GREAT SUCCESS STORY

By Val G. Abelgas

Janitor, Metropolitan Cleaners, Cebu, 1969-73.” Thus read the last line under “Business and Employment” of the resume of Edwin N. Aroma, a low-profile Cebuano businessman now living in Van Nuys, California. Above this line is a long list of former employment and current business enterprises that range from being an auditor with the San Miguel Corp. to being president and owner of numerous agricultural, financial, and management consultancy firms. Behind this impressive employment and business history is a barrio boy’s story of success, vision, hard work, and dogged determination to achieve the goals he has set for himself.

Edwin N. Aroma was born to a fisherman and a school teacher in Catmon, Cebu on September 11, 1949. As the family grew to three sons and two daughters, Aroma’s mother was forced to stop teaching to attend to the children. The family could hardly get by with the father’s income from fishing.

When Aroma graduated from public high school at 17, he told his father he wanted to be an engineer, but his father said he couldn’t afford to send him to college.

“I didn’t know how to farm nor to fish. I really wanted to study, and make something of myself. So, I asked my father to give me 20 pesos, so I could travel to Cebu City and find a job,” Aroma said. “I applied for so many jobs, and finally found an agency that needed janitors.”

For four years, Aroma labored as a janitor, sweeping streets and alleys and cleaning offices, while he studied accounting at the University of the Visayas. He distinguished himself as a scholar and student leader. He became a college representative and later a university senator. Once, when he was a university senator, some school mates saw him sweeping an alley with fellow janitors from the Metropolitan Cleaners of Cebu, and word spread around in school at once that he was a janitor. Aroma was embarrassed for a moment, but he went on being a janitor and finished his accounting degree in 1973.

When he finally passed the CPA exams and was hired as an auditor for Carlos J. Valdez & Co. in Cebu, Aroma went to the owner of the janitorial services firm.

“I thanked him for employing me for four years, and told him I was resigning. I told the owner and his wife that I had been hired as an auditor, but they wouldn’t believe it. The wife asked: Who would hire you as auditor, you haven’t even finished college? They didn’t know I was studying all the time that I was working as a janitor. I told them I just finished my bachelor’s degree and was reviewing for the board exams,” Aroma said. “When the owner heard this, he came to me and hugged me.”

“We are proud of you and happy for you,” the owner said. “You are our first employee to finish college.”

He served as auditor for Carlos J. Valdez & Co. until 1976, then became auditor for San Miguel Corp. (in Cebu and Manila) until 1978, and then was chief accountant for Mandaue Printers until 1982.

While working for these companies, Aroma continued his studies, finishing two more bachelor’s degrees — in Management and Economics — and a master’s degree in management engineering from the University of the Visayas.

In 1982, his godfather, Ben Boiser, who was living in the U.S., was offered by an Indonesian plywood company a job as accounting manager, but Boisier didn’t want to leave the U.S. Boiser recommended Aroma for the job. Aroma left for Jakarta early that year and became accounting manager of P.T. Hartaty Jaya Plywood, the biggest plywood plant in Indonesia, which was, at that time, on the verge of bankruptcy.

Later that year, the owner died and Aroma was promoted to general manager. Within six months of assuming the helm at the plywood plant, he turned the company around and made it profitable for the first time in years. He managed the plywood company until 1986, but decided to quit his job because he could no longer stand dealing with corrupt Indonesian officials.

During this time, he earned his second master’s degree in Business Administration (financial management) from the University of Singapore.

Aroma, who remains very fluent in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesia’s national language), went back to the Philippines in March 1986, and looked for a business where he could invest his savings from his Indonesian job.

“I decided on a mango farm because I found out that the demand is high for mangos, the number one fruit in the Philippines. The Philippines can only supply 27% of Asia’s requirements,” Aroma said. From a small plantation in Cebu, he now has three huge plantations in Cebu and another big one in Bohol, totalling 25,000 trees, almost 3,000 of which are bearing 500 fruits each per harvest. The other 22,000 trees are expected to bear fruits for commercial purposes in one or two years.

It takes a mango tree five years to bear fruits. But these fruits will not be of commercial quantity until the tree is eight years old, when it begins to bear from 500 to 800 fruits every year.

Aroma has now become one of the biggest, if not the biggest, mango growers in the Philippines, beating out even Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., who has about 15,000 mango trees in Davao.

“In addition to mango, I have also planted avocado and jackfruit trees for commercial purposes,” Aroma said. “I buy idle lands and plant them with trees. I make these idle lands productive, help provide employment for the barrio folks, and, at the same time, help in the ecological development of the country. I am happy to feel that I am helping in the economic development of the country.”

In October 1986, Aroma came to the United States for a much-needed vacation, but decided there are better opportunities awaiting him in the U.S. Since then, Aroma has established numerous businesses. He is president and owner of Trans-World Services Inc., which provides management and financial services to business clients (mostly Jews). “We help find financing for businesses,” he said.

Aroma, who is called by acquaintances as Mr. Future because every time he talks to people, he talks about the future, also owns and operates the Chandler Apartments in Phoenix, Arizona, which has more than 100 rental units. He also owns the Prime Appliance Rentals Inc., based in Los Angeles. Aroma is also a managing partner of Worldwide Empire Funding Inc., based in Delaware; and is controller of All Valley Washer Service Inc., based in Van Nuys, California.

Still a Filipino citizen, Aroma has numerous business and land holdings in the Philippines. He is president of Imgime-Aroma Mango Ranch in Cebu and Bohol; president of Socsargen Realty & Development Corp., based in General Santos City in Cotabato; and president of Capital One Financial Solutions Inc., based in Cebu.

How does he manage all these companies, which are located in at least four cities in the United States, and three cities in the Philippines?

“My managers in the Philippines fax or e-mail to me financial and other reports regularly, and I visit the Philippines at least four times a year to personally look into the businesses,” he said. “With the modern telecommunications systems, you can communicate with your employees from anywhere in the world.”

Aroma is not all about business. In 1988, he finished his third master’s degree in Business Administration (majoring in Global Management) from the University of Phoenix-LA in addition to his three bachelor’s degrees, and will soon receive his Ph.D. in Global Economics from UCLA.

At present, he is chairman of the board of Kiwanis Club of Phil-Am Los Angeles, where he also served as president for two terms (1996-98). In addition, he is executive vice president of the National Association of Cebuanos — USA, vice president of the Cebu Brotherhood Inc., chairman of the Children First Foundation (the only Filipino in the board), executive vice president of the Rainbow Coalition for Philippine Progress (which he helped found along with three other Filipino leaders), and a member of the Philippine-American Institute of CPAs.

He has received numerous awards, among them “Outstanding Club Leader,” Kiwanis Club of Phil-Am Los Angeles; “Distinguished Kiwanian,” Kiwanis International; “Outstanding Civic Leader,” Pamana Awards; “Outstanding Club President,” Kiwanis Club of Phil-Am Los Angeles; “Kiwanian of the Year,” Kiwanis Club; and “Club Builder of the Year,” Children First Foundation Inc.

Aroma now sets his sights to a political career in the Philippines. He plans to run for a congressional seat in his native Cebu, to enable him to contribute his expertise in the fields of global and financial management, and to help the Philippines solve its “economic imbalance.”

Aroma also wants to give attention to the Philippines’ children by teaching them positive mental attitude. “They are the future leaders of our country, and we have to focus our attention to their development,” he said.

Aroma is married to Imelda Ochia of Tubocan, Cebu, whom he met while he was still working as a janitor and she was a ticket clerk in a Cebu City cinema house. “I also urged her to study accounting,” Aroma said proudly. They have three children — Moanna, 21; Imee, 15; and Edwin Jr., 4.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 11:33 PM 26 comments    

Ng Khai Development Corporation’s story begins in Cebu, fueled by a man whose passion for computers matched his drive to become a successful entrepreneur.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 11:06 PM 0 comments    

The public life of Manny Villar straddles both the worlds of business and politics. He is one of the few who managed to excel in both.

Working Student

He was born to a simple family on December 13, 1949 in Moriones, Tondo, Manila. His father, Manuel Montalban Villar, Sr., a government employee, hailed from Cabatuan, Balazan, and Tanza, Iloilo and his mother Curita Bamba, a seafood dealer, came from Pampanga and Bataan. Manny is the second child in a brood of nine. At a very young age, he was already helping his mother sell shrimp and fish in the Divisoria Market. With the burning desire for a better future and a strong determination to improve his family’s living conditions, Manny worked hard in selling shrimps and fish to be able to send himself to school.

“I learned from my mother what it takes to be an entrepreneur, “ he revealed. “And it means working really hard to achieve your dreams.” In Divisoria, he marveled at the volume of sales that Chinese merchants were making, thus he vowed early on to become an entrepreneur.

Hard work, persistence, and perseverance became his guiding principles in life. This earned him the title “Mr. Sipag at Tiyaga.”

He continues to inspire Filipinos with his life story and encourages each and every kababayan to improve their quality of life and fulfill their dreams through the very values he believes in -- “sipag at tiyaga.”

Entrepreneur

Manny Villar was a working student at the University of the Philippines, the premier institution of higher learning in the country, where he obtained his undergraduate and master’s degree in business administration and accountancy. By then, he was also putting in long hours as fish and shrimp trader, where the action starts during the ungodly hours of the morning when the catch lands on the market.

After graduation, he tried his hand as an accountant at the country’s biggest accounting firm, Sycip Gorres and Velayo (SGV). He resigned shortly though to venture on his own seafood delivery business.

When a restaurant he was delivering stocks to did not pay him, he printed out “meal tickets” which he persuaded the restaurant owners to honor. He then sold these tickets at a discounted price to office workers. It took him one year to liquidate his receivables.

He worked briefly as a financial analyst at the Private Development Corporation of the Philippines. His job was to sell World Bank loans, despite the attractive rates of which there were no takers. Convinced that he could make it on his own again, he quit his job and promptly availed of one of the loans.

So with an initial capital of P10,000 in 1975, Villar purchased two reconditioned trucks and started his sand-and-gravel business in Las Piñas.

Housing Innovator

It is here while delivering construction materials to big developers that Manny Villar came up with the idea of selling house and lot packages when the convention then was for homeowners to buy lots and build on them.

Manny Villar became the housing industry leader, and the biggest homebuilder in Southeast Asia, having built more than 100,000 houses for the poor and middle class Filipino families.

He then initiated mass housing projects to achieve economies of scale. His various innovations practically created the country’s mass housing industry. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism calls him “the dean of the (Philippine) real estate industry.”

Awards and Distinctions

For his business achievements, he was made cover story in the Far Eastern Economic Review. And his life story was also featured in Asiaweek, Forbes, AsiaMoney and Asian Business Review.

He garnered various awards such as the Ten Outstanding Young Men Award (1986) by the Philippine Jaycees, Agora Award for Outstanding Achievement in Marketing Management (1989), Most Outstanding CPA by the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (1990) and Most Outstanding UP Alumnus (1991).

Political Career

In a stunning political debut in 1992, Villar won with the most overwhelming mandate among congressmen in Metro Manila. He promptly applied his economic and managerial expertise as a key member of the House’s economic team, marshalling in economic reform measures of the Ramos Administration such as the New Foreign Investments Act and the restructuring of the Central Bank of the Philippines. He was the House representative in the government’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C. in 1992.

He also oversaw various infrastructure projects in his districts like the construction of concrete roads and the Alabang-Zapote Flyover. He introduced the “Friendship Route” to ease the traffic problems in southern Manila by persuading subdivision homeowners to open up their roads to the general public.

He succeeded in passing Republic Act 8003 “Declaring Certain Areas in Las Piñas as Tourist Spots”. The law formalized his program of rehabilitating historical and cultural landmarks in Las Piñas starting with the world-famous Bamboo Organ Church. The ongoing project dubbed as “Las Piñas Historical Corridor” covers the stretch of the Old District and may even rival the Intramuros and Vigan restoration projects.

A staunch environmentalist, he initiated a privately funded tree planting drive in his district. He developed a P10-million tree nursery beside his home. He also quietly led a dedicated tree-planting drive complete with maintenance and watering of tree seedlings planted in the open spaces of the community.

When he realized that many poor students could not go to school because they do not even have fare money, he organized the “Manpower on Wheels” Program, a livelihood training school housed in a van that makes the rounds in depressed areas. The program has since produced more than 5,000 graduates and has been awarded by various government and civic organizations for its innovative scheme.

During his first term, he steered Las Piñas and Muntinlupa to cityhood. “As a developer, I have always envisioned these two communities as the ‘Twin Cities of the South’ of Manila. In fact, Las Piñas and Muntinlupa are the two fastest growing communities in the country today, he pointed out.”

For his constituency work and personal vow, he extended grants of home sites to some 10,000 poor families in Barangay CAA, Las Piñas City. Two major roads were also opened in his district; the Sucat-Pulanglupa Link Road to Parañaque and the Zapote-Molino (Daang Hari) Link Road to Cavite, thus alleviating the traffic congestion in the area.

During his second term, he was able to upgrade the Las Piñas District Hospital with a new building and better facilities. He also launched the “Sagip-Bukas” Drug Prevention Program on all the private and public schools of Las Piñas to educate the youth about the dangers of drug abuse. He also nationalized the Las Piñas High School to upgrade its facilities.

By the end of his second term of office, Villar had already proven beyond doubt his capacity for excellence as a true Filipino entrepreneur and a brilliant public servant who can get things done.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 10:49 PM 0 comments    

Posted by Joel Escoton at 8:35 PM 0 comments    

Mariano Que (Mercury Drug) has always believed in the concept of total customer service. This can be summed up in its corporate philosophy: "To serve you, to have what you want, when you want it." It has been its commitment since it started.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 7:01 PM 3 comments    

Family and Early Childhood

On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates's life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.

First computing Experience

In the Spring of 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computers [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. Computers were still too large and costly for the school to purchase its own. Instead, the school had a fund raiser and bought computer time on a DEC PDP-10 owned by General Electric. A few thousand dollars were raised which the school figured would buy more than enough time to last into the next school year. However, Lakeside had drastically underestimated the allure this machine would have for a hand full of young students.

Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few other Lakeside students (many of whom were the first programmers hired at Microsoft) immediately became inseparable from the computer. They would stay in the computer room all day and night, writing programs, reading computer literature and anything else they could to learn about computing. Soon Gates and the others started running into problems with the faculty. Their homework was being turned in late (if at all), they were skipping classes to be in the computer room and worst of all, they had used up all of the schools computer time in just a few weeks. [Wallace, 1992, p. 24]

In the fall of 1968, Computer Center Corporation opened for business in Seattle. It was offering computing time at good rates, and one of the chief programmers working for the corporation had a child attending Lakeside. A deal was struck between Lakeside Prep School and the Computer Center Corporation that allowed the school to continue providing it's students with computer time. [Wallace, 1992, p. 27] Gates and his comrades immediately began exploring the contents of this new machine. It was not long before the young hackers started causing problems. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the computers security system. They even altered the files that recorded the amount of computer time they were using. They were caught and the Computer Center Corporation banned them from the system for several weeks.

Bill Gates, Paul Allen and, two other hackers from Lakeside formed the Lakeside Programmers Group in late 1968. They were determined to find a way to apply their computer skills in the real world. The first opportunity to do this was a direct result of their mischievous activity with the school's computer time. The Computer Center Corporation's business was beginning to suffer due to the systems weak security and the frequency that it crashed. Impressed with Gates and the other Lakeside computer addicts' previous assaults on their computer, the Computer Center Corporation decided to hire the students to find bugs and expose weaknesses in the computer system. In return for the Lakeside Programming Group's help, the Computer Center Corporation would give them unlimited computer time [Wallace, 1992, p. 27]. The boys could not refuse. Gates is quoted as saying "It was when we got free time at C-cubed (Computer Center Corporation) that we really got into computers. I mean, then I became hardcore. It was day and night" [Wallace, 1992, p. 30]. Although the group was hired just to find bugs, they also read any computer related material that the day shift had left behind. The young hackers would even pick employees for new information. It was here that Gates and Allen really began to develop the talents that would lead to the formation of Microsoft seven years later.

Roots of Business Career

Computer Center Corporation began to experience financial problems late in 1969. The company finally went out of business in March of 1970. The Lakeside Programmers Group had to find a new way to get computer time. Eventually they found a few computers on the University of Washington's campus where Allen's dad worked. The Lakeside Programmers Group began searching for new chances to apply their computer skills. Their first opportunity came early the next year when Information Sciences Inc. hired them to program a payroll program. Once again the group was given free computer time and for the first time, a source of income. ISI had agreed to give them royalties whenever it made money from any of the groups programs. As a result of the business deal signed with Information Sciences Inc., the group also had to become a legal business [Wallace, 1992, p. 42-43]. Gates and Allen's next project involved starting another company entirely on their own, Traf-O-Data. They produced a small computer which was used to help measure traffic flow. From the project they grossed around $20,000. The Traf-O-Data company lasted until Gates left for college. During Bill Gates' junior year at Lakeside, the administration offered him a job computerizing the school's scheduling system. Gates asked Allen to help with the project. He agreed and the following summer, they wrote the program. In his senior year, Gates and Allen continued looking for opportunities to use their skills and make some money. It was not long until they found this opportunity. The defense contractor TRW was having trouble with a bug infested computer similar to the one at Computer Center Corporation. TRW had learned of the experience the two had working on the Computer Center Corporation's system and offered Gates and Allen jobs. However thing would be different at TRW they would not be finding the bugs they would be in charge of fixing them. "It was at TRW that Gates began to develop as a serious programer," and it was there that Allen and Gates first started talking seriously about forming their own software company [Wallace, 1992, p. 49-51].

In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates left home for Harvard University [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. He had no idea what he wanted to study, so he enrolled as prelaw. Gates took the standard freshman courses with the exception of signing up for one of Harvard's toughest math courses. He did well but just as in high school, his heart was not in his studies. After locating the school's computer center, he lost himself in the world of computers once again. Gates would spend many long nights in front of the school's computer and the next days asleep in class. Paul Allen and Gates remained in close contact even with Bill away at school. They would often discuss ideas for future projects and the possibility of one day starting a business. At the end of Gates's first year at Harvard, the two decided that Allen should move closer to him so that they may be able to follow up on some of their ideas. That summer they both got jobs working for Honeywell [Wallace, 1992, p. 59]. As the summer dragged on, Allen began to push Bill harder with the idea that they should open a software company. Gates was still not sure enough to drop out of school. The following year, however, that would all change.

The Birth of Microsoft

In December of 1974, Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse the current magazines. What he saw changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." He bought the issue and rushed over to Gates's dorm room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two knew that the home computer market was about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the new machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. This was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. Eight weeks later, the two felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most likely have ended in failure. This was not the case, and the program worked perfectly the first time [Wallace, 1992, p. 80]. MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC.[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96] Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 8:04 AM 0 comments    

Dr. Lucio Tan is a household name in the Philippines. Perhaps only a few have not heard of the Chinese immigrant who have a great impact in the lives of the citizens of his adapted country.

Filipinos in the United States or any place in the world, could relate to the success story of this man from Fujian.

BUILDING AN EMPIRE THRU HARDWORK

The success of Mr. Lucio Tan’s enterprise is deeply rooted on liquor and tobacco.

He owns Fortune Tobacco, the Philippine’s biggest cigarette-manufacturing company; Asia Brewery, the second largest producer of beer and bottled water; Tanduay Distillers, one of the oldest and biggest rhum producer in the world; and Philippine Airlines, Asia's first airline.

Back in 1965 when Mr. Tan was just setting up Fortune Tobacco, the domestic market for cigarettes was dominated by old established companies.

With his meager funds, he wondered how he could position his products against the more than a hundred local and foreign brands competing in a cut-throat market.

Through research and ingenuity, His first Brand, Ever Cool, made it to the market with success. Now, another product of him Winston, is a top seller in the Philippines.

DIVERSIFICATION

With the success of Fortune Tobacco in the 70’s, Mr. Lucio Tan started the diversification of his conglomerate.

In 1970, He brought in from Taiwan the advance livestock technology to set up Foremost Farms, one of the biggest in Asia. in 1977, He acquired the defunct General Banking Corp ( GEN BANK ) and named it Allied Banking Corporation. Through innovation and restructuring, it now consistently ranks among the top 10 banks in the Philippines in terms of asset and deposit base. The core institution of Mr. Tan’s conglomerate is based at the bank’s building in the hearth of Makati.

In 1978, Mr. Tan acquired Riverside Steel, Inc and renamed it Grandspan Development Corp, a company that is recognized in the construction business all over the world. In 1982, he opened Asia Brewery and penetrated the beer market long dominated by San Miguel Corp.

In 1985, he purchased the 500-room, five star Century Park Hotel, now a favorite venue among local and foreign businessmen. Also the same year, he established Macro Asia Corp to provide catering, ground handling, engineering and maintenance services to its sister company PAL, and to over 20 international carriers landing in the Philippines.

The man from Fujian is now the owner of Lucio Tan Group of companies.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 7:06 AM 11 comments    

Henry Sy’s rise to the top is a feel good story for the ages. In 1936, at the age of 12, he immigrated from mainland China to help run his father’s grocery in Manila, often sleeping on display counters because he had no place to sleep. The spartan life he lived probably played a big part in molding Sy’s character as a smart and calculating businessman, and that is probably why he is still a hands-on owner at the prime age of 80. He regularly visits his malls to check on how things are running, and is usually spotted wearing his trademark Hawaiian shirts.

Sy’s work ethic and determination has made him one of the country’s leading businessmen, and a prominent name in the international business scene. The boy who once worked 14 hours a day long before the 24/7 concept caught on is estimated to be worth a cool $1.7 billion, not bad for a guy who still keeps his first cash register (a brass one) in his office.

Henry Sy, Sr. opened the first Shoemart store along Rizal Avenue in downtown Manila in 1958. He conceptualized a chain of shoe stores, each characterized by a distinct merchandising layout never before attempted in the country. In the sixties, the company expanded its shoe store chain. It was one of the pioneers in the new urban centers when it opened bigger shoe stores at the Makati Commercial Center in 1953 and in Cubao in 1967.

In the seventies, Shoemart marked its shift from a shoe store to a full line department store with SM Echague, and later SM Makati in 1975. This was also the time that Shoemart became known as SM Shoemart or simply SM, a name that has become synonymous with one stop shopping excitement. SM positioned itself for growth in the eigthies, diversifying into the supermarket and appliance store businesses. Late 1985 marked the opening of its first shopping mall, SM City North EDSA. SM emerged as a key players in the shopping center industry in the 1990’s giving rise to the malling phenomenon in the Philippines.

Today, SM is a dynamic group of companies with core businesses in retail merchandising and shopping centers, and complementary businesses in financial services and real estate and tourism development. In early 2005, SM Investments Corporation, its holding company, launched what is considered the biggest initial public offering in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

SM’s 22 supermalls, 25 department stores, and hundreds of retail stores have become part of the lives of many Filipinos. More than 1.5 million customers visit SM supermalls everyday. These are places where they shop, eat out, watch movies, or simply spend fun times together with family and friends. SM Group is a retail giant with 38,600 employees and annual revenues of $1.7 billion. More than that, SM has made its impact in the local and international business community, and is recognized as one of the top companies in Asia.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 6:37 AM 7 comments    

Posted by Joel Escoton at 1:48 AM 11 comments    

As a beginner of the Internet world I'm trying to become one of the professionals who make money on the Internet. Ive heard plenty of news on how they make tons of income by just staying at their home. I hope I will find ways how to do it.

Posted by Joel Escoton at 1:20 AM 9 comments