Alfredo M. Yao, 66, is a Filipino-Chinese and a rags-to-riches businessman who founded the the privately-held company, Zest-O Corporation. His other businesses include Semexco Marketing, Inc., Harman Foods, Amchem Marketing, Inc., American Brands Philippines, Inc., SMI Development Corporation, Philippine Business Bank and Zest Airways. He also served as the Special Envoy to China for Tourism and Cooperation. He was conferred as the Most Admitted ASEAN Enterprise Award in the Innovation Category for his Zest-O Corporation. Yao was the awarded 2005 Master Entrepreneur by Ernst and Young.
Yao became a breadwinner at an early age after his father died when he was only 12 years old. He is the eldest of the six children, being penniless, he started to work to help the family because his mother’s earnings as a sidewalk vendor could not support their needs. He would accompany his mother to Chinese gambling dens to sell. He hardly finished his elementary and high school education but with the help of a relative, he completed it. He went to the Mapua Institute of Technology for college but had to leave after two years. Later on, he was still able to earn his degree in Engineering under the same institute and got his doctorate degree in Business Administration Honoris Causa from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
Yao worked hard and did odd jobs such as working in a warehouse of a packaging company. At that time, one of his cousins was working in a printing press and had the chance to visit the work place several times. And there he saw the potential market in the packaging business and decided to invest. It was the birth of Solemar Commercial Press, named after his mother.
The said printing press was engaged into making cellophane wrappers of biscuits and candies and stayed 20 years as a business. Then in 1979, while touring around Europe, Mr. Yao came to discover the technology in packaging called “doy packs.” Or flexible foil packs, in one of the exhibits. He bought the machine and tried to market the idea of doy packs to local juice manufacturers in the Philippines but nobody seemed interested. He himself used the said equipment and started preparing fruit juice in his own kitchen.
The company was established as SEMEXCO Marketing Corporation, soon after it adopted the name Zest-O because of its fame. In 1980, Zest-O juice drink was launched and soon, it became a big-hit in the Philippines and eventually capturing 80% of the market for ready-to-juice drinks. Soon, other flavors were introduced to the market such as orange flavor are mango, grape, pineapple, strawberry, guyabano (sour soup), apple, calamansi, mango-orange, mango-calamansi and mango-lemon lime flavors.
Yao soon launched other brands including juice brands including Sun-glo Juice Drink, Big 250 Juice Drink, and Plus!which exported to other neighboring countries in Asia like China, Korea, and Singapore and in some parts of America and Europe, Tita Frita Tomato and Banana Catsup, Beam Toothpaste, One Ice Tea, and Tekki Yaki Udon.
2.Axel Kornerup – Netopia Internet Café (Netopia)
The original Netopia Internet Café was founded by 2 computer techies, Axel Kornerup and James Guiab in 1996. It began as a private gaming room where friends could pit their eye–hand coordinationskills against each other. When the original Katipunan branch opened its doors to the public in January 1997, long queues formed, and soon a loyal customer base grew. By sheer word of mouth, Netopia effortlessly attracts a new wave of faithful clients.
Eventually, Netopia Computer Technology (as the company was known then) grew and was bought by ePLDT. Now renamed Digital Paradise Incorporated, the company began a long period of expansion that saw the Netopia brand become the largest Internet café in the Philippines and also the first to open branches in other countries in South East Asia.
On June 16, 2006 company president Raymond H. Ricafort stepped down and was replaced by George Tan of ePLDT.
3. Ben Chan – Bench Apparels (Bench)
Si Ben Chan ay isang prominenteng negosyanteng Tsinoy na siyang nagtatag ng nangungunang kumpanya ng damit sa Pilipinas, ang “Bench”. Dahil sa kanyang tiyaga at natatanging istilo, napalago niya ang kumpanya sa internasyonal na pamilihan kabilang na ang Tsina, ang pinagmulan ng kanyang mga ninuno.
Siya ang kasalukuyang Chairman at Executive Creative Director ng Bench. Ang mismong pangalan ng kumpanya ay hango sa kanyang pangalan.
Si Ben ay mula sa isang pamilya ng mga negosyante. Siya ay anak ni Chan Lib, isang imigranteng Tsino. Kasama ang asawa niyang si See Ying, itinatag ni Chan Lib ang Liwayway Marketing Company, na naging pangunahing pinagkukunan ng gawgaw sa bansa dahil sa kanilang sikat na produktong Liwayway Gawgaw. Noong 1966, ang negosyo ay naging isang korporasyon na lumago sa paggawa ng pomada, kandila, mga kendi at sarsa. Noong 1974, sa ilalim ng pangalawang henerasyon sa pamumuno ni Manuel Chan, kapatid ni Ben Chan, ang korporasyon ay lumipat sa paggawa ng pagkain tulad ng “Oishi Prawn Crackers” at “Kirei Yummy Flakes”. Ang isa pang kapatid ni Ben na si Carlos Chan ang nagtatag ng Liwayway Company Limited sa Tsina na kilalang pagawaan ng mga pagkain.
Mula sa maliit na simula nang pagbebenta ng T-shirt, lumago ang kumpanya sa pagbebenta ng maraming produkto at serbisyo. Kabilang na dito ang Bench Fix Salon para sa mga produkto at serbisyo sa buhok, ang linya ng Prescribe®, Bench Brats, linya ng mga produktong pang-teenager, Bench Body and Bath na may mga produktong pampaligo at pabango, at ang HerBench na isang kumpletong linya ng mga produktong pambabae.
Kahati niya ang kanyang bayaw na si Virgilio Lim sa pamamahala sa kumpanya. Si Lim ang nagpapatakbo ng mga sistema at operasyon, habang ang kapatid niyang si Nenita Lim ang humahawak sa pananalapi. Si Ben naman ang nakatuon sa mga gawaing malikhain at pagdidisenyo.
Noong 2004, binuksan ang unang Bench sa labas ng Pilipinas. Ito ay sa Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, at hindi nagtagal ay nasundan ng isa pa sa Shanghai, China. Ng sumunod na taon, isa pang Bench ang itinayo sa Kuwait. Noong 1997, sinimulan nito ang kauna-unahang underwear show sa Pilipinas. Nagtala ito ng record noong 2002 dahil sa humigit-kumulang na 25,000 katao na nanood ng nasabing palabas.
Sa ika-20 taon na anibersaryo ng Bench noong 2007, ilang establisimyento pa ang itinayo sa Eaglerock, Los Angeles, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Guangzhou, Xian, at Dubai, sa pagtahak nito saglobal retailing. Tsina pa rin ang nananatiling sentro ng internasyonal na pamilihan ng Bench na mayroong mahigit sa 27 tindahan at 19 prangkisa.
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