Success Story: Henry Sy Sr

Today I am going to features the best life story of the best and richest man in the country of Philippines. He is no other than “Henry Sy”, the best retail magnate who own well-established 33 SM Malls. He is also the bank magnate and owns a majority share in China and De-Oro-EPCI bank. It is one of the best and inspiring stories because he was the best entrepreneur and built all SM Malls. He becomes the biggest banker as well as richest man in Philippines surpassing both the Ayalas and Lucio Tan.

So, are you ready to learn and inspire from the best success story is the Philippine entrepreneur story. This success story narrated by the “Teresita Sy-Coson” daughter of Henry Sy.

Introduction:

Henry Sy was born in Xiamen, in China in October 1924. Henry Sy was not born with the silver spoon in mouth. Since a toddler, he had aimed to become the best businessman, so went to try his luck in other countries. At the age of 12, he went to Philippines to change the miserable life of his father in a foreign country.

He was always committed with his goal to get succeed. He did everything that helps him to alleviate life and work hard till night

Earlier business:

Henry Sy. would buy goods from “Divisoria Flea market”. He carries all goods on his back and then sells them in a small store of her father called (sari-sari). When both going to close the store, they would sleep in a small space to makes their way of living much better.

He decided to make some extra income, so he had no time to play with friends. World war-2 came and the store of his father eventually burned and robbed. He did lots of selling and buying many odds things during war and helped his family to survive. After the war, he ventured into purchasing American Shoes that were imported by the Enterprising Gis.

Evolution of SM Mall:

He enrolled himself to a school. He gets graduation degree in commerce from “Far Eastern University”. He sold overrun and rejected shoes. He wants to change his life. He never gives up and always try hard to achieve the best success. After failures in business, he stood back-up and attain a goal.

In 1958, he established a shoe store in Quiapo, Manila. The name of the store was “Shoe Mart”. For the time, he was purchasing many shoes, leather goods, and accessories. He hopes to change the way of shoe manufacturer strategy.

He senses lots of opportunities that enable him to open Shoe Mart “SM” which the world first air-conditioned shoe store. The store merchandise shoes in a classy and inviting format. With the best success story of the store, he decided to open more stores. But his dream not came true because he was unable to get more suppliers. Most manufacturers refuse to listen to him at that time. He did not cooperate with the volume that he needed. Because of these reasons, he shifted gradually toward apparel and other merchandise with the help of her mother.

Learning from others:

Henry Sy Learn lots of innovative things from his suppliers, employees, and customers. With intensive on-site job research, he got enough confidence to expand his business to the department store chain.

In life many needs are grow-out and to fulfills these needs, you should become determined. With strong determination, you can easily take some extra challenges and can easily be done things differently to get better success.

In 1970, the store became the full-line department stores that change the name from “Shoemart” to SM with the pioneering store at the Makati City. He invested in the properties for malls that were patterned after the suburban shopping centers.

Problems occur during the construction of the first mall:

In 1972, he opened department store after two months of Martial laws. At the start, the business worked slow but get succeed with time. He continued to open more exceeding departmental stores in such a way that one time came, he had no space in exciting shopping centers. He thought about long-term goals.

On November 25, 1985, 1st supermall opened in the city of Quezon. Today there are 43-malls across the country Philippines and the branches in China.

With lots of criticism and armed with the optimism and sheer determination, he opened supermarket, departmental store, and tenants.

At the same time, the “Shoemart Makati” was faced with severe strikes. At that time, he was so disappointed, but his employees and customer encourage him to proceed. At this difficult time, he never discourages and boosts his confidence to continue his business. He was committed to achieving a valuable goal for an organization. He not only convinces himself but also his team members to follow his enthusiasm.

Later on, the Henry Sy. focus to expand their business. The building was constructed slowly at the start. During construction of the new building, delays in constructions because of cement shortage and coups of 1989.

Asian crisis:

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During 1997, when the Asian crisis came, the team of Henry Sy. continued to plan an expansion of mall that includes the “Mall of Asia” which was envisioned the biggest and most renowned mall in the region of Asia. But planning stopped because Henry recognized the Tsunami-like effects in Asia. They went on progressively and open other malls.

Expansion of business into different markets:

The business grew in numbers instead of the size and serving various more modest markets. The business also expands from departmental stores to hardware stores, supermarkets, appliance superstore, and others.

As we mentioned above that Henry Sy. was one of the greatest bankers so he also looked into the banking business. He established the “Banco de Oro” bank that was a medium-sized bank. The members of the business were considered conservative in the lending process. The business strengthened and reorganize while developing the best growth strategies that started working in 2000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2bETzUf_dY

Encouragement:

He was encouraged by the “Consolidation program of Central bank of the Philippines”. Due to this encouragement, he motivates to make the Philippines banks competitive relative to its area.

Acquisitions of Banco De Oro:

Banco De Oro also made some acquisitions due to moratorium on banking. It acquires some banks like United Overseas Bank branch, First eBank. Deo Heng Philippines, Banco Santander Philippines branch. The most recent acquisition made by Banco De Oro is Equitable PCI bank.

Awards:

With all his achievements, Mr.Sy collected different awards. The detail of these awards is given below:

• Management Man of the Year in 1999 by Makati Business Club
• Honorary Doctorate in Business Management in January 1999 by “ Da La Salle University”
• 40-Riches Filipinos for the year 2008–2012
• Forbes Magazine Heros of Philanthropy
• 1st Chinese-Flipone receipt of the “PRA President Awards” in 2005

SM Investment; Greater Achievement of Henry Sy:

SM Megamall is the world second largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the 9th largest mall in the world. Sy’s family-owned SM investment is the holding venture for SM Retail and is the largest chain of departmental stores of supermarkets.

Based on the 2018 Forbes World’s Billionaires, the estimated net worth of Sy is $20 billion. It is three times larger than the upcoming fortune of the richest Tycoon.

In 2017, Sy stepped down as the chairman of SM investment Co. He gets the honorary title of “Chairman Emeritus” as the recognition for the founder of SM group.

Future of SM mall:

Sy’ mall empire is riding on a rise of artificial intelligence with best robotic concierge. The white robots offer information on proms, deals, and events from the adorable touch screen that is mounted on the chest. It also replies via voice to the basic questions.

According to the chief operating officer “Steve Tan” told ABS-CBN news that:

“We believe that technology helps us in upgrading service. The SM group and the Sy family involve not technology.”

Personal life:

Henry Sy. was married with “Fedicidas Tan”. She was a shoelace vendor. Both had six children. Henry Jr. and Teresita are the recent vice-chairpersons of SM investment Co.

Death:

Henry Sy died at the age of 94 in his sleep. The body of a billionaire was discovered on 19 January 2019 in his home. The funeral of great entrepreneur took place in Taguig at the Heritage Memorial park on January 24, 2019.

End words:

With the inspiring story of Henry Sy, you can learn about the ideals of success. The story of Henry Sy tells us that never give up from a failure. Failure is the first step to success. According to Henry Sy, if you fail, never discourage but try again. When you do something well, then never change your ways. Success is not always good luck but is the combination of good credits standing hard work, time, readiness and opportunity. Success will never last when you don’t take care of this precious wealth.

Filed in: Entrepreneur, Henry Sy, MALL OF ASIA, SM MEGAMALL, SM SOUTH MALL, SM WEST, SM SUPERMALL,SUCCESS