10 FAMOUS ENTREPRENEURS IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. Alfredo M. Yao ( Zest-O Corp.- Zest-O )

- Alfredo M. Yao was born on November 23, 1943 to the simplest of families. The eldest
among his siblings, he had to sacrifice a lot at an early age. He lost his father at age 12
and became the family breadwinner. He started a printing business at age 17 with a Php
3,000 loan from what is today known as the Development Bank of the Philippines.

- He never got to finish school even though he wanted to, because he was already a full-
fledged businessman by age 18. He’s gone through the ringer, so to speak: he’s been a
street vendor and at times slept on cardboard boxes on the street.

- Yao went from printing and packaging to the beverage in the unlikeliest of ways. In
1979, while on a business tour of Europe, he stumbled across a new way of packaging:
Doypack, a sealed bag made of plastic and aluminum that’s designed to stand upright.

- Seeing its potential, he marketed it to local juice manufacturers, but no one showed
interest.

- Not wanting to let something with this much potential go to waste, he started making
his own juices in his kitchen and packaged it using the doypacks he got from Europe. He
would soon corner the market on juice drinks, thanks to the convenience of his
doypacks.

2. Bryan Tiu ( Owner of Teriyaki Boy Restautant )

- Bryan Tiu is the President and CEO of IFoods Group, Inc. He has over 30 years of
experience in the food industry. He started his career with a franchise of Domino’s
Pizza in 1996, and put up Teriyaki Boy in the early 2000s, a restaurant that started the
trend of Japanese casual restaurants in the Philippines.

- Mr. Bryan Tiu grew up absorbing the entrepreneurial culture of Divisoria where his
parents ran a textile business. Most of his father’s clients were Japanese and his
exposure to them led to his appreciation of Japanese culture.

3. Tony Tan Caktiong ( Jollibee )

- Tony Tan Caktiong (simplified Chinese: 陈觉中; traditional Chinese: 陳覺中; pinyin: Chén
Juézhōng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Kak-tiong; born January 5, 1953) is a Filipino entrepreneur.
He is the founder and chairman of Jollibee Foods Corporation and the co-chairman of
DoubleDragon Properties.
 - Tan founded the fast food chain Jollibee in 1978, after having started it as an ice
cream parlor in 1975. Through expansion and acquisitions of Greenwich Pizza Corp.
which enabled it to enter the pizza-pasta segment. In early 2006, Jollibee Foods
Corporation bought out the remaining shares of its partners in Greenwich Pizza
Corporation, equivalent to a 20% stake, for P384 million in cash. As of August 2008,
Tan's Jollibee has a total of 1,480 stores worldwide including Jollibee, Red Ribbon,
Chowking, Greenwich, Manong Pepe's and Mang Inasal.

- As of November 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$4.1 billion.

4. Corazon D. Ong ( CDO Foodsphere )

- CDO-Foodsphere Inc. (CDO) is a Philippine meat processing company based in
Valenzuela , Metro Manila. The company was founded by Corazon Dayro Ong on June
25, 1975.[1] Its products include sausages, hams, bacon, hamburger patties, loaves and
sweet preserves. Many of its products are marketed under the CDO brand name.[2] In
2009, the company ventured into the Canned Tuna and broke the monopoly by
introducing corned tuna.

- CORAZON DAYRO ONG, the entrepreneur behind Foodsphere Inc., manufacturer of

CDO food products, recalls that, 40 years ago, she and her husband Jose “Pepe” Ong
started a kitchen-based “mom-and-pop” enterprise, producing siopao with longganisa
filling, as well as longganisa and tocino variants.

5. Pacita ‘Chit’ Juan ( Figaro Coffe Company )

- The Figaro Coffee Company (Figaro) is a Philippine coffee company and coffeehouse
chain. Figaro works on the franchise model. As of September 2013, it had 55 outlets in
Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Papua New Guinea. The company does not own roasting
facilities, but rather employs the facilities of a sister company, Boyd’s Coffee
Company.

- Being the youngest of eight children, Chit found inspiration from her father, Dr.
Maximo Juan, a dentist who decided to “hang up his gloves” to become an entrepreneur.
“[My] father finished dentistry and realized after two or three years of practice that
he actually wanted to be an entrepreneur. He realized that he was earning more from
selling stuff than cleaning teeth.”
6. Roberto R. Gandionco ( Julie’s Franchise Corp. )
- Before joining the family’s bakery business in 1985, Mr. Roberto Gandionco spent ten
years as a marketing and sales professional with Union Carbide Philippines. His
experience in preparing business plans and market studies for Union Carbide helped
him think like an entrepreneur. When the time came for him to help expand their mom-
and-pop operation, he was more than ready to assume the responsibility.

- Julie’s Bakeshop first delighted Cebuano consumers with their tasty and affordable
products in 1981. His mother, Julia “Julie” Gandionco, set up the bakeshop to supply her
canteen concessionaire business. Seeing how she was profiting more from the bakeshop
than the canteens, Mrs. Gandionco opened a branch near Aznar Coliseum.

7. Sandy Javier ( Andoks Litson Corporation - Andok’s )

- But if Leonardo “Sandy” Javier Jr., the owner and CEO of Andok’s Corporation, allowed
disappointments to overcome his passion, there wouldn’t be 300 Andok’s stores across
the country today.

- Javier was at the forefront when the “litson manok” (roasted chicken) craze in the
Philippines began more than 20 years ago.

- Back then, Javier said he did not have the capital to start a business and he was forced
to borrow 12 chickens from his mother’s friend to sell.

- As luck would have it, Javier only sold two chickens.

- However, the aspiring entrepreneur did not stop there.

- There are over 300 stores of Andok’s in different areas of the Philippines. They
primarily sells roasted chicken or litson manok and has indeed became a household
name. Andok’s proved to be the most loved and popular Filipino brand of roasted
chicken that was considered a ‘homegrown legend’. But aside from it, they also offer
fried chicken, roasted pork belly, pork barbeque, fried porkchop, pork sinigang and
roasted bangus among the many others.

8. Jose S. Concepcion Jr. ( CEO of RFM - Selecta Ice Cream, Swift Hotdogs, Sunkist
beverages, Fiesta Spaghetti, Vitwater)
- Mr. Jose S. Concepcion, Jr. is a Director Emeritus of the Board of the Company. He
concurrently serves as chairman of the board of RFM Corporation, chairman and
president of RFM Foundation, Inc., chairman and CEO of SWIFT Foods Inc., vice
 chairman for Asia of the Non-Aligned Movement (“NAM”) Business Council, president
for ASEAN Affairs of PCCI, barangay chairman of Barangay Forbes Park (since 1997),
founding chairman of the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections
(“NAMFREL”), chairman of the Foundation for Lay Education on Heart Disease, special
resource person of the United Coconut Planters Bank Finance Development (“UCPB
CIIF”) on the utilization of the coco levy fund, president of the Gusi Peace Prize
Awards Foundation, and a member of the steering committee of the Coalition Against
Corruption, board of trustees of the CARITAS, Philippine Jaycees Senate, Preparatory
Committee on Association of Southeast Asian Nations Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (“ASEAN-CCI”) Re-engineering and ASEAN-CCI executive committee.

9. Betty Ang ( President of privately held Monde Nissin, maker of instant noodles,
biscuits and snack foods - Lucky Me!, Monde and Bingo )
- Betty Ang is the president and founder of Monde Nissin, one of Philippines' largest
food manufacturers. In February 2016 the firm launched a joint venture with
Indonesia's largest bread-products producer, Nippon Indosari, to begin operations in
the Philippines in 2017. It also acquired U. K.-based Quorn for $831 million, aiming to
expand global offerings. But little is known about Ang and her husband Hoediono
Kweefanus, whose stake is included in the fortune; even basic information, such as
their age, is uncertain. Monde Nissin has been contemplating an initial public offering
since 2015, originally planning to raise $300 million to $500 million. If the listing
happens, much of the mystery surrounding Ang and the company may finally be solved.
The two have six children.

10. Edgar Sia II ( Founder of Mang Inasal - 70% share acquired by Jolibee Corporation in October 2010 )
- Edgar "Injap" J. Sia II (born 1977) is a Filipino businessman. Sia is the chairman of DoubleDragon
Properties (and co-owner with billionaire Tony Tan Caktiong), and the founder of the Mang Inasal
fast food restaurant chain.

- In 2011, Sia become the youngest billionaire in the Philippines at the age of 34, after selling his 70%
stake in Mang Inasal to Jollibee.

- Sia co-founded the barbecue chain Mang Inasal in Iloilo City in 2003. In seven years, Mang Inasal
grew to 338 branches nationwide, before being acquired by Jollibee in 2010.