GUESS WHO?

CGAP MODULE NO. 2

PREPARED BY: FIONA ANNE O. EUSEBIO, SHS T2
If you thought you only loved The
Champ and Chicken Joy, then be
prepared to be inspired by the man
behind the franchise. Also coming
from an immigrant family from
China, Tony learned the value of
hard work and dedication from his
father who worked as a cook in a
Buddhist temple. Tony’s father
started a Chinese restaurant in
Manila with his savings so he can
send him to college. In 1975, Tony
bought a Magnolia ice cream
parlor.
However, it was not generating
enough business. After talking
with his customers and people
within the neighborhood, Tony
decided to include sandwiches,
fried chicken, and French fries in
the menu.
In time, the restaurant found
itself packed to overflowing
capacity. By 1978, Tony had
opened six more restaurants,
but the main item was no longer
ice cream. Tony then decided to
adapt the McDonald’s concept
and named his franchise after
his work ethic of being as “busy
as a bee.” Today Jollibee has
grown to more than 2,500
stores in the Philippines plus
locations in the US, China, Saudi
Arabia, Vietnam, Singapore,
and Brunei.
Tony Tan Caktiong
From security guard to certified lawyer
Roy Lawagan was a
security guard at
While his wife was pregnant Commission on Audit
with their now-four-year-old Office in LA Trinidad,
daughter, he was also Benguet. He studied
attending night classes on criminology at
his first year at law school. University of Baguio and
He didn’t make the cut at his successfully finished his
first attempt during the law degree at Saint
2014 bar exams. This, Louis University along
despite enrolling to a review with 1,731 lawyers.
center.
So he parried up and
reviewed on his own for the
November 2015 bar exams
and aced it.

Roy Lawagan
Twenty-year-old Xyza Cruz
Bacani flew to Hong Kong
nine years ago along with
thousands of Filipino
employees to work as
maids. Her goal back then
was to fund her brother’s
education.
Her passion for
photography was given a
chance four years ago when
her employer lent her some
money to buy a Nikon D90,
her first camera.
It was her mission to use her
passion to raise awareness
on abuse as she witnessed
and documented violence in
the country.
She caught the attention of a
San Francisco-based Filipino
photographer, who saw her
photos on social media.
International publications,
among them the New York
Times Lens blog, started
featuring her work.
She then became a recipient of
a fellowship by the Magnum
Foundation, a prestigious
Xyza Cruz Bacani scholarship to study for six
weeks in New York.
 By 1961, Universal started
John’s life story is a “rich-to- diversifying its products and
rags-to riches” story. John Jr. launched several popular
was born in China to the scion of brands such as Blend 45.
one of the wealthiest families in Universal Corn Products was
Cebu. renamed Universal Robina
When the father died, so did the Corporation.
business and the family fortune Today, the Gokongwei family
was soon gone. John Jr. owns several successful and
supported his family by peddling highly diversified businesses.
items along the streets of Cebu Among these are Robina Land
by bike. Soon, he was trading Corporation and Cebu Pacific.
items by boat to Lucena City and
to Manila by truck. Eventually,
he started importing items from
the US.
John Jr. soon realized that
importing carried too much risk
and low margins. Thus, in 1957,
he borrowed Php 500,000 from
China Bank and started a corn
milling business named
Universal Corn Products. John Gokongwei
The next time you buy your batch
of new school supplies and
textbooks, do not forget to thank
Ms. Socorro C. Ramos!
Her story is a stuff for telenovela,
and frankly, I’m surprised the
networks and movie outfits have
not caught on. How’s this for a
plot teaser?
Girl’s brother marries scion of a
wealthy bookstore owner in
Manila. The girl finds job as a
saleslady at 18, meets and falls in
love with the son of the owner;
thus, he is technically her in-law!
Their parents forbid the
relationship and sends the girl
back to the province. However,
their love is so strong, girl and boy
stand up to the parents, get
married, and have twins.
The boy takes over a branch with the
girl, and they renamed it in National
Book Store. However, a war breaks out,
and the store is destroyed! They rebuild
the store, but everything is held under
suspicion of being “questionable.” They
relocate the store in Avenida, but as the
business picks up, a storm destroys their
roof. Soon, they rebuild the store, and
every centavo is used to build a nine-
story National Book Store. The girl is
Socorro and the boy is Jose. Today,
National Bookstore has grown to over
100 stores. Despite digital technology, it
continues to flourish!
Ms. Socorro C. Ramos
The actor is a graduate of
Hotel and Restaurant Coco Martin
Management before he
became a waiter. But in
the hopes of giving his
family a better life, he
applied as a caregiver in
Canada. After realizing his
true calling in acting, he
went back to the country
and started getting
recognition in the indie
scene. Now, he is one of
ABS-CBN’s most prized
artists and is currently
starring in the top-rating
TV series, ‘Ang
Probinsyano.’
 Agustin shared the same
hardships with Rosales
who had to work
numerous jobs to earn
money. His professions
include being a mascot, a
clerk at a video store, and
a waiter. Far from his
past, he is now an
entrepreneur aside from
being harnessing his
acting chops. In fact, he’s
currently building his own
entrepreneur school to
help children get into
business at a young age.
Marvin Agustin
Corazon represented the value of
having passion in what you do as a As a mother herself Corazon
motivating factor in finding success understood the value of having
as an entrepreneur. meals that can be prepared
Corazon was a dietitian by easily, taste good, and fit the
profession. She used her family budget.
knowledge to create processed In time, CDO expanded to
meats that were affordable enough industrial markets. Today, CDO
to compete with the popular supplies processed meats to
foreign brands. She developed 90% of quick service restaurants
corned beef, hamburger patties, or QSRs in the country.
meat loaf, and hotdogs, which
were sold purely as a home
business. By 1975, Corazon decided
to scale her newfound business and
established CDO Foodsphere. The
company’s reputation to develop
high-quality but low-priced
processed meats quickly spread
and made CDO a regular staple in
every shopping cart. Corazon D. Ong
While working as a provincial
board member in Cebu,
Gregorio noticed that pigs
sold to market were
apparently malnourished.
He decided to look into the
cause of malnutrition by doing
research in his spare time.
Using only pots and pans in
his home, Gregorio conducted
several tests and experiments
on how to alleviate the state
of malnutrition of Cebu’s
livestock.
Gregorio G. Sanchez Jr.
Despite numerous failures, his
persistence finally paid off. He
discovered the pigs were suffering
from a type of bad bacteria. His
solution was a probiotic bacteria
that would increase the level of
good bacteria in the body.
The bacteria would be
called LactoPAFI Probiotic
Bacteria. Gregorio’s discovery
would reach global acclaim as a
leader in probiotics. It is now
exported to New Zealand, Norway,
France, Australia, Hong Kong,
Japan, and US.
The next time you pass a vendor These juices were not only delicious
peddling goods on the street, keep in
Alfredo M. Yao but also appealing to parents as they
mind that he or she can be supporting found the light and brightly colored
the next Alfredo M. Yao. packs easy to include in their children’s
When Alfredo lost his dad at age 12, his lunch boxes. Best of all, the packaging
mother was left to support him and his allowed the juice to stay chilled longer.
siblings by becoming a sidewalk Zest-O was born!
vendor. A relative was able to give Today, Zest-O controls 80% of the
financial aid, which allowed Alfredo to juice market, and it has expanded to
reach, but not complete, college at the markets in Australia, China, New
Mapúa Institute of Technology. Zealand, Korea, Singapore, US, and
Alfredo took several odd jobs, which several countries in Europe. Alfredo’s
included time at a printing press. entrepreneurial success has revitalized
During his stay there, Alfredo learned the juice region in the Philippines
how to print cellophane wrappers for particularly farmers growing dalandan.
candies and biscuits. His experience The Doy packs are also recycled by
prompted him to start his own printing local cottage industries into handbags
business. for export to other countries!
The boy who once faced the harsh
His printing business was doing well. However, his discovery of
realities of life now become a
the Doy Packaging system from Europe was the turning point
successful juice manufacturer. Alfredo
of his entrepreneurial career. He tried to sell the system to
has diversified his business interests
juice manufacturers, but no one was interested. Thus, Alfredo
into airlines by acquiring Asian Spirit
ventured into the juice business by concocting flavors in his
Airlines and renaming it as Zest Air.
kitchen.