Born in Fujian, he moved with his family to the Philippines at age 12.

When his family returned to China,

he stayed behind and founded ShoeMart, a small Manila shoe store, in 1958. Over the decades he
developed ShoeMart into SM Investments, one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, including
49 SM malls in the Philippines and China, 62 department stores, 56 supermarkets and over 200 grocery
stores. SM also owns Banco de Oro, the second-largest bank in the Philippines, as well as real estate
holdings.

For eleven straight years until his death, Sy was named by Forbes as the richest person in the
Philippines. When he died, his net worth was estimated at US$19 billion.

Henry Sy was not born with a golden spoon, in fact he belong to a poor family in Quanzhou, China. Sy,
migrated in the Philippines when he was twelve and started working for his father’s small sari-sari store
located in Quiapo, Manila. The small store that they owned was burned down by fire when the second
World War took place which led for Henry’s father to return to China. Instead of coming with his father
to China, he insisted to stay with a firm determination to become successful here in the Philippines.Left
with only 10 cents in his pocket, Sy started to empower himself by studying commerce, learning English
and Filipino language at the same time. He began selling GI boots (surplus). Sy focused on trading shoes
on the onset which lead him to discover local supplier (Philippine made) and explore in importing shoes
to be able to cope up with the supply and demand chain.He married a fellow Chinese immigrant lady
and blessed with six children in their marriage. Felicidad, Henry’s wife helped Sy in the business process
all the way. Felicidad is a lace vendor in Manila which also have given Sy an idea to bring in other goods
and products inside his Shoe Mart.It was not at all an overnight success for Henry Sy, he started selling
shoes in the streets of Manila under the heat of the sun and the cold of the rain. At one point in his past,
Sy was shot by a shrapnel and almost die in excessive bleeding, someone helped him, that someone
became his friend and as an act of gratitude, he bacame a business partner and now indeed became
successful because of him. There has been so many obstacle in the start up process but was able to
overcome it one step at a time.