What makes Ikea so successful?

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.  Confucius

Two legendary self-made entrepreneurs  the world’s fifth richest billionaire, Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden and the late Walmart retail chain founder Sam Walton of the USA  are the business idols of iFace Cosmetics president Tony Chua. iFace distributes Australia’s trendy yet affordable BYS cosmetics, which was recently launched at Seda Hotel in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Cebu-born and Guangzhou-based young entrepreneur Tony Chua said: “If you look at the business model of Ikea, their concept is ‘value for money.’ Their strength is in sourcing their products  they know where to get their products. In the case of the late Sam Walton, he was always steadfast in his belief that you have to offer consumers good value for money. Over the years, through technology and better logistics, they’ve excelled in sourcing. Can you imagine, Walmart is the world’s biggest retailer and they’re still growing by 10 percent at least every year?”

The book Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Ingvar Kamprad and Bertil Torekull tells the success story of how Ikea came to epitomize an original concept, a dedication to quality, a distinct design style, and convenience for consumers through Ikea’s mass market-priced products. Inspired by Ikea’s great designs and affordability, Chua is bringing the fashionable yet reasonably priced BYS cosmetics to the Philippines exclusively through the SM and Watson’s retail chains of the Henry Sy family.

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The self-made entrepreneurs behind luxury cars

Congratulations to Clark Development Corp. former president, Dumaguete City former mayor and Siliman University political science magna cum laude graduate Atty. Felipe Antonio “Ipe” B. Remollo for becoming the new president of PGA Cars, Inc., the exclusive Philippine distributor of Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley luxury cars. Remollo’s niece is pretty Bais City Mayor Karen Villanueva, who is now running for a congressional seat. PGA Cars, Inc. chairman Robert Coyiuto Jr. is the scion of the insurance family that owns Prudential Guarantee.

Richard Lee of Volvo, Chevrolet and Hyundai is the scion of the prominent pre-war Li Seng Giap family. Late last year, through their Ayala Automotive Holdings Corporation, the Zobels became the exclusive Philippine distributor of Germany’s Volkswagen cars. Ayala Corp. also has stakes in Honda Cars Philippines and Isuzu Philippines Corp. Can the Zobel family of Ayala Group convince Volkswagen to open an assembly plant here in the Philippines?

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Other inspiring, self-made entrepreneurs are Felix Ang of Mercedes Benz/CATS Motors, who was a former car accessories businessman in the late 1980s; Jose “Pepito” Ch. Alvarez of BMW, the former manager of his wife’s provincial Toyota dealership; and Wellington Soong of Land Rover and Jaguar, a former taxi operator.

In December 2012 Soong inaugurated Autostrada Motore as exclusive distributor of Ferrari and Maserati in the Philippines, at booming Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

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Senatorial bets need P500 million each

At the Feb. 13 launch of a multi-sector election coverage project of TV5 at Resorts World Manila led by TV5 chairman Manny V. Pangilinan and TV5 president Atty. Ray Espinosa, Commission on Elections (COMELEC) chairman Atty. Sixto S. Brillantes Jr.  agreed with me that the present legal spending limit per senatorial candidate of P3 per registered voter or P156 million is inadequate or unrealistic.

When I asked what the ideal and realistic election campaign spending limit per senatorial bet would be for our archipelagic country with 53 million registered voters, Brillantes replied, “Ten pesos per voter, or half a billion pesos per senatorial candidate.” 

The problem with our present election law is that it was approved in 1995 and has not yet been updated. Is it because many of our politicos are innumerate or do not care if they flout our laws?

Actually, the exact number of registered voters in the Philippines today is 52,015,648  an exact number amazingly rattled off to me by chairman Brillantes at the luncheon sponsored by Resorts World Manila of Andrew Tan and led by president Kingson Sian.

MVP told me that TV 5 is serious about the election coverage, explaining, “When we invested in TV5 three years ago, we were there not only to change the fortunes of this TV network but more to help the future of this country.”

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The 4 P’s behind the success of the Philippines’ biggest breadmaker

Two big flourmill operators  Ramon Ang of San Miguel Purefoods and John Gokongwei Jr. of Universal Robina Corp. were once interested in establishing a giant bakery production business as their forward-integration strategy, but these plans didn’t materialize. Today, the biggest bakery production giant in the Philippines is the 15-year-old Gardenia Bakeries Philippines, owned by the Singapore-listed firm QAF Limited controlled by entrepreneur Andree Halim. Halim is a graduate of University of East London and the second son of the late legendary self-made Indonesian Chinese tycoon and philanthropist Liem Sioe Liong (Sudono Salim). He’s also a brother of Anthony Salim of the Hong Kong-based multinational First Pacific Group, which has a lot of Philippine investments.

Gardenia Philippines president and general manager Simplicio “Jun” Umali Jr. said their sales in 2012 hit P3 billion and they are optimistic that with the fast-growing Philippine economy they can hit a record P4 billion in sales this year.

UP business administration and MBA graduate Umali attributes the phenomenal success of Gardenia Bakeries Philippines to 4 P’s  first is a modern, world-class plant in Santa Rosa City, Laguna (plant tours of students and others are welcome), second is high-quality product, third is the process, and fourth is “the hardworking, talented people in the company.” Umali is also the former De La Salle University marketing professor of Senator Ralph Recto and former CEO of Dutch Boy (Philippines), Inc.

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Creativity as a source of success

Thanks to Philippine STAR reader Sarah Woodruff of America’s reputable Harper Collins Publishers in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for sending me the well-written, touching and interesting new 297-page book Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped by Cissy Houston, mother of the late singer Whitney Houston, and book editor Lisa Dickey. The book is a poignant and loving tribute to the Grammy-winning pop star, who died at 48 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

In her lifetime, Whitney Houston sold over 170 million record albums, won two Emmy awards, six Grammies, 30 Billboard Music Awards and 22 American Music Awards. In 2001 she signed a $100 million recording contract with Arista and at the height of her success, she was earning up to $30 million a year on touring alone. Though her wealth had reportedly “declined dramatically in the last years of her life,” she still left behind a net worth estimated at $20 million.

What are some lessons we can learn from the Whitney Houston story? Excel with passion and be diligent in whatever work or vocation we are in, use creativity as a wellspring of wealth, life is very short, our family is priceless, and good health is true wealth.

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Congratulations to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) diplomat and STAR reader Neal Imperial for the Feb. 23 launch of his first book of poetry. His idol is the great poet and former diplomat Pablo Neruda of Chile.

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