George Royeca: A passenger of life

He had it all — almost — when he was growing up. A well-to-do family, a harmonious relationship at home, good education in a reputable school, a home in a gated community, chauffeured cars, friends.

Then one day, because his father’s telecommunications business “went down because of deals that did not materialize or were not honored by the companies my father was transacting with,” life for his family took a nosedive. His father drowned “in depression.” One by one, they had to surrender the car keys to banks until he was taking the tricycle going to school. Many of his friends were nowhere in sight. He was hitching in life — here and there.

But George Royeca, CEO of Angkas, a leading app-based ride-hailing service in the country with more than four million downloads and 30,000 bikers-partners, had an indomitable spirit. Even if it meant asking, begging, convincing Meralco to restore the electricity in their home — “Our house was the only one without lights in the whole village” — because their electricity was cut off due to non-payment of bills.

This is his tale of failures and triumphs. Gingerly along the way, he discovered that fate was intrinsically connected to faith — faith in his own deeds, faith in God.

When George was four, his family relocated to Manila from General Santos City. In the province, they lived a good life owing it to his grandfather who was a big-shot doctor and their thriving fishpond business.

“My dad was a smart guy. He was my idol,” George says, recounting how his entrepreneurial father built a fortune in the city, being a distributor of telecom products and ideas to private and government agencies. “My dad had a big, thriving telecommunications business.”

“But later on in life, my dad also became my cautionary tale,” he adds.

That broke George’s young heart.

“Because he was my king. Imagine growing up, he guided me, he mentored me. It is funny because you thought your parents were infallible,” says George, admitting that he grew up “a little bit spoiled and kind of pampered.”

Their family business, George recalls, took a turn from bad to worse, and from worse to worst when his father decided to enter politics but lost. Bad business deals were the culprit behind “how we went downhill.” “My father got depressed. He never recovered until he died,” he says.

George was in college when all these were happening. “I was so happy I was in a conyo school. Then because of financial troubles, I had to transfer. I saw all my friends disappear. I was the one who handed over the keys when one by one our cars were repossessed. My dad was depressed. I was in school and at the same time I was attending to the financial affairs of my father. My siblings were abroad. My mom had to go to the US. I had to grow up overnight to provide for my family. I went from a having a driver to commuting.”

To eke out a living, George became a working student. As entrepreneurship ran in his veins, he ventured into importation. He even got employed by some of his father’s friends, approaching them to give him a job. Because he was a tech wiz, a foreigner got him in an online gaming company until he got to run the business by himself. That job, he says, kind of “kicked off my tech-focus plans.”

When his father passed away, George, despite the hurts and pains brought about by his experiences, was on his way to reclaiming financial freedom. He was so motivated to succeed; he was so passionate about proving the world that no one and nothing could put a good man down.

While in a business trip to Singapore, he met a Singaporean lady who stole his heart. They got married. He had no inkling that was a union that would spell an entirely different world for him.

“I give credit to my wife for the maturity that I have now,” he says. It was not all roses when they settled down because George still had issues with his past. “My wife helped me process my hurts and pains with a doctor. That’s how important mental health is. You need to address it,” he says.

“Your mental health is important, and you should not be ashamed that a mental professional is helping you. In all of the advancements the human being has done, there is always so little advancement in (understanding) our psyche. We make all our decisions based on what we feel. And if you do not master what you feel, it will be disorganized. People are so afraid to process that. My wife and I conquered that head-on,” he adds.

George had a thriving production house when his wife, also entrepreneurial, put up a ride-hailing service app. “So I can truthfully say that it was my wife who put up Angkas,” he said, the sincere smile on his face revealing the state of his heart and mind.

“It was end of 2016 when she ventured into Angkas. Then it was shut down by the government in 2017. Napadlock ‘yung opisina. We moved the office to our house. That time, we had a crisis manager and I would hear their discussion of the problems. That was the time I took on the regulatory side of Angkas. I started pushing the advocacy and the cause of the company. I had different companies then but I chose to focus on Angkas,” he says.

From that time, Angkas, which in English means a “pillion,” was shut down four times and, four times and more, George chose to stand up. He fought a good fight. The more problems he had with the regulatory body, the more media mileage his company got. In effect, it became his free advertisement — until Angkas got its legal franchise to operate in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao.

He’s now working on making Angkas riders become recognized as a “formal sector” of the business. “It’s no longer an odd job to be Angkas riders because they also contribute to how the economy of the country runs. Because they are still considered as an ‘informal sector,’ they don’t have access to credit and other social security concerns,” George says, adding that Angkas has so far failed 70 percent of applicants because they do not conform to the strict standards of the company that has its own 5,000-sq-m training tracks in Cainta, Rizal. TESDA, he adds, is coordinating with his office for a motorcycle-training course. He’s keen on helping the government agency.

George Reyoca has become a pillion of life. He wishes many times his parents were still alive to honor them with the success he now reaps. He promises to do good in life — better, further, farther, safer — for the many riders of Angkas. *