Meet the woman behind one

of the country's most trusted

food corporations
Unrelenting passion and the need for financial betterment, is what drove the young Corazon D. Ong to
establish his business empire. With the right amount of knowledge, skills, and liking for what she does,
Corazon rose from a simple homemaker to a very successful businesswoman. Let us look at how she
managed to flip the tables around!

Corazon D. Ong, was a simple homemaker then; a good wife to his husband Jose who is a professor at
the very prestigious Ateneo de Manila University, and a loving mother to his three kids – Jerome, Jason &
Sharmaine. Aside from that, she is also a licensed dietician. So, what she did then, as part of her daily
routine is to prepare food for the fami8ly. Being a dietician, she keeps in mind the significance of a
balanced healthy meal to the body, so to make sure that her family will be getting the best meals, she
prepares them herself. Little did she knew, that this hobby of her will be the root of their success.

As mentioned, the production of food started out as a hobby. She prepares them tocino, longganisa, and
other easy-to-make processed food. It was initially for the family only, but she noticed that many moms
in their neighborhood also likes these products, she started to sell out. She saw the need of these moms
to prepare a quick-fix yet healthy lunch for their kids, so to help them she started retailing small amounts
of these products. It was highly praised, and Corazon received a lot of positive feedbacks. So, what she
did was, borrow from a local bank a total amount of P60, 000 to put up an official business. It was in June
25, 1975 when she established CDO Food Products at the backyard of their humble home. The first
product they released was longganisa and tocino among others.

In 1981, Foodsphere Inc. was duly registered and CDO was retained as the flagship name of its food
products. Innovations and modernizations followed to ran after the growing industry. The company was
converted into a family corporation. Her whole family worked together to make the business more
successful. However, tragedies cannot be avoided.

It was in 1987 when a fire broke out in the company’s processing area, destroying most of their
advanced processing equipments. It was one of the incidents that really challenged the faith and
dedication of Corazon. But she stood above it, nevertheless. Two days after the fire, Corazon called her
staff to plan about what they will be doing next. Because of that, CDO Foodsphere Inc., was again back
on its feet to serve the Filipino people.

Bouncing back from that, CDO became even more eager to expand their products horizon. From then on,
different innovations of products were continuously being researched to satisfy the palates of the
consumers especially Filipinos. From Longanizas to tocino, hotdogs and many others, the company tried
to develop more and more products to cater the masses based on their consumption. In 2001, the
company introduced carne norte which suited the Filipino taste at a very reasonable price and another
innovation in the industry. CDO-Foodsphere has emerged as the number one producer of carne norte in
the land. She was also the brain behind the San Marino Corned Tuna, which is now a hit in the market.
CDO Foodsphere has established its success based on the needs of the consumers. Ong’s core vision
came to reality that is to provide affordable food products to the most number of Filipino households.

Looking back, who would have thought that a simple desire to give the best meals to the family would
became a very profitable and successful business? Yes, CDO’s Corazon really proved that there is more to
being a simple homemaker. Because of her successes, he has received a lot of awards in her field of
interest. These are: Most Outstanding Nutritionist of the Year in 1996, Agora Awardee for the Most
Outstanding Medium-Scale Entrepreneur in 1997, Most Outstanding Professional in the Field of Dietetics
in 1999, Most Outstanding Woman in Valenzuela in 2006, and Woman Entrepreneur Award in 2009. But
above all these achievements, her most satisfying award is the way he has brought up their children.

Facts:

She is the founder of CDO Foodsphere Inc., one of the prominent names in the food industry.

She started her business as a response to the problems of mothers regarding the planning and
preparation of healthy meals for their families.

She got tired of making siopao dough and focused on creating tocino, a popular CDO product.

Her husband, a professor at the Ateneo, started assisting Ong with her tiny business.

A regrettable incident in 1977 that resulted in a gash to his hand motivated them to spend money on
production tools.

She gained knowledge of how to prepare common foods like siopao and skinless longganisa.

She was making nutritious meals so her children would eat right.

As of 2020, CDO Foodsphere has over 20 brands and more than 100 products under its portfolio.

She was awarded the Most Outstanding Dietitian Award by the Nutritionists-Dietitians Association of the
Philippines.
CDO Foodsphere has been recognized as one of the top 10 Philippine companies in terms of revenue
growth and profitability.

Conclusion:

The achievement of Corazon D. Ong serves as motivation for those pursuing their passions and creating
companies. Her transformation from a dietitian to the founder and CEO of a successful meat-processing
company is a monument to her tenacity, vision, and dedication to quality. She is a prime example of the
strength of tenacity and the transformational effect of making goals come true.

"Reaching your dreams is not the only measure of success; success also comes from having passion,
persistence, and determination throughout the journey."

Back in the 70s, a homemaker and her husband took a leap of faith when they left their jobs to start a
food business. Forty-five years later and the fruits of this venture are far greater than they have ever
imagined.

Now recognized as one of the safest cities in the Philippines, Valenzuela City, is home to one of the
country's biggest food corporations, CDO Foodsphere, Inc. Behind this success is one empowered
woman who believed in herself, took risks, braved challenges, exceeded expectations, and then some.
She is Corazon Dayro Ong – entrepreneur, mother, mentor, art lover, and hero.