Henry Sy

Background
Henry Sy, Sr. (born December 25, 1924) is a Chinese Filipino businessman interested in retailing, real
estate, hospitality, banking, mining, education, and healthcare services. He pioneered the
establishment of SM Malls, anchored by Shoemart Department Store and Supermarket earning him
the title, the Philippines' Retail King. He is the chairman of SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the holding
corporation for all his business interests in his vast business empire. In 2011, Forbes Magazine listed
him as the richest man in the Philippines.
He has six children.

Early life
Henry Sy was born to a poor family in Xiamen, China on November 01, 1924. He is the son of Henry
H. Sy and Tan O Sia. He immigrated to the Philippines and started by selling rejected and overrun
shoes from Tondo.

He completed his secondary education in a school now known as Chiang Kai Shek College and
 earned his Associate of Arts degree in Commercial Studies at Far Eastern University in 1950.

Career
In 1958, Sy established a small shoe store in Quiapo, Manila that marked the establishment of SM
Prime Holdings. In November 1972, the small shoe store became SM Quiapo, SM's first standalone
department store.

On December 25, 1985, he established his first SM Supermall, SM City North EDSA.

He is the Philippines' richest man, gaining $5 billion in 2010, amid the global financial crisis. The
huge gain was due to his holding company, SM Investments Corporation, which has interests in
Banco de Oro, inter alia. Forbes magazine's 2008 list of 40 wealthiest Filipinos, revealed the Sy
family's net worth was $6.2 billion. Earlier, he was the second wealthiest individual in the
Philippines, next to Lucio Tan, and (as of 2010) 201st in the world.

Sy is considered a tai-pan. The Sy group is the operator of Banco de Oro and the owner of
Chinabank. In 2006, he bought the remaining 66% of Equitable PCI Bank, the Philippine's third-
largest lender, in which he already had a 34% stake, and merged it with Banco de Oro in 2007. The
merger created the Philippines' second-largest financial institution with resources of close to $17
billion.

Management Skills
1. Set a long-term vision
2. Think big, start small, move fast
3. Work hard
4. Think outside the box
5. Be ambitious: Go for the large scale, be willing to be bold
6. Be customer-focused
7. Seek market leadership
8. Go public
9. Set good governance

References
https://www.marketscreener.com/business-leaders/Henry-Sy-1041/biography/

https://business.inquirer.net/247880/henry-sy-playbook-9-lessons-phs-richest-man