Tessie Sy Coson: A visionary business leader among COOs

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one. —James Anthony Froude

Teresita “Tessie” Sy Coson of BDO Unibank and the SM Group will make a rare speech entitled “Evolving the country’s biggest conglomerate” at the business conference of 300 members and guests of the Association of Young Filipino Chinese Entrepreneurs (AYFCE) on Nov. 8, Friday, at 1 p.m. at the Rizal Ballroom of Makati Shangri-La Makati Hotel.

Other speakers are Cecilio Pedro of Hapee Toothpaste, Johnlu Koa of The French Baker, Martin Lorenzo of Pancake House, Edward Sen Lim of My Phone, Edward Lee of COL Financial and RJ David of Sulit.com. AYFCE is ably led by chairman Jeffrey Ng of Cathay Land and president Jovenson Ong of Dragon Fireworks; the conference has support from the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) led by president Alfonso Siy and EVP Angel Ngu. 

Unlike so many other COOs or children of owners who have either become effete, arrogant, confused or have an entitled mindset, Tessie Sy Coson is admired as a visionary, tough-minded, humble and outstanding business leader in her own right. She is no longer under the shadow of her famous father, SM founder Henry Sy Sr.

In fact, Philippine STAR reader and food exporter Henson Tiu Laurel told me he considers Tessie actually part of the founder generation of SM Group because she was with the business in its early years and worked to help build it when it wasn’t that big yet.

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Major joint venture between RP and China

A top appliance maker and competitor told me that the Raul Concepcion family of Concepcion Industries will announce later this year a major joint venture business with China’s Midea Group, which is one of the world’s biggest appliance manufacturers and has annual revenues of US$16.6 billion.

Raul Concepcion is not only a good COO or child of the owner who has done well growing his late father’s enterprise, he is also a courageous activist tycoon known for his “consumer and oil price watch” advocacies. Aside from Raul, two other major shareholders of Concepcion Industries are the families of his twin brother Jose “Joecon” Jr. and sister Mely Concepcion Hechanova.

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Michelin-star Chinese Resto in Japanese Casino

Japan’s pachinko gambling tycoon Kazuo Okada has been quietly flying to the Philippines almost every month to oversee the rise of his US$2 billion Manila Bay Resorts, because phase one is scheduled for opening in the second quarter of 2015. Okada is Japan’s 20th wealthiest person with an estimated net worth of US$1.5 billion.

His executives hope that when their project opens, Philippine-China diplomatic ties can return to normal, because they hope to woo China’s affluent tourists from Macau and Singapore casino resorts to Manila. One of Okada’s strategies to attract rich Chinese is his opening last year of the high-end Yu Lei Chinese Restaurant in Hong Kong and winning a Michelin star; with this luxury branding, he will bring this resto to his casino resort in the Philippines next year.

Reminding me of US tycoon Donald Trump, who likes to name businesses after himself, the Japanese billionaire also opened in Hong Kong and made famous an upscale Japanese restaurant named after himself, the Kazuo Okada. He will also bring Kazuo Okada to his casino in Manila in 2014.

When I asked the Japanese executives the status of their partnership talks with either the Robinsons Group of John Gokongwei Jr. or Empire East of Andrew Tan, Tiger Resorts president Masahiro Terada and VP Kenji Sugiyama replied: “There are now no more talks with Robinsons and Empire East.”

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New tourism tycoons

Self-made tycoon Samuel L. Po of EQ baby diapers and Caress adult diapers is opening his new 316-room Marco Polo Hotel Ortigas in Pasig City on Feb. 8, 2014, with the grand launching on March 8. Portuguese hotelier Adriano Vences leads the management team.

This luxury hotel is Sam Po’s first major diversification ever since he started his business in 1980 with P50,000 in initial capital from an uncle. Unknown to most people, the low-profile Po has also been a martial arts enthusiast ever since his youth.

Self-made billionaire Mernardo “Nards” Jimenez is not only the chairman of Cocobank — still one of the three biggest stockholders of the publicly listed GMA Network, Inc. where he was former chief executive officer — he is also boss of the Majent Group of Companies, which is now developing a huge 63-hectare tourism complex in his hometown of Dasol, Pangasinan. Called Dasoland Family Adventure Park, it will have a zoo, a museum and convention hall.

Majent Group is now also constructing a 27-story building in Bonifacio Global City for call centers, mainly. Jimenez is a devout born-again Christian and an avid art and coin collector.

Carolina “Kay” Gozon Jimenez, the wife of Nards Jimenez, has her own beautiful five-hectare Carolina Bamboo Garden in Sitio Tanza, Barangay San Jose, Antipolo City, which recently held its successful 9th Annual Bamboo Learn and Earn Seminar last Oct. 26.

The Carolina Bamboo Garden’s focal point is the “bambusetum” — a gene bank conservation area for various bamboo species. Through her family’s Majent Foundation and her bamboo farm, Kay’s advocacy is promoting the planting of bamboo nationwide. She is the sister of GMA 7’s billionaire boss Atty. Felipe Gozon. Another sister is Philippine National Bank (PNB) chairman Florencia Gozon Tarriela.

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Founders and succession

One of the biggest challenges to the founders of family businesses is how to ensure a smooth transition to the next generation in terms of who the next boss will be and who will own which part of the fortune or business.

Dr. Amar Bose, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who founded and owned world-famous sound system firm Bose Corporation, ensured the stability of his world-famous company by giving the bulk of it away. He died last July at the age of 83.

Bose Philippines distributor Wilson G. So of Eleksis Marketing Corp. said, “Bose, the firm, never went public. He pursued a lot of daring, long-term research. Before he passed away, Bose donated the majority of the company’s non-voting shares to MIT on the condition that the shares never be sold and Bose profits were to be put back into research. He never went into business to make money, but to create interesting things of the highest quality that were never done before.”

In contrast to Bose, the founder’s grandson of Britain’s luxury sports car maker Morgan was fired just last month from the company by his relatives and the board of directors. The 62-year-old former Morgan Technologies managing director Charles Morgan was the last family member on the board. He had resigned as boss eight months ago but had retained the position as “ambassador” of the brand before his recent acrimonious removal from the board. His grandfather, Henry Morgan, founded the car firm a century ago. 

Despite this news, British Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Trevor Lewis told me that Morgan sports cars continue to be “among the world’s finest and the pride of Great Britain.” The British firm recently appointed rising tycoon Michael G. Say as Philippine distributor of this famous car brand.

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