John Gokongwei Jr. credits family, professional managers for his success

MAP’s Management Man of the Year

The Management Association of the Philippines has given the M.A.P Management Man of the Year 2017 award to taipan John Gokongwei Jr., Founder and Chairman Emeritus of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings, Inc.

Gokongwei credited the success of his business empire to its being a “hybrid family-led publicly-listed business” that has benefited from the vision and expertise of both members of the Go family as well as a bench of professional managers.

He recounted that they decided to go public to raise capital to fund its pan-ASEAN ambitions as well as to put the company “under the spotlight of the public eye” so it will be under pressure to perform.”

“On the other hand, remaining family-managed would imbue the business with the stability, strong culture, and long-term vision necessary to see our investments bear fruit,” Gokongwei noted.

He said this balance has “allowed JG Summit to forge its own path, despite naysayers, who did not understand our investment choices at first and believed we were not focused enough.”

“It allowed us to stick to our guns, and invest in industries like transportation, power, and telecommunications which would be essential not only for our growth as a company but a nation’s as well,” Gokongwei said.

Being family-led but professional run, the Gokongwei group has been a disruptive force in various industries. Shaking up to consumer beverage market with the introduction of C2 bottled tea, the telecom business with Sun Cellular, and the airline industry with Cebu Pacific.