Ben Chan named Entrepreneur of the Year

MANILA, Philippines - Ben Chan, chairman of the board of Suyen Corp. – the company behind the well-known Bench fashion line – was named Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines 2013 in an awards banquet held the other night at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

Chan will represent the country in the prestigious Ernst&Young World Entrepreneur of the Year awards in Monte Carlo, Monaco in June 2014.

The award was presented to him by EY global chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger, as well as SGV chairman and managing partner and SGV Foundation chairman and president Cirilo Noel.

Chan was recognized for leveraging his innate creativity, perseverance and love of design into a multibillion-peso corporation carrying various local and international brands.

Despite losing his first store to a fire and other setbacks, Chan’s determination to succeed allowed him to grow Suyen from a small local shop into an international organization with over 1,000 stores across the country and outlets in China, the Middle East, the US and Guam.

Chan also received the Master Entrepreneur award for applying sound management practices in critical areas of the company including finance, marketing, human resources and sales.

He started out as a one-man team handling everything from operations to clothing design, marketing strategy, product development and even boutique design for his Bench brand.

Under his leadership, Bench has now become a global brand that embodies Filipino style, design ingenuity and world-class quality.

Other category awards presented were for the Small Business Entrepreneur, Woman Entrepreneur and Young Entrepreneur categories.

Milagros How, EVP of Universal Harvester Inc., received the Woman Entrepreneur award for blazing a trail in entrepreneurship, leadership and community development.

By marketing her fertilizer products directly to farmers’ cooperatives, promoting scientific farming and recognizing outstanding farmers. How has been able to help uplift the lives of over 2.3 million farmers from 932 cooperatives and associations in 68 provinces nationwide.

Leonarda Capuyan, president of Narda’s Handwoven Arts and Crafts and Narda’s Trading Corp., was presented the Small Business Entrepreneur award for best demonstrating management excellence in a business with assets of less than P100 million.

Capuyan’s insight and perseverance led to the revival of the tradition of weaving amongst women from the Cordilleras, giving birth to an industry.

Juliet Herrera, president and general manager of Serenitea Cha Kitchen, Inc., received the Young Entrepreneur award for being an inspiration and a model of entrepreneurship to the youth.

Believing that the Philippines was ready for a new drinking experience, Herrera introduced the concept of milk tea into the country, creating a new beverage category in a country of coffee drinkers.

Recipients of the category awards were chosen from among 12 outstanding finalists representing enterprises from diverse industries from various regions in the country.

The other finalists were Santiago Araneta (LBC Express Inc.), Alexander Bangsoy (Goshen Land Inc.), Ma. Lorena Simeon-Florendo (LiFEDATA Systems Inc.), Alberto Lina (Airfreight 2100), Cesar Mario Mamon (Enchanted Kingdom Inc.), Manuel Osmeña (Manny O Group), Victor Perez (University of Cagayan Valley), and Rajan  Uttamchandani (Esquire Financing, Inc.).