REFLECTION PAPER

Submitted by: Ma. Isabel C Malabanan

Student No.: CA202108356
Major: AB English-DL

Francisco “Paco” Magsaysay is a young entrepreneur who was born from a long line of politicians. He is
the grandson of the late President Magsaysay and the son of Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. Before
entering the ice cream business, he worked years for his family business. But Paco, was a visionary and
he wanted to create his own part. He did not want to be politician but he was determined to make a
name for himself thus, he decided to enter the dairy business which eventually lead him to starting the
first and only premium ice cream in the Philippines, “Carmen’s Best”.

It all started in 2007 when his father decided to start a dairy business, “Real Fresh Dairy”.

He soon decided to go Pennsylvania University and completed a course for Ice Cream making and during
his studies, he won the award as the student who made the best ice cream. Though he initially started
his business under the business name “Carmen’s Best Dairy Products Inc.” in 2009. It eventually changed
to “Carmen’s Best” when he took a turn in focusing in making premium ice cream.

In 2012, when Lucio Tan bought PAL (Philippines Airlines), all San Miguel products were removed in the
airline and Carmen’s Best took the slot in serving ice cream for their business class customers. And in
2016, when Pope Francis visited the Philippines, he fell in love with Carmen’s Best ice cream which
resulted to a headline "The ice cream that pleased the Pope."

It was not all rainbows and unicorns. Just like all other businesses, Carmen’s Best had dark days too.

In 2019, just before the pandemic hit, Carmen’s Best had its first branch in Singapore. But due to the
extreme decline of the economy, the said branch had to be closed in June of 2021.

Then, in 2022, Carmen’s Best was acquired by one of the biggest conglomerates in the Philippines,
Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

Paco still keeps some shares of the company but the majority of it is now owned by Metro Pacific.

It was an interesting talk and Paco shared the things that he followed all throughout his journey.

He was 42 years old when he started the business. He was working for his family business years before
that. As per Paco, "Don't be scared of things you don't know. Don't let the unknown scare you. Don't be
afraid of the unknown. Always think that there's always things that you can do better."

He said that the unknown might be the place that is the better place for you. Not having a plan B pushed
him to put his everything into the business. It was all in. If you run a business, you should give everything
on it to succeed on it. Don't do what's expected. But do what's necessary. (Premium ice cream is
Carmen's Best in the Philippines.) It’s all about your attitude. In your mind, you must set yourself in
achieving your goals. Find the niche. Find the part of the market that needs serving. Don’t be greedy.
The best tasting is normally the most expensive. He chose the best ingredients and it resulted into
getting a smaller margin but it made his market bigger. And lastly, help others. Pay it forward.
He also said that to always remember that, "The strong people face the most difficult in life." Everything
happens for a reason. Nothing happens without a reason. All things that happened in your life, the good
and the bad, took you to where you are at the moment.”

The reason why bad things happen is to teach us life lessons and to avoid the situation from happening
again. Difficulty is part of living. It's your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself, that determines how
your life's story will develop.

It was an encouraging speech which made me realize that every big success started small and all
successes require hard work. From when Paco decided to go back to university to learn how to make ice
cream to managing his business. It was not a painless journey where he had to work many hours a day
while receiving very little money, but he fought all through these challenges and succeeded well. It was
not just about the money but about the achievements that he had earned along the way.

My favorite part was when he mentioned that all things that happen in our lives are part of learning.
Some are bad and some are good but these are all parts of the whole. It was about the mindset on how
we take on these things.

Life is a journey and it is fleeting. It is important that we know the reason why we are here and to make
a path that we can proudly walk on. The legacy that we live in this lifetime is more valuable than any
amount of money that you leave at the moment of your death.

I hope that more Filipino products can make it in the market. “Carmen’s Best” is indeed an interesting
product and I look forward to trying it.