John L. Gokongwei, 100

Aug. 11 this year marks the centennial of the birth of the late John Lim Gokongwei Jr. He died in 2019, at the age of 93.

On Aug. 5, 2026, a John Gokongwei Boulevard was dedicated in his honor in Pasig, the original headquarters of his sprawling food, snacks and textile conglomerate.

At 27, then the youngest business editor of major daily, I met John in 1975 and backed his 1976 bid to capture a board seat in San Miguel Corp., the Philippines’ premier conglomerate and multinational. The Sorianos had owned only 1.8 percent of SMC but exercised 90 percent control, leaving John with just 10 percent voice.

John lost the board fights but his campaign taught publicly listed SMC to be more transparent (it operated like a private kingdom in the stranglehold of an entrenched dynasty), stop being smug and be more aggressive in parlaying its brand, goodwill and market presence.

Today, John’s JG Summit Holdings (incorporated in 1990) is valued by the market at P169 billion and No. 5 among conglomerates, despite losing billions, net loss of P87.5 billion in 2025. SMC (founded 1890), is valued by the market at only P151 billion despite a P79.6-billion core net income in 2025 and unrivaled leadership in seven major businesses. Notably, SMC chair and CEO RSA, by himself, is worth $4 billion, double the worth of Lance Gokongwei and his siblings combined.

John was a dear friend and great mentor. I learned many values from him  – frugality, simplicity, family focus, warmth of friendship, humility, being a voracious reader, planning long term while maximizing short-term gains. Boldness and visioning.

John liked me so much he gave me long interviews and untrammeled access, as well as watches and expensive figurines whenever I won journalism awards. He treated me like family.

John became an entrepreneur at 13 when his rich father died, leaving him with a widowed mother and five siblings. John had to rebuild the family business empire from scratch, using a bicycle and plenty of guts. He began by sending his brothers and sister to China where the cost of living was lower. John was 15 when the war erupted.

With a bike, young John peddled anything, from five in the morning to late at night – soap, thread, candles. Said John of that experience: “If I could compete with people so much older than me, if I could support my whole family at 15, I could do anything.”

Big John was the quintessential Filipino industrialist and serial entrepreneur. He was bold, almost reckless, innovative, pioneering and not at all intimidated by challenges and roadblocks in pursuit of a business or a venture, or even something that catches his fancy.

John was a big believer in industries, manufacturing, factories. He thought they offered a path to a nation’s real and sustainable growth – factories which would process the country’s vast raw material resources and add value to imported semi-processed products. Instead, the Philippines became a services economy; 63 percent of GDP is services.

John was fixated with three industrial products – corn, starch and petrochemicals. Corn is feeds for John’s poultry business and extender in his processed products, like coffee. Starch is a binder and a thickener in brewing, baking, making sauces. Petrochemicals? “You can produce anything from petrochemicals,” James Go told me. James, 84, JG Summit’s long-time chair and resident genius, has a chemical engineering degree and a master’s from MIT.

John was unafraid to take on challenges bigger than his capacity – or resources – to cope with or succeed. “I chose to live my life unafraid even during times I was afraid,” he said.

His formula for success: hard work, frugality, integrity, responsiveness to change and, most of all, the boldness to dream. His focus was the basic services  – food, clothing, shelter, electricity and connectivity, such as airline and telco.

Big John made entrepreneurship an exceedingly fulfilling endeavor of a lifetime – for the good of family, people, the community and country. The last two decades of his life he devoted to education and scholarships for poor but deserving students. The education philanthropy reaches 80,000 teachers and 1.5 million learners.

“Going back to the university for studies gave me an appreciation for the beauty and the breath of business life, something I would never have gained if I stopped my education,” he said.

Why entrepreneurship? “Because you create value. Because the products, services and jobs you create then become the lifeblood of our nation. Most of all, because then, you desire a life of adventure, endless challenge and the opportunity to be your best self.”

Gokongwei was Management Man of the Year in 2017. His message to the Management Association of the Philippines which gave him the coveted award: “The Philippine economy must continue to grow from strength to strength.”

The Gokongwei Group has continued to grow from strength to strength. JG Summit remaining family-owned, Big John had explained, “imbued the business with the stability, strong culture and long-term vision necessary to see our investments grow.”

John’s only son, the good-looking and lanky Lance Y. Gokongwei, who turns 60 on Nov. 23 (my birthdate is Nov. 25), has brought JG Summit to “even greater heights.” I met Lance when he was nine, introduced to me by John as a “brilliant, good boy.”

Lance has a double summa, Finance and Applied Science, from the UPenn.  He began in the Gokongwei Group marking and selling women’s underwear, literally from the bottom up.  And of course, he learned the ropes from the best of the Filipino tycoons, his dad.

As the family marks Big John’s centennial, Lance ruminated on what it takes for a family member to join the Gokongwei businesses.

Younger family members should be free to pursue their own ambitions before deciding whether to join the conglomerate.

Accordingly, while there are 50 Gokongwei cousins, “maybe two or three of them are in the business,” reckons Lance.

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