After building one of the country’s foremost conglomerates, this business leader and one of Asia’s top altruists is setting his sights on affordable education and housing for the poor
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Most chief executive officers in the Philippines consider making money the end all and be all of their existence. But there are those who are getting converted to the idea that they should be more involved in the many social ills plaguing the country, which is still struggling to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the region.

Fortunately, there are also leaders of Philippine companies who can do both – run a successful, profitable enterprise while contributing to the improvement in the lives of fellow Filipinos.
Ramon R. Del Rosario Jr., chief executive officer of the 52-year-old Phinma group of companies, is one of those leaders.

Under Del Rosario’s direction, the Phinma group shifted to a new portfolio of businesses – from cement manufacturing to education and affordable housing, among others, and has been earning a tidy profit along the way.

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The Century Properties founder persevered and hit the big time
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Jose E.B. Antonio, chairman of the Century Properties group, the largest privately held real estate development company in the Philippines, is not one to let failures stop him from achieving his goals.

Antonio says that he had invested in a number of small businesses – all of which did not perform as he expected – before he finally hit the big time with Century Properties. “I went through a stage when my small business ventures failed. These happened in the eighties before I went into real estate, at a time when the Philippine economy was spiraling down. Everyone was flying out of the country and people converted their pesos to dollars. So practically, all my business initiatives became unsuccessful. But what other people label or call a failure, I have learned, is just God’s way of pointing you in a new direction. So for me there are no mistakes, only new discoveries and new opportunities,” he says.

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The chairman and chief executive of Plantersbank built one of the most successful banks in the country and a lasting legacy
By Lynda C. Corpuz

He considers himself fortunate not to have experienced a major disappointment or setback in his career, but Ambassador Jesus P. Tambunting admits though he has made a lot of mistakes. “But I consider all of them part of my lifelong journey as ‘banker for SMEs’ (small and medium enterprises),” Tambuting says. “What is important (though) is to recognize your mistake, learn from it, and move on,” he stresses.

And on he moved to strike on his own, when in December 1972, Tambunting took over the Bulacan Development Bank with the plan of relocating it to the Makati financial center and transforming it into a commercial bank catering to large corporate accounts. But the plan changed and marked the turning point in Tambunting’s banking career.

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By Oliver Kuy as told to Excel V. Dyquiangco

In a corporate structure, time and effort is actually limited but when you are involved in a home technology set-up, just like I am, the rate of speed and flexibility is much better since I am working within the confines of a familiar zone. Besides, going virtual allows me not only to respond to the needs of the client much faster but with this type of work, I can also choose the life that I want.

When Kuydigital Design Consultancy first started to gain ground more than six years ago, it was actually both a very rewarding and convenient experience for me. It was rewarding in the sense that I had very low overhead expenses and convenient, because I can work anywhere and anytime I want.

I actually started my online business with a mission, and that is to provide companies and individuals through effective and innovative multimedia. One of my sterling goals is just to provide clients with the most innovative and pioneering way of expressing their ideas in print (advertising, editorial, or packaging) and interactive media (Web or e-learning).

And since I just spend most of my time working at home – the most, I leave the house at least three times a week for meetings with clients – I also need to get as much inspiration as possible. However, that is not likely to happen when you are just in the confines of your home. So what I do is that I also have to travel a lot – be it within the country or outside – and be exposed to several cultures and then come up with new ideas. That is why I need to be mobile and I need to be connected all the time.

The path to digital design
The road to digital design, especially when it’s your own company, hasn’t been fairly easy at first. I took up industrial design back in college but I never got to practice it in a corporate setting. So, I just decided to put up my own virtual business, so to speak, being the president and creative director for Kuydigital Design Consultancy. I started with just a few equipment – a high-end computer, a printer, and licensed software. My investment for the business was roughly around sixty thousand.

When I first started out, just like any other company or business, I also faced a few setbacks. One of them is that I need to get my company registered, which I did myself to overcome system struggles. I also had difficulty being mobile and being connected to the Internet so what I did was just to plan my travels and trips ahead of time and to anticipate the requirements of my clients.

Since a virtual office also needs to thrive in the cyber world each day, I also spent years in creating and restructuring my Website (www.kuydigital.com) so that the online functions would adhere to the needs of the client, and I also need my Web site to be listed in as many search engines as possible so that it would be accessible to potential clients. And the thing about my Web site is that it is not yet done even up to now; I am still reformatting and recreating some functions of the site, and updating it from time to time, and of course, uploading my current projects. But I am very much happy with the results as this Web site is able to reach possible clients, both local and foreign, every minute of every day, 24/7.

I just can’t believe how much people rely on the Internet for graphic designers. I sometimes get potential clients just through word of mouth – and the site has brought forth numerous dream jobs that I can add to my portfolio. What is more is that I can reach these clients without having to do some hard calling, and I can do everything just by the click of a keyboard and the mouse. All I needed to do is just to park my car at a Wi-Fi establishment, turn on my laptop and log on to the Internet, and do some wireless video conferencing or file transfer. Along with my laptop, my cellular phone also functions as an instant access to the Internet.

Aside from time savings and reduced effort, some of the benefits of going virtual is that it lessens the stress as working at the comfort of my own time and space gives me the creative juices and the inspiration for my designs. The only disadvantage of being virtual all the time is that I don’t get to meet a lot of people in person.

My home, my business
It’s such a humbling experience to see that Kuydigital Design Consultancy was able to reach out to clients through the power of the Internet. Our clients are big names from various industries – Total Philippines Corporation, Nike Philippines, Getz Pharma Philippines, Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and C2 Communications in New York, USA, among others.

Being able to work with such bigwig companies doesn’t mean that I can already sit back and relax. Oh no. This is just the stepping stone to a productive and fruitful endeavor. I still work hands-on even if I’m the president and even if I have several people under my direct supervision. I make sure that my clients get what they want. I do handle the conceptualization and creative direction but aside from that, I also do a lot of thinking and idea generation and I still do production work and project management.

The thing that needs to be remembered in working with such companies is that you really need to take care of them and to handle them in the right and proper manner. In fact, we just deal with our clients like our co-workers or teammates, and as part of the team. We are just one big and happy family.

Virtual learnings
As a businessman, I have learned a lot from doing online business – from treating my clients with the right perspective to submitting the projects just in time. In fact, what really sets us apart from other competitors is that our turnaround for every project is very fast and that we work round the clock. Kuydigital also offers a cost-effective retainer-based arrangement for our clients.

This business has also embedded in me three essential characteristics that would make any endeavor a success – the 3 Ps – you should be prudent, patient, and persistent for any effort that you plan to undertake. And to really have a rewarding lifestyle on the business, every time you make a thousand pesos, spend only a hundred and the rest, you get to save.

For those who would want to be involved with online business, or just putting up a business in these trying times, I would like to offer you several tips on what to consider and how to start-up: they should think of their overhead or monthly expenses and consider knowing how to maximize inexpensive resources that can generate good quality products or services, thus, resulting to profit. Make sure that you’re always connected – you can do this by planning ahead, ensuring that you have the right online tools and resources to run your business, and take your business online.

The story of how the BBC anchor found his niche and discovered his passion for art
By Elena Torrijos

Since he was a small boy, accomplished international broadcaster Rico Hizon has been a saver. The most familiar Filipino face in financial news says his parents would call him kuripot (thrifty).

“I was always saving my money. Sometimes I wouldn’t eat even,” recalls Rico, who can be seen every morning on BBC’s business programs. “When I was in grade 2, I would be given a meal ticket that had a value of two pesos for a meal, but what I would do is that, instead of getting the full meal, I would get a cheaper meal. I would still have change of one peso, and that one peso I would put in my piggy bank.”

Even though he didn’t need to – his parents could well afford to take care of him and his two older sisters and older brother – during high school breaks and summers, Rico worked at McDonald’s Greenhills.

He also earned from being part of a mobile group with broadcasting peer David Celdran. “We would spin in parties and we would earn P500 pesos and after the job we would subdivide and the money that I would save from that job. I would either put it in the bank or I would buy my own Sperry topsiders, which was very uso at that time,” he recounts.

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