yes, his name is Ford, Henry Ford,
founder of the company who makes
those Ford cars of today. He too was a
former farm hand.

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 -END-

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