The Rise of The Young Leader
The business landscape in the Philippines is going through a period of transformation. Large companies and multinational firms continue to dominate the landscape, however it is the rise in the number of startups that is making the business community sit up and take notice. In a 2017 study of CEOs by QBO and PWC, their findings showed that 54% of survey respondents launched their startup between 2016 and 2017. And from that same study, 46% of the CEO’s surveyed were between 26 – 35 years of age.
Traditionally large companies are led by senior managers, with years of professional experience, gained by working their way up the corporate ladder. The rise in the number of startups, is forcing a shift away from the traditional styles of management and the traditional age of their leaders.
Earlier this year in our 1st quarter edition of MoneySense magazine, we introduced you to a local startup Project T, a leading Serviced Office and Co-Working provider located in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. In this issue of MoneySense, we wanted to introduce you to their CEO, Alvin Hong, who certainly fits the mold of a young leader.
At just 27 years of age, Alvin Hong has been the CEO of Project T for over 8 months now. Alvin came to this role with a wealth of industry experience, having worked in various customer facing roles, where he was able to fine tune his skills servicing customers and supporting their business operations.
Like any experienced CEO would do, Alvin set ambitious targets for the first year of operations for Project T, and immediately put together strategies with his executive team to work towards meeting these targets. The first of these strategies was to build a team of experienced professionals that Alvin could trust and rely on to work tirelessly to make Project T a success.
Alvin’s philosophy for making Project T a successful company is very simple, and that is, don’t forget the customer. On this, Alvin says, “I’ve been trying to remind the whole organization that the nature of the company is simple, we should really focus on customer service. What matters to us the most is to make customers feel happy and satisfied with our services. We believe that our customers will be a major part of our success as we aim to complete our goals.”
When it comes to leadership style, Alvin gets his inspiration from his family and the important role that they play in his life. Each employee is shown the utmost respect from Alvin and is welcomed into Project T like they are family. Whilst Alvin understands that not every team member will be with the company for their entire career, he is mindful of the major role he plays in each employee’s career and development. Alvin strives each day to guide and lead his team to be successful in their own right.
Having just completed his first 8 months at the helm of Project T, it is clear that Alvin’s approach is showing good results. The financial targets that he set for the business were exceeded, as well as the targets set for the occupancy of the serviced offices and co-working spaces. And the future is looking bright, with Alvin leading the company through an expansion phase, with additional sites being investigated, designed and slated for opening later this year.
