Pardo’s 7-Eleven gamble pays off

Over 30 years ago, Jose “Titoy” Pardo rolled the dice on 7-Eleven, a Dallas-based convenience store that he read about during the early ‘70s from a Wall Street Journal article on a Japanese businessman who brought the franchise to Japan. Inspired by the story and recognizing the business opportunity, Titoy went to the company’s Dallas headquarters, telling the owners he may be short in capital, but not in experience – which convinced them that he had the chops to grow the business.

Along with some friends, Titoy brought the 7-Eleven franchise to the Philippines under the Philippine Seven Corp. – at a time when the country was undergoing political upheaval. It goes without saying that the going was rough as the concept of a 24-hour convenience store was at its infancy, but he forged ahead. In 2000, a giant Taiwanese retail group that was also the franchise holder of 7-Eleven in Taiwan bought majority shares of the Philippine Seven Corp., with Titoy retaining 10 percent of the shares.

Today, the 7-Eleven brand has become the country’s biggest chain of convenience stores, inspiring others to put up their own 24/7 stores. According to estimates, the 7-Eleven business is now worth P45 billion – which makes Titoy Pardo’s 10 percent now worth P4.5 billion.  The gamble he made 30 years ago has paid off, with 7-Eleven expanding its business into almost 1,500 branches all over the country.

PPCI forum with presidentiables

We were at the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and industry’s 41st Philippine Business Conference and Expo at the Marriot Grand Ballroom, where we acted as moderator for the plenary session on the topic “Agenda for Competitiveness: The Infrastructure Sector.” We had DPWH Secretary Babes Singson, International Container Terminal Services Inc. strategy and operations head for Asia Roberto Locsin, Megawide CEO Engineer Michael Cosiquien, San Miguel Holdings chief finance officer and treasury head Raoul Eduardo Romulo and Oxford Business Group managing editor for Asia Paulius Kuncinas as panelists, and it was very interesting to hear their insights and perspectives on how infrastructure can help the Philippines attract more investments, and the challenges that restrain investments in infrastructure.

The expo with the theme “One. Global. Filipino. Synergies in Partnerships and Global Competitiveness,” highlighting strategic alliances necessary to deliver the promise of competitive environments, will have President Aquino as keynote speaker for the concluding ceremony this afternoon, followed by a special forum with presidentiables on the topic “2016 Onwards: Vision for Economic Transformation.” It will be interesting to see how the presidential candidates will fare as they face the country’s biggest business group and share their business agenda on how to transform the economy and make progress and development inclusive.

Every year, the PCCI holds the business conference and expo to dialogue with government and other stakeholders on critical policy and regulatory frameworks that must be addressed to attract big-ticket investors and enhance the competitiveness of the country. The various plenary sessions will tackle investment opportunities on the local, regional and global settings, with special attention on success stories, trends and strategies for business and economic growth, and how international trade partnerships can be advanced.

SM Supermalls celebrates 30 years

Our congratulations to SM Supermalls, the country’s biggest mall operator that recently celebrated its 30th Anniversary at the SMX Convention Center with a gala night that saw SM’s loyal partners and supporters given awards and recognition. Leading the celebrations for this milestone in the history of SM are SM Prime Holdings president Hans Sy and SM Investments Corp. vice chairman Tessie Sy-Coson (second from left in photo) with notable personalities that include Nene Araneta with wife Stella Marquez-Araneta and Manny Pangilinan.

The gala event also served as SM’s way of showing gratitude to those who have been part of the SM family from the time they opened the very first mall at the SM City North EDSA in Quezon City.  Over 50 companies that represented top partners and locators won awards in various categories, and the most popular brands voted by customers through an online poll were also revealed.

As Hans noted, a lot has happened since the opening of the first SM mall three decades ago, with SM going global and keeping abreast of trends and technology to be attuned to the changing tastes of customers over the years.  One could even say that SM has changed the lifestyle of Filipinos, with the mall serving as a venue where families can spend quality time together.

According to Hans, they will be renovating some of the older malls to make them eco friendly. In fact, long before it became “fashionable” to be environment friendly, SM has undertaken a “green agenda” – ensuring that the malls they build will impact the environment and the public in a positive way. SM malls are designed in such a way that water and energy consumption are managed well. With the onset of climate change, SM has also invested in disaster risk reduction measures. An example is SM Masinag that was designed to help mitigate the flooding along Marcos Hi-way in Antipolo by incorporating a holding tank which collects rainwater not only from the mall’s roof deck but from neighboring subdivisions whose drainage systems are connected to that of the mall.

Just recently, SM opened its 55th mall (located in Caloocan City) last Friday, and according to Hans, they are looking forward to the next 30 years – targeting to open 100 malls all over the Philippines by 2020.

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