Success is the Cherry on top of his cake

Success is sweet, but what is mostly unseen is the hard work and sacrifices that went into “baking” it.

Maynard Ngu started early as an intrepid entrepreneur. Today, a model of the “proudly local” smartphone that he introduced in 2012 is reportedly No. 1 in the market.

After finishing his Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce, major in Management and Finance at De La Salle University, Maynard showed a keen interest and knack for manufacturing and industry. “And I’ve always had more of an interest in technology,” the young CEO adds.

He was fuelled by passion.

“I believe everything begins with passion. It’s that fire in your belly that pushes you to move forward, and which urges you to take on the challenge despite the odds. Passion is what fuels me to strive for the difficult and the impossible,” he shares.

But Maynard’s recipe for success had another ingredient: vision.

“Passion without vision is like trying to get to your destination without a map. You need vision or else you’ll tire yourself going around in circles. Vision directs passion,” he says.

His passion and vision led him to several businesses, which included Versatile Telecoms Inc., distributor of HTC, Alcatel, TCL and Gigabyte products; and finally, Cherry Mobile through Cosmic Technologies Inc.

He was only 33 years old when he established Cherry Mobile, but he had the wisdom of a seasoned businessman. Cherry Mobile was his brainchild, and was his most challenging enterprise, and so he poured all his energy to make his fledgling business flourish.

Today, the young Cherry Mobile CEO has proven to many that a proudly local mobile brand can compete even against international tech titans. Through premium and affordable smartphones and devices that promise a seamless mobile experience, Cherry Mobile continues to hold onto its position as the leading local mobile phone brand in the country.

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In 2009, Maynard first considered breaking into the mobile phone scene by launching his own brand — Cherry Mobile. During that time, it seemed like an impossible feat as the market was dominated by international tech giants.

Even with the surging “Proudly Pinoy” sentiments that urged consumers to support local brands, he faced daunting challenges.

But there was a great opportunity for business, and, more importantly, an even greater demand for affordable phones, which Maynard knew he could fill. Starting with four models, Maynard launched Cherry Mobile to join the competition.

“At that time, handsets were so expensive — around P25,000 — so we offered a quality product that appealed greatly to consumers who were looking for a more affordable device,” explains Maynard.

Maynard was undoubtedly impressed, but not content. He had bigger visions for the brand. Cherry Mobile was not here simply to provide mobile phones that the market wanted, but offer products that would elevate the mobile experience, as well as complement each individual’s lifestyle. He envisioned Cherry Mobile to be a brand that has “Everything for everyone.”

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Thanks to the impressive reception for the first four models, Cherry Mobile rose to prominence with astonishing speed and secured its position as one of the rising stars in the local mobile phone market.

In 2010, a mere year after it was founded, Cherry Mobile was recognized as the “IT Company of the Year” by the CyberPress Awards. It would win another prestigious award, this time from YugaTech, as the “Top Selling Mobile Phone Brand” in 2013, beating industry heavyweights.

The impressive reception for the brand triggered exponential growth within the company. Maynard’s once small operation, consisting of a lean team of 50, grew to include around 750 employees.

“I am very lucky to have brilliant minds in my team. We all work together with passion, it’s a collective effort which is very important when you want to grow your business.” Maynard shares.

Cherry Mobile has continued to take a lead in the race by developing more innovative devices, and rolled them out to the market quickly, ensuring that it was always “the first.”

The Cherry Mobile Flare, launched in 2012, has reportedly become the best-selling smartphone in the market. It has the right features, right price point and targeted the right market — those who aspired for an affordable smartphone that was feature-packed. Due to this model’s success, Cherry Mobile has launched more phones under the Flare Series, which became game-changers in the smartphone segment.

Last year, Maynard ventured into the telecom business, by launching Cherry Prepaid SIM. “The Cherry Prepaid SIM is data-centric. Aside from the call and text features, consumers get to enjoy longer Internet surfing through a longer data promo duration,” Maynard reveals.

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Maynard, who collects coffee mugs instead of smartphones, vows quality in Cherry Mobile products, despite the continuous release of new phones.  The company has proven its credibility by partnering up with respected manufacturers and tech industry leaders such as Intel, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Qualcomm and MediaTek, among others, in the development of its new phones.

Maynard recently launched Cherry Mobile M1, a product of such partnerships and the epitome of integrated tech design. The company partnered with MediaTek, one of the largest chip-design and system-on-chip solutions for wireless communications companies in the world, to create the first local smartphone, which utilizes a deca-core processor. In addition to MediaTek’s Helio X20 deca-core processor, Cherry Mobile M1 boasts a Sony IMX230 Exmor RS smartphone camera sensor, which allows high-speed image capturing and uncompromised photo quality.

“I think for any local brand, we should always aim to take the lead in pushing innovation,” Maynard believes.

Not simply limiting Cherry Mobile’s influence in the mobile phone market, Maynard also diversified his business portfolio to include lifestyle devices such as the recent Cherry Mobile Explorer 2, the first ever Android-powered action camera. “Cherry Mobile is now exploring developing our own apps as well as IoTs (or Internet of Things),” he reveals.

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Even with the brand’s impressive growth, Maynard isn’t one to rest on his laurels, and has never lost sight of the bigger picture, which is to make Cherry Mobile a brand that is for every Filipino.

Cherry Mobile spearheaded its own CSR programs and initiatives, which are guided by the principles of Cherry Cares (Customer, Natural Resources, Employees and Society). Cherry Mobile invests much of its efforts in CherrySkwela, a program that focuses on education. Through this initiative, the company provides school kits, builds classrooms and scholarship programs for the underprivileged community.

“I believe that education is everyone’s basic right, and we can build a better future by ensuring that all kids are given the opportunity to have a proper education, a basic foundation to succeed in life,” explains Maynard.

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With Cherry Mobile’s strong presence in the local industry, Maynard has gained the confidence to seek newer, wider horizons — success on a global scale.

“To date, Cherry Mobile is also present in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and other Southeast Asian countries. We distribute in Papua New Guinea, Tunisia and Africa. We have also started recently in South America.

“Last February, Cherry Mobile participated in CeBIT 2016 held in Hannover, Germany, a signal to explore the possibility of doing business in EU. We are still quite small, but we’re slowly building towards becoming a global brand and we want to have presence in areas where we are needed,” shares Maynard.

“At the end of the day, my vision is that everybody will have a Cherry Mobile in his or her hand. We want to bring the Cherry Mobile experience to everybody, because Cherry Mobile is and will always be ‘everybody’s everyday device’,” concludes Maynard.

If life were a bowl of cherries, Maynard has found a way to share them. The cherries, not the pits!

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)