RICARDO SY PO SR.

Early Life and Family

Mr. Ricardo Sy Po, Sr. is the founder of the Century Pacific Group of Companies,
currently the largest canned food manufacturer in the Philippines that cater popular
household brands such as Century Tuna, Argentina Corned Beef, 555 Sardines, Blue
Bay Tuna, Angel Filled Milk, and Birch Tree Powedered Milk. The company is also
presently Asia's leading exporter of canned tuna products to the world market. When he
realized the great economic potential of the tuna industry, Po thought that the
Philippines should bring to the world the richness of its natural resources. As pioneer of
the Philippine canned tuna market and the head of the biggest tuna canneries in the
region, the remarkable man has been distinguished in the industry as "Mr. Tuna".
His entrepreneurial struggles began when he fled China with his mother and migrated to
the Philippines in 1947 at the age of sixteen. Armed only with his mastery of Chinese,
penchant for hard work, and a keen eye for business opportunities, he pushed himself
to learn English by candlelight with his English textbooks on one side and a Chinese-
English dictionary on the other.
In 1980, he started the manufacturing operations of canned tuna for export to the
world market. The following year saw his foundation of the Tuna Canners Association of
the Philippines.
He launched Century Tuna in the Philippines consumers market in 1984. Po has
virtually transformed his dreams into realities and limitations into expansions. He has
led the Century Group to reach its total assets of 4.7 billion pesos and annual revenues
of 6.5 billion pesos. His business conglomerate has also greatly touched the lives of
others as it provides employment to more than 6,500 workers.
Po was born in poverty in Guangzhou in 1931 and moved to the Philippines at
age 15. After creating advertising firm Cathay Promotions, he lost most of his fortune in
the 1973 stock market crash. He founded Century Pacific in 1978 -- now the country's
leading exporter of private-label tuna products. His son Christopher is the company's
chairman and CEO. Through his Arthaland, Po also has interests in property
development. Century Pacific took a major stake in fast food chain Shakey's Pizza
which went public in December 2016.

Education

He enrolled in the Industrial Chemistry program of the University of Santo

Tomas. During these days, Po worked as a translator, writer, and journalist at a Chinese
newspaper publishing firm. For he could no longer afford to the tuition fee, Po was
compelled to withdraw from school. This, however, did not curb his entrepreneurial
radiance. He saw the opportunity to run an advertising agency that would cater to the
Filipino-Chinese businessmen in need of advertising and promotions in the English
medium. This gave birth to the foundation of rom Advertising Company that interestingly
designed among others, the Urate logo of Shoe Mart.

Achievements/Business Career

One of the largest tuna canneries in the Philippines with hundreds of containers
of tuna shipped to the US, Europe and the rest of the world.

Century Pacific Corporation is the holding company of Century Canning, which

has Century Tuna, 555 sardines, Argentina corned beef, and the Yoshinoya fast-food
chain among its products and services. Its canned milk brand, Snow Mountain Dairy
Corporation, distributes Angel and Birch Tree powdered milk.
His net worth is $950 million.

Awards/Recognition

 One of the most accomplished yet low-key business tycoons in the Philippines,
immigrant self-made success Ricardo Po Sr. His 33-year-old firm Century
Canning, Inc. recently won the Philippine Marketing Association’s top honor as
2011 Awara Award’s “Marketing Company of the Year.”
 Receives the 2011 Agora Award for Marketing Company of the Year.

Philanthropy

Po, a former journalist who entered the tuna canning business in 1978 to better
provide for his family, was cited for his work at improving nutrition and alleviating hunger
through a network of partners serving up to three million meals a year to schoolchildren.
The magazine noted that Po remembered experiencing hunger during his childhood
which inspired his setting up of the CPG-RSPo Foundation in 2010.

Having pioneered the tuna business in the country, Po has been nicknamed “Mr.
Tuna.”“God has been so kind to me that I feel compelled to give back in my own way by
helping hungry children,” Forbes quoted Po as saying.