Krhisha May C.

Mendoza BSTM – 2C

Entrepreneurship in Tourism and Hospitality

1. Tony Tan Caktiong

Known to be the man behind the country’s famous bee, Tony Tan Caktiong is another rags-to-riches
story—from owning a small ice cream franchise to heading some of the Philippines’ most famous food
chains. He is a Filipino billionaire businessman who is the founder and chairman of Jollibee Foods
Corporation and the co-chairman of DoubleDragon Properties. Born the third of seven siblings, Tony Tan
Caktiong was from a poor family in China who immigrated to the Philippines in the hope that they may
have a better life. His family helped each other out, establishing a restaurant business in Davao, which
enabled young Tony to study chemical engineering at the University of Santo Tomas. When he was 22,
Caktiong decided to shell out P350,000 for an ice cream parlor franchise. He opened Cubao Ice Cream
House and Quiapo Ice Cream House. As their business became more and more successful, they started
to hire more people to help them manage it. Two years later, he decided to serve hamburgers, fried
chicken, and spaghetti as people began to tell him that they didn’t want to eat ice cream all the time. It
was then that they decided to rebrand and change their name to "Jollibee," as it represents them as a
company and the people that they cater to hardworking and happy.

McDonald’s came into the picture not many years later, but they failed to take over Jollibee’s popularity
as, according to Caktiong, they don’t know the local food culture. Filipinos have a sweet taste in food, so
Jollibee decided to serve spaghetti with a sweeter flavor. Filipinos like to smell everything they eat,
which is the reason behind the "Langhap Sarap" tagline they have been using for a while now. The
Jollibee group grew in size over time. Caktiong partnered up and established a couple of other food
chains, including Chowking, Red Ribbon, Greenwich, and Delifrance. Aside from bringing Jollibee,
Chowking, and Red Ribbon to other countries, they’ve also established new food chains in China and
Taiwan that suit the tastes of the people there. As of 2016, Tony Tan Caktiong ranked 6th in Forbes’ list
of the Philippines’ 50 richest. He was also awarded Entrepreneur of the Year and Ernst and Young
Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. Forbes Magazine has ranked Tony Tan Caktiong as the 9th richest man
in the Philippines as of January 2021, with a net worth of $2.4 billion.

2. Henry Sy

Born in Xiamen, China, in November 1924, Henry Sy was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Wanting to escape poverty, Henry followed his father to the Philippines, only to experience a miserable
youth in a foreign country. Sy struggled hard to live in a foreign country as an immigrant and had to
learn the local language. Determined to become successful, he worked hard day and night to provide for
his needs. Sy started out with a small sari-sari store business that helped them in their day-to-day lives.
Sy and his father lived in a small space until the fruits of their labor made them successful in the
following years. However, when the Philippine economy collapsed in World War II, their store burned
down, forcing his father to go back to China. Henry Sy stayed in the Philippines and built his own shoe
business in Marikina. Sy did not have overnight success. He enrolled himself in school and was able to
graduate from college with a degree in commerce from Far Eastern University. Sy also changed legal
names, sold rejected and overrun shoes, and faced many other setbacks early in life. He did not give up
and pushed through, maybe because he knew that something big, which is what he has now, was about
to come. After a series of failures in his business, Henry Sy stood back up and persevered to attain his
goal. He established a small shoe store in Quiapo, Manila, in 1958 named "Shoe Mart," which eventually
marked the establishment of SM Prime Holdings. Now with three of the most valuable companies in the
Philippines: SM Investments Corp. and SM Prime Holdings Inc., valued at over Php 1 trillion each, and
BDO Unibank, valued at around Php 635 million, he has become the richest man in the country for 11
consecutive years since 2005 and is ranked 52nd in the Forbes World Billionaires List of 2018.

3. Socorro Ramos

The National Bookstore is probably one of the most visited shops in the Philippines. National Bookstore
is a part of every Filipino household. All thanks to the hard work and perseverance of Socorro Ramos,
also known as Nanay Coring. Nanay Coring has always been in the retail industry. As a young girl, she
helped her grandmother sell fruits at the local market in their home province. Life was hard, and her
mother decided to move to Manila to find better opportunities. She attended a public school and took
on many jobs during summer vacation, from wrapping bubble gum to sewing buttons on shirts. After she
finished high school, her family did not have enough money to send her to college. She then worked as a
salesgirl at a bookstore. It was there that she met her would-be husband, Jose. They opened a stall shop
in Escolta. They named it the National Bookstore after their cash register. But things did not go uphill
from there. In the 1940s, strict censorship of books was implemented. Nanay Coring had to put the
books away and resort to selling soap, candies, and slippers. After the war, the whole of Escolta was
burned down. This did not dampen Nanay Coring and Jose’s souls. They opened another small store.
This time, they sold the books they had previously put away and the whisky. Gathering their earnings,
the couple bought more school supplies and books. They slowly rebuilt the national bookstore. They
ventured into postcards and greeting cards. They also partnered with international publishing houses
and reprinted books at lower prices. Aside from selling products of well-known brands, National
Bookstore also now manufactures its school supplies, Best Buy. Keeping up with the times, they have
teamed up with Kobo, a Canadian-based e-book seller. The National Bookstore is also visible on social
media, and customers can even shop online via their website. Students, office workers, and everyone
else will find what they are looking for at the National Bookstore.

In the words of Nanay Coring, "Work hard, very hard." "There is no express elevator to success; you
have to climb the stairs."

Socorro Ramos received some of the country's notable awards such as:

• Agora Award for Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship (1991)

• DTI Outstanding Filipino Retailer Award (2001) • Woman Entrepreneur of the Year (2004)

The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award (2006)

• Filipino-Chinese Federation of Business and Professional Women of the Philippines Award for
Business (2007)
Reflection:

Tony Tan Caktiong, Henry Sy, and Socorro Ramos are all entrepreneurs. They have all succeeded in their
respective fields and have become successful because of the hard work they put in.

These three entrepreneurs all started small, but they're now doing incredibly well. It's not because
they're more talented than other entrepreneurs or that they're smarter or more driven than other
entrepreneurs. It's because they had the courage to take a risk and then keep going when things got
tough. They didn't give up on their dream because it seemed too big for them or because they were
afraid of failing. They knew that if they stayed true to themselves and their vision, then success would
follow. And it did!

They all have one thing in common: they were able to successfully start their own businesses by focusing
on what they knew best. They didn't try to do everything, or scale too quickly, but instead took their
time and did what worked for them. And now? They're living the dream!