Most Inspiring Ilonggo Entrepreneurs awarded today
Guadarrama and Sia II
Today, is the awarding of the Most Inspiring Ilonggo Entrepreneurs at the Go Negosyo sa Iloilo, the latest leg of the continuing Go Negosyo campaign spearheaded by Presidential Consultant for Entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion III at the Rose Memorial Auditorium of the Central Philippine University.
The Most Outstanding Ilonggo Entrepreneur awardees are: Jose Gerardo Guadarrama of The Original Biscocho Haus, Edgar Sia II of Mang Inasal, Alfonso Uy of La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp., Tomas Hautea of Retcem Bangus Hatchery, Arsenio Rafael of A.M. Builder's Depot and Antonio Steven Chan of the Central Azucarera de San Antonio Inc.
Guadarrama engineered the transition of the Original Biscocho Haus, established by his parents Dr. Carlos and Teresa Jalandoni Guadarrama in 1975, into a structured corporate entity at present.
The Original Biscocho Haus is well known for its wide variety of mouthwatering delicacies like biscocho, butterscotch, meringue, galletas, barquillos, bañadas, broas, toasted mamon, empanaditas, tarts and a lot more.
From a home-based enterprise when it was established in 1975, the Original Biscocho Haus has developed into a full-blown business branching out to malls in the city and other provinces of the region.
Sia known as "Injap" started the famous Mang Inasal almost five years ago. Its first branch located at Robinsons Place Iloilo became a hit with the masses prompting the business to open other branches in the city. After two years of operation, Injap opened up to franchising.
Today Mang Inasal has 71 branches nationwide. Injap's primary goal is to open 100 stores by the end of 2008 and about 300 stores by 2012.
Injap owns other businesses like Mr. Labada, Deco's Original Lapaz Batchoy and the Four Season Hotel.
La Filipina started way back in 1901 when Uy's father began a small bakeshop and grocery store. It developed into a reputable business before World War II after it diversified into importation and distribution. Business however faltered during the war eventually prompting Uy to join the family business at the age of 15 after he was told that his family could not support him through school anymore.
After finishing his chemical engineering degree, magna cum laude, and coming in second in the board exams, he became manager of their company.
In the ensuing years, various opportunities opened up and they started other businesses such as sugar mills, shipping services, post harvest facilities, real estate development, feeds milling, livestock, and property development services, among others.
Hautea began exercising his entrepreneurial skills when he was still a student. In high school, whenever he would go on excursions or out of town with his family, he would buy transistor radios, blankets and other dry goods to sell back home.
During college, he started assembling passenger jeeps, a venture that later grew into a jeep-conversion business "RETCEM" which stands for the first letters of his family's names. The business later expanded into auto repairs.
At 18, Hautea also ventured into agriculture and leased fishponds, eventually purchasing the now family-owned fishpond in Dumangas, Iloilo plus other fishponds in their locality and neighboring towns.
At the dawn of the new millenium, Hautea ventured into another business—bangus (milkfish) hatchery.
Now on its second year of operation, the Retcem Bangus Hatchery serves the needs of bangus farmers in Panay and Negros and annually produces an average of 20 million bangus fry. Retcem also provides bangus eggs to other Panay-based hatcheries that do not have breeders.
Rafael began working as a clerk in Amon Trading, a business established in 1954 in Iloilo, at the age of 17. After years of hardwork, he was promoted to salesman then later became the manager of the company.
After Amon Trading closed down in 1997, Rafael decided to establish his own business renting Amon Trading's 500 square meter building after making a deal with the company to consign the remaining inventory in exchange for his retirement pay.
Thus, A.M Builder's Depot was born with him as salesman, his wife as cashier, plus a clerk, another salesman and his two sons pitching in during their free time.
Now, the former 500 square meter building with four employees has grown into a 6,520 square meter property with 360 employees.
A.M. Builder's Depot already has several branches in different areas in Panay, Kalibo, Roxas, San Jose (Antique), Numancia (Aklan), Iloilo and Bacolod.
Central Azucarera de San Antonio Inc. (CASA) constitutes an expansion of the Chan family's sugar milling business started by the family patriarch Antonio "Tony or Achan" Chan way back in 1979.
CASA was established in Iloilo in 1994 as the Chan family's way of giving back to their father's place of origin.
Chan does not only focus his business on sugar milling, he is also pushing for the capitalization and the maximization of the untapped potentials of sugar like biomass production and engaging in a co-generation project.
Presently, CASA has increased has increased its production capacity, with new sugar mills in their system, and has improved systems for sugar refining. (Data excerpted from Go Negosyo team write-ups)