Elizabeth Lee: Steering the wheel

MANILA, Philippines - If life is a race, then Elizabeth Lee is definitely on the right track. Young, brilliant and undeniably driven, Elizabeth has proven time and again that life is a race best faced, not just with the right set of wheels, but also with the right amount of knowledge, humility, and, yes, generosity.

As the EVP for Universal Motors Corp. (UMC), Elizabeth is in charge of developing short and long-term objectives in implementing operations plans for one of the country’s largest automobile companies. Under her leadership, UMC was able to make Nissan Frontier the best-selling pickup truck in the Philippines for four years in a row — a feat that remains unmatched by any other brand to this day. The same goes for Nissan Patrol, a sports utility vehicle that has sold more units here in the Philippines than it did in Japan. What’s more, Elizabeth accomplished all these feats within the past decade — a time that has proven rather unfriendly to the entire automobile industry.

“I am a firm believer of opportunity in the midst of crisis. To fear is to fail. If you’re always fearful and anticipate failure, talo ka na,” she shares. To make up for the volatile business environment, Elizabeth and her team resorted to maverick marketing strategies and techniques. These called for extensive research, sharp analyses, and incidentally, a whole lot of giving.

In 2006, for instance, Elizabeth pioneered Ur Van, Ur Business, an entrepreneurship program that helped their customers maximize the Nissan Urvan by enrolling them in short-courses that will help maximize the use of their vehicles and become micro-entrepreneurs themselves. “The program has helped double our sales. God has blessed us. It can actually be said that giving has been our best tool in fighting the economic crunch,” reveals Elizabeth.

Her efforts in forwarding her company’s interests through helping others have also reached thousands of people in Metro Manila. UMC’s tie-up with leading NGO Center for Community Transformation has helped thousands of individuals enroll to the Asenso Negosyo Academy. The brainchild of Elizabeth and her mother Helen, Asenso Negosyo Academy gives potential entrepreneurs the tools that they need to succeed in their business within as little as a year. As of 2007, the Asenso Negosyo Academy has helped generate around 3,000 income opportunities for more than 1,000 Filipino families.

The successful program also caught the eye of Nissan executives from all over the world, a number of which have already asked if they could apply the program in their respective areas of responsibility as well. “It’s really uplifting to see a Filipino idea go global,” she shares.

With all these said, one can easily conclude that Elizabeth has definitely won the race, not just as a corporate leader, but as a good Samaritan to her peers as well. She also admits that all of her achievements fall under her ultimate objective, which is to live a meaningful existence. “I often ask myself, ‘If I die tomorrow, will there be a difference in the way I have lived my life’?” she shares. Well, in Elizabeth’s case, it’s pretty obvious that the answer is a resounding yes.