A Splash of Success
August 7, 2005 | 12:00am
They say success is just a matter of dreaming. In reality, however, dreaming only constitutes 50 percent of the total picture of success. The other half of the battle to pin down success and truly call it your own depends on the action you invest in achieving your dreams. Aspiration is one thing; materialization of the ambition is another. When dreaming and reality meet, achieving success is complete and yes, it ultimately tastes sweet.
Sweet? Ask Dr. Rolando Hortaleza and he will tell you that success tastes like acetone and cuticle remover. No one can contest him about the "bitter taste" of success because Hortaleza literally ingested these liquid substances when – after carefully assessing that he could not support his wife and their daughter with his income if he practiced Medicine – he dared his fate to become an entrepreneur.
In 1985, with a paltry capital of P12,000 (the total cash gifts he and his wife received as their wedding presents), he ventured into repacking acetone and cuticle remover after he paid P5,000 to his cousin in exchange for a special formula for these "chemicals." Sans sophisticated technology, Hortaleza, his wife Rosalinda Ang-Hortaleza (also a doctor) and an all-around assistant transferred those substances from drums to small amber bottles using tabo (water dipper) to make their very first cosmetic products under the company name RBH Cosmetics. Inside their two-storey, 500-square-meter house in Valenzuela, their very first products were manufactured.
"Many times, I would siphon acetone and cuticle remover to small bottles. And many times, too, I would accidentally ingest them," Hortaleza said adding that their first year of business venture earned for them a little over P100,000.
Like all entrepreneurs, Hortaleza was itching to hit it big. Seeing a crown of opportunity in making hair spray in 1987 – because big hair style was the fad then – his company offered a high-quality, low-price alternative to the imported hair spray products. As many a woman used his hair spray, Hortaleza stumbled upon a spray of luck as he earned his first P1 million in sales that year.
It was only in 1993 that their technology became sophisticated. By that time, too, their company name had metamorphosed into other names – from Hortaleza Cosmetics in 1986, it was renamed Splash Cosmetics in 1987, Splash Manufacturing Corp. in 1991, until it became Splash Corp. in 2001.
To date, Hortaleza’s company is worth P6.5 billion courtesy of its three arms – local distribution and international distribution of Splash and retailing (HBC). From acetone, cuticle remover and hair spray, his company now processes and distributes soap, lotion and exfoliating products like Extraderm, Skin White, Maxipeel and Biolink. From three people working for Hortaleza Cosmetics in 1985, the company has 1,600 employees now with the inclusion of 40 Indonesians who are employed in his factory in Jakarta, Indonesia.
More than a success story, Hortaleza would like to believe that theirs is a story of hope, a story of humble beginnings. There were times, he said, that instant capital was hard to come by so he resorted to informal channels like borrowing from the Chinese community. At one point, he borrowed from loan sharks just to see his business through.
"I’m very blessed to have my wife because she is very good in handling our finances," said Hortaleza, a TOYM awardee for Entrepreneurship in 1999.
When his business was slowly, but surely making its presence felt in the market, he wanted to hire more people. "I couldn’t hire new graduates because they wanted to go to big, multi-national companies."
Hortaleza, who neither felt infuriated nor disappointed by the fact that college graduates would rather apply elsewhere but his company, simply filled his work force with warm bodies. He hired people who just knew how to use the lowly "non-scientific" calculator and made them his salesmen. But he just didn’t employ them by that qualification alone. "I hired them for their passion, dedication and determination to be part of the company." Those he hired at the onset of his business endeavor are still with him to this day enjoying benefits like housing. Those who left him walked away with a brimming smile. Why not, when Hortaleza gave them capital to start their own business?
"I always believe that at the end of the day it will always be people issue. As long as you’re surrounded by passionate people, you can make sure that your endeavor will take off," he said, adding that their faith in God is the tie that binds all actions of their company.
You can buy technology. You can buy or build structures. But you can’t buy passion and loyalty. Hortaleza is very thankful he didn’t have to buy determination and dedication from his people. For he practices what he preaches, Hortaleza’s people are all wired up to think and act that what they’re doing is for the betterment not only of themselves but of their country.
Hortaleza admitted that when he was starting up, his goal was for survival. Now that he has left the launching pad with aplomb, his vision is to "give back to the society."
"The pursuit to succeed should not be taken as an end but rather as a means to the end. We run after profit to sustain life. We bought equipment and nourished ourselves. It’s about time we contributed to the society," he philosophized.
Relating well with people is one of Hortaleza’s unwavering armor to feel the pulse of the masa. This trait of his is the reason there’s no labor union in his company. What's the need for one when, in fact, Hortaleza is within arm's reach of his employees? He is also very concerned about his suppliers, he put up World Partners Bank so accredited clienteles of Splash can enjoy "partnership of equals" when they do their financing transcaction with the bank.
"I’m jologs. I play basketball with them. I sit down and eat with my employees in the factory and we tell each other stories about anything under the sun. I listen to their problems," he said. Most of his employees call him Kuya, a term that does not alienate them from him. He and his wife also stood as principal sponsors in the weddings of their employees. Even his children – two boys and two girls who go to Ateneo and Poveda – are so grounded they spend time with their employees very often.
Even as a young kid, Hortaleza recalled, he has always been maka-masa. "For one thing, I grew up in a below-middle class community in Sampaloc." At the age of 10, he would bring lunch to the employees of his parents in their small retailing business called Hortaleza Vaciador where, after school, he would help by sharpening nippers, pushers, scissors and cutters.
Now that Hortaleza’s company has grown big and has weathered the storm posed by competing against multinational skin care brands (Splash is the No. 1 skin care product in the Philippines and No. 6 in the international market, the only local company in a pool of international brand names), many companies want to buy them out especially now that they recently launched "neutraceutical" products like flavored virgin coconut oil and ampalaya tablets.
But Hortaleza said he’s not selling his company because it is the flagship of the Philippines when it comes to skin care products, a domain dominated by North America and Europe.
"It is our corporate cause to uplift the pride and economic well-being of the Filipinos," he said adding that, even if it is cheaper to manufacture in China and Thailand, he stood firm in making the Philippines the manufacturing hub.
This is not a far-fetched idea for someone who hires for values, trains for skills and rewards for output. As long as he believes that their company is a living testimony to a story of hope, Hortaleza will keep on splashing his success.
(Dr. Rolando Hortaleza also wants to hear about your new beginnings. Please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. Have a blessed Sunday.)
Sweet? Ask Dr. Rolando Hortaleza and he will tell you that success tastes like acetone and cuticle remover. No one can contest him about the "bitter taste" of success because Hortaleza literally ingested these liquid substances when – after carefully assessing that he could not support his wife and their daughter with his income if he practiced Medicine – he dared his fate to become an entrepreneur.
In 1985, with a paltry capital of P12,000 (the total cash gifts he and his wife received as their wedding presents), he ventured into repacking acetone and cuticle remover after he paid P5,000 to his cousin in exchange for a special formula for these "chemicals." Sans sophisticated technology, Hortaleza, his wife Rosalinda Ang-Hortaleza (also a doctor) and an all-around assistant transferred those substances from drums to small amber bottles using tabo (water dipper) to make their very first cosmetic products under the company name RBH Cosmetics. Inside their two-storey, 500-square-meter house in Valenzuela, their very first products were manufactured.
"Many times, I would siphon acetone and cuticle remover to small bottles. And many times, too, I would accidentally ingest them," Hortaleza said adding that their first year of business venture earned for them a little over P100,000.
Like all entrepreneurs, Hortaleza was itching to hit it big. Seeing a crown of opportunity in making hair spray in 1987 – because big hair style was the fad then – his company offered a high-quality, low-price alternative to the imported hair spray products. As many a woman used his hair spray, Hortaleza stumbled upon a spray of luck as he earned his first P1 million in sales that year.
It was only in 1993 that their technology became sophisticated. By that time, too, their company name had metamorphosed into other names – from Hortaleza Cosmetics in 1986, it was renamed Splash Cosmetics in 1987, Splash Manufacturing Corp. in 1991, until it became Splash Corp. in 2001.
To date, Hortaleza’s company is worth P6.5 billion courtesy of its three arms – local distribution and international distribution of Splash and retailing (HBC). From acetone, cuticle remover and hair spray, his company now processes and distributes soap, lotion and exfoliating products like Extraderm, Skin White, Maxipeel and Biolink. From three people working for Hortaleza Cosmetics in 1985, the company has 1,600 employees now with the inclusion of 40 Indonesians who are employed in his factory in Jakarta, Indonesia.
More than a success story, Hortaleza would like to believe that theirs is a story of hope, a story of humble beginnings. There were times, he said, that instant capital was hard to come by so he resorted to informal channels like borrowing from the Chinese community. At one point, he borrowed from loan sharks just to see his business through.
"I’m very blessed to have my wife because she is very good in handling our finances," said Hortaleza, a TOYM awardee for Entrepreneurship in 1999.
When his business was slowly, but surely making its presence felt in the market, he wanted to hire more people. "I couldn’t hire new graduates because they wanted to go to big, multi-national companies."
Hortaleza, who neither felt infuriated nor disappointed by the fact that college graduates would rather apply elsewhere but his company, simply filled his work force with warm bodies. He hired people who just knew how to use the lowly "non-scientific" calculator and made them his salesmen. But he just didn’t employ them by that qualification alone. "I hired them for their passion, dedication and determination to be part of the company." Those he hired at the onset of his business endeavor are still with him to this day enjoying benefits like housing. Those who left him walked away with a brimming smile. Why not, when Hortaleza gave them capital to start their own business?
"I always believe that at the end of the day it will always be people issue. As long as you’re surrounded by passionate people, you can make sure that your endeavor will take off," he said, adding that their faith in God is the tie that binds all actions of their company.
You can buy technology. You can buy or build structures. But you can’t buy passion and loyalty. Hortaleza is very thankful he didn’t have to buy determination and dedication from his people. For he practices what he preaches, Hortaleza’s people are all wired up to think and act that what they’re doing is for the betterment not only of themselves but of their country.
Hortaleza admitted that when he was starting up, his goal was for survival. Now that he has left the launching pad with aplomb, his vision is to "give back to the society."
"The pursuit to succeed should not be taken as an end but rather as a means to the end. We run after profit to sustain life. We bought equipment and nourished ourselves. It’s about time we contributed to the society," he philosophized.
Relating well with people is one of Hortaleza’s unwavering armor to feel the pulse of the masa. This trait of his is the reason there’s no labor union in his company. What's the need for one when, in fact, Hortaleza is within arm's reach of his employees? He is also very concerned about his suppliers, he put up World Partners Bank so accredited clienteles of Splash can enjoy "partnership of equals" when they do their financing transcaction with the bank.
"I’m jologs. I play basketball with them. I sit down and eat with my employees in the factory and we tell each other stories about anything under the sun. I listen to their problems," he said. Most of his employees call him Kuya, a term that does not alienate them from him. He and his wife also stood as principal sponsors in the weddings of their employees. Even his children – two boys and two girls who go to Ateneo and Poveda – are so grounded they spend time with their employees very often.
Even as a young kid, Hortaleza recalled, he has always been maka-masa. "For one thing, I grew up in a below-middle class community in Sampaloc." At the age of 10, he would bring lunch to the employees of his parents in their small retailing business called Hortaleza Vaciador where, after school, he would help by sharpening nippers, pushers, scissors and cutters.
Now that Hortaleza’s company has grown big and has weathered the storm posed by competing against multinational skin care brands (Splash is the No. 1 skin care product in the Philippines and No. 6 in the international market, the only local company in a pool of international brand names), many companies want to buy them out especially now that they recently launched "neutraceutical" products like flavored virgin coconut oil and ampalaya tablets.
But Hortaleza said he’s not selling his company because it is the flagship of the Philippines when it comes to skin care products, a domain dominated by North America and Europe.
"It is our corporate cause to uplift the pride and economic well-being of the Filipinos," he said adding that, even if it is cheaper to manufacture in China and Thailand, he stood firm in making the Philippines the manufacturing hub.
This is not a far-fetched idea for someone who hires for values, trains for skills and rewards for output. As long as he believes that their company is a living testimony to a story of hope, Hortaleza will keep on splashing his success.
(Dr. Rolando Hortaleza also wants to hear about your new beginnings. Please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. Have a blessed Sunday.)
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