1. Mariano Que (Founder and Owner of Mercury Drug)

Photo Source: happynoy

-"GOD ALONE can satisfy us. God can bring us real happiness."
      
       All great things come to those who works and waits patiently for it. This is the quote which best fits the story of how Mariano Que became a successful person. Starting from the bottom, he made his way up by working passionately, and waiting for the perfect timing patiently. Let us all be inspire by the story of the person who made the success of Mercury Drugstore.

Mariano Que once started as a regular employee at a drugstore located in Manila during the prewar period. As a dedicated employee, he learned to love his job, the role it plays in the everyday living of the Filipinos. Then came the war who took all, and destroyed everything that there is in the busy streets of the city. The drugstore where he used to work was also severely destructed, leaving Mariano completely jobless. When the war was over, everything went scarce, including the medicine. Being knowledgeable about medical prescriptions, Mariano realized that this period could be a good opportunity for him to help others and also, improve his finances. He then started retailing sulfa drugs, like the sulfathiazole tablets for a capital of P100. he peddled this in the most poor streets of the city where medicine was really not available. And since his business was retail, he sold out his items in no time. He used to peddle this items down the streets, but when he has accumulated enough capital, he then bought a push cart or “kariton” and sell even more medical products.

Many others has saw the potential in that retailing business, so they copied Mariano. But instead of selling fresh and legit  medicine like Mariano, other peddlers resorted to selling fake and expired medicine. Through this, Mariano gained a respectable reputation about selling medicine which are not yet expired. People started to trust him more.

By the formal end of the war, in 1945 Mariano has gained enough capital to put up a physical store which he named Mercury Drug. The Roman god Mercury carried the caduceus symbol, which was largely associated with the medical profession. However, despite the physical store, he still hired motorized vehicles to deliver medicines to his valued customers. He also made his store hours 17 hours a day for the whole week, because he believed that medication may be needed in anytime of the day. In 1952, the stores were open 24/7, which made the drugstore become a valuable part of the community. As a matter of fact, because of this scheme, Mercury Drug has been the go-to medical store of the Filipino people.
       In 1960, the Ayala Group of Companies offered Mariano Que a space to lease in the shopping center that was about to be developed in the heart of Makati. Thus, the second Mercury Drug opened, this time as a self-service pharmacy. The rest is a history of more innovations and technological adoption of computer-guided controls and biological refrigerators. These improvements allowed the drugstore’s expansion into other life-saving medications. The newer branches of today are superstores as they carry more than just medicines but other consumer products from food to household to health and beauty items. Mercury Drugstore has been continuously expanding even until now. And today, aside from offering medical products, Mercury Drugstore also has been a convenience store.

       At his mid-90s, Mariano is the happiest man for fulfilling his life’s desire. On one interview, he said that it is about giving and doing the things that needs to be done. If not for one Mariano Quye, we would not be able to access medical products this easy, and this convenient. More than that, Mariano has also different efforts to help the local communities. Some of his programs are “Bantay Kalusugan”, “Operation Bigay Lunas”, “Operation Patubig” and “Pharmacy Scholarship Program”. More than the need for financial success, Mariano really aimed to help the Filipino people.

       Because of Mariano’s sincere efforts, there are about 700 Mercury stores, some of which are under franchise. All these fulfilled Mariano Que’s goal of making safe medication available and accessible to every Filipino community. Today, Mariano’s daughter, Vivian Que Azcona, continues to uphold his company’s visions and missions. In return for their customers’ unwavering loyalty, Mercury Drug celebrates their annual anniversaries by holding a free clinic to the indigent, for which the appropriate medications for their illnesses are likewise given for free.

2. Socorro C. Ramos (Co-founder of National Bookstore)

Photo Source: happynoy

-“You have to adjust to the flow of business. If you’re not open to change, your business can’t move on.” 

      The name Socorro “Coring” Ramos may not ring any bells for some people. She, however, is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the Philippines for founding the largest bookstore chain in the country – National Book Store.
       Back in 1940, she and Jose Ramos, her husband, established a small stall in Escolta where they sold supplies. They, however, did not have a steady road towards success. In fact, they endured many trials together that would have discouraged most entrepreneurs.
       During World War II, the Japanese soldiers occupying the country considered many of the books sold in their store to be objectionable. What the couple did was to hide the books and then sell candies, slippers, soaps and other goods instead. The books they managed to save were later sold in their store after the end of the war.
Also, they had to relocate to Avenida because their first building was badly damaged by the war. Three years after that, their bookstore was struck by a heavy typhoon, blowing the roof and damaging many of their merchandise.
This, however, did not deter Coring. Like the mythical phoenix, she rose from the ashes and built the business back up once more.
       In the 1970s, National Book Store became popular by selling reprinted versions of foreign textbooks for 75% lesser than the actual price. Parents and students loved the idea of being able to purchase such books for lower costs.
       These days, National Book Store already has 160 branches throughout the Philippines along with some mini outlets (National Book Store-Book Express) and specialty bookstores (Powerbooks). As if that wasn’t enough, the Ramos family also operates three publishing imprints, a department store, a music store, plus several convenience and gift shops.
       All three of Coring’s children are employed in high-level jobs along with several grandchildren and relatives.

After 70 years of running the business, Coring can really say that persistence is one of the most important keys of achieving great things.

3. Tony Tan Caktiong (Founder of Jollibee)

Photo Source: Primer

-“Dreams are free so why limit what you are aspiring for? But dreaming is not enough. One needs to put in enough energy and input.” 
   
      Tony Tan Caktiong was a Filipino Chinese entrepreneur who set up a two-outlet ice cream parlor business in the city of Manila. It was 1975 when he began his business. His father used to operate a kitchen in Fujian,China, which was where Tony’s association with the food services business began.
Eventhough his ice cream parlor business was doing well, Tony wanted to expand in the foods business – in the form of a fast-food outlet chain. He was inspired by the global popularity of companies like McDonald’s which was planning to enter the Philippines during that time, but Wendy’s and Burger King already had a presence in the Philippines.
       Tony established his own chain of seven hamburger outlets in 1978 under the name Jollibee. He did not get a franchise like Wendy’s or McDonald’s. Tony and his brother went to the US in 1979 to study the fast-food business. They spent a couple of weeks looking at the kind of equipment used, the retail outlets, the food served and various other things. Tony decided to copy almost each and every aspect of US fast-food majors, particularly McDonald’s and benefited from tested business practices. In so doing he avoided ‘reinventing the wheel.’
       Tony was aware that Jollibee could not compete with McDonald’s which had financial muscle and decades of expertise in the business. But by establishing Jollibee in 1978, Tony pre-empted McDonald’s entry into the country.
       Jollibee’s strong focus on issues such as product development, operational excellence, customer service, marketing and promotion, and social responsibility, and the leadership helped it become the market leader in the Filipino fast-food industry, beating all the multinational companies. The company has globalization strategies and future prospects in the light of the new challenges it is facing in foreign markets.

       As years go by, the Jollibee group of companies grew bigger. Tony Tan Caktiong acquired and established a couple other food chains including Chowking, Red Ribbon, Greenwich, Delifrance and Mang Inasal. Aside from bringing Jollibee, Chowking, and Red Ribbon to other countries, they’ve also established new food chains in China and Taiwan which suit the tastes of the people there.

4. Corazon D. Ong (Founder of CDO-Foodsphere)

Photo Source: FEU

-“Women are more approachable. My employees can relate their problems to me, both personal and work-related.”

      Being a full-time mother didn’t stop the entrepreneur in Mrs. Ong. After quitting her career as a dietician, she used her skills in preparing delicious baon for her family to start her own food company. In 1975, she founded a kitchen-based mom-and-pop enterprise producing siopao with a longanisa filling and other tocino products.

       The company was based at their home in Valenzuela City, which for the most part, was also their production, warehouse, and distribution areas. It had two employees—Mrs. Ong and her husband Pepe.

       Fast forward 40 years and Foodsphere is one of the country’s top food companies employing 3,000 Filipinos and producing high-quality products under popular brands like CDO, Bibbo, Holiday, San Marino, Highlands, and Danes. Not too shabby for something that started from a makeshift kitchen with two employees.

5. Diosdado Banatao (Co-Founder of Chips and Technologies Co.)

Photo Source: ubsaoc

-"Innovation is more important than invention. Innovation implies Industry."

      

       Diosdado P. Banatao evolved from a very humble beginning. He was born on May 23, 1946 to a rice farmer and housekeeper in a small barrio in Cagayan Valley Province of Philippines. He remembers his tough days as a kid when he would walk barefoot along the dirt roads to reach school.

       Upon completion of his B.S.E.E., cum laude, from Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines, he received a job offer at Meralco which he denied for undesired starting salary and preferred working as a pilot trainee at Philippine Airlines for getting much more than expectation. Later he was appointed as a design engineer by Boeing and sent to the Uniteed States where he enjoyed working as an engineer. He completed M.S in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University in 1972. He worked in many technology companies including National Semiconductor, Intersil, and Commodore International for whom he developed 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator. He made his significant discovery in 1981 while working in SEEQ Technology by developing the very first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transreceiver chip and continued with some important discoveries.

Banatao has been honored and awarded for his significant contribution in technology that includes Asian Leadership Award in 1993, Pamana Ng Filipino Award and Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1997 and many others. He has always emphasized on providing better education system to the youngsters for which he himself involved in doing charity work in the Philippines by awarding five educational scholarships to intelligent Filipino students for their bright futures in engineering and technology through his Dado Banatao Educational Foundation.

According to reports, Banatao’s net worth exceeds $5 billion.

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