A weekend of PASSION and FASHION
Golden ABC celebrated its 30th anniversary by flying 700 employees to Cebu for the GABC summit — three days of fun, work, play and a lot of awards
“It’s our Oscars,” said Bernie Liu, Chairman and CEO of Golden ABC (GABC), the company behind fashion brands Penshoppe, Oxygen, Memo, ForMe, Regatta, Tyler, and direct selling subsidiary, Red Logo.
And days later, as I sat in Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa’s Marquee Ballroom, surrounded by 700 dapper and stylishly dressed employees of Golden ABC who had flown in from all over the Philippines, applauding wildly with tears in my eyes, I realized he was right.
Onstage, a woman wearing a beautiful black dress and strands of pearls was giving an emotional speech. “Thank you, thank you so much. I offer this award to God. I’m beyond blessed for being able to work for this company. I want to share this award with my daughter. Sir Bernie, thank you, thank you so much. Thank you for being an inspiration, for pushing us to excel in everything. Thank you for all the trust that you put in our team. I will never get tired of serving you. I’ll always be at work at 7:30 a.m. for you. I’m just really happy serving you all.”
Values awards
Bernie said, “Our awards are never just about the business. You do well in your work, we give you your performance bonus. But our GREAT Awards, which stands for Golden ABC’s Recognition of Employee Achievements and Triumphs, which we have every year, recognizes people for living out our corporate values. We recognize integrity, service, professionalism and entrepreneurial spirit.” And on this year, Golden ABC’s 30th anniversary, they had a record number of GREAT awardees.
Every five years, Golden ABC also holds the Founders Awards to honor the company’s founders, Bernie’s parents, papal awardees Knight Leo Lim Liu and Dame Norma Liu, and the people in the company who manifest the same values as the founders. Bernie told the awardees at the event, “Your consistency and steadfastness have not gone unnoticed. Your leadership and passion has rallied people behind our common goal. And your enthusiasm and strong belief in what Golden ABC can achieve has made all the difference in how we do our work today.”
This year’s GREAT awardees will be treated to a four-day trip to Japan while the Founders awardees are headed to Italy for an eight-day cultural voyage.
A mix of different employees – store managers, regional managers, directors, a store custodian, people working in purchasing, human resources, corporate affairs, brands and other departments – were awarded.
True family
Jessica Cox, an internationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, who was born without arms and overcame all obstacles to become the world’s first licensed armless pilot and the first armless black belt in the American Taekwondo Association, and who was purposely flown in to the Philippines to be the keynote speaker on the first day of the GABC Summit, said, “I’ve never been around a company that takes such good care of every single one, from the top to the bottom. And to see that kind of care, it’s a true family.”
Bernie said that was something he learned from his parents who both had to struggle to support their loved ones and start a family of their own. His father sacrificed his own education, working as a jeepney driver and as a traveling salesman so he can take care of his parents and seven younger siblings. “I still go back to what our parents taught us, hard work, commitment, fairness, love for people, love for the community, and love of God.”
He remembers one pivotal moment: visiting his mother who took over a garment factory in Novaliches and who had to shuttle between Cebu and Manila. She would stay in Manila for weeks, sometimes, months at a time. Seeing the dismal conditions she had been living in, a young Bernie begged her to go home to Cebu. “Her answer struck a chord so deeply in me that to this day, I carry the words in my heart. ‘If I shut down the business, what will happen to the workers and their families?’”
Months later, the family decided to relocate the factory to Cebu, bringing with them all the workers who were willing to move. Bernie said, “My mother told our employees, “I’m sorry, we have to move the factory but you’re all welcome to come to Cebu, I will build a staff house for you and we will continue our business there. They moved because they were very close to my mom and my mom was very attached to them.”
It was Bernie’s idea to utilize the garment factory, which was only busy during the holiday season when the demand for tshirts as corporate giveaways was high, to start producing graphic tees—and these graphic tees became Penshoppe’s first products. “I took up architecture because I wanted to help in the family’s lumber business. I wanted to be a builder, so I could sell more lumber. But instead of building houses, I built brands.”
Bernie and Alice Tio, a Penshoppe endorser who became Bernie’s wife in 1988, worked together on developing Golden ABC as a company. Bernie said, “When we settled down, I said, ‘Alice, would you help me in the business?’ She loves merchandising, that’s her natural talent.” Today, Alice is the company’s Executive Vice President for Fashion Retail Brands.
People come first
Golden ABC may have grown tremendously from one garment factory with forty workers to being a fashion empire with 4,000 employees, seven brands, breaching 700 stores in 124 cities in 12 countries but their priority stays the same: their people. “Even through the 1997 crisis, the 2008 crisis, our parents and the family have always been conscious about our obligations to our community, our suppliers, our people. We profit with honor. Our dad always reminds us, you don’t profit with blood money, never at the expense of your workers, never at the expense of your suppliers, never at the expense of your customers, never at the expense of somebody else.”
Bernie added, “In whatever endeavor we choose to do, people will always come first.”
People did come first at the GABC Summit, the first day of which was held at the Oakridge Business Park, the same location of the garment factory where Golden ABC traces its roots. The employees had one goal: to write their creed, their set of beliefs. “It’s about getting our people together and asking them to own the creed that they will create for the company. It’s our belief system. It has to come from them. They have to own it. And something they own, they feel passionate about.”
The workshop, led by Regina Hechanova, Chairperson at the Ateneo de Manila University Psychology Department, had the employees moving from table to table, actively participating in discussions about building their company culture.
Blending in with my identical Golden ABC 30th anniversary shirt, I walked around the pavilion, listening to the employees’ inputs.
“Kung ano yung trabaho mo, dapat may commitment ka doon.”
“Engage in community service.” “Be a role model.” “Always go the extra mile.” “Love our brands.” “Be ambassadors of our own brands.”
The workshop ended with a goosebump-inducing moment: the entire hall chanting “One GABC!” as poppers went off, filling the air with confetti.
At the Thanksgiving Mass at the Holy Family Oratory at Oakridge Business Park, CBCP President Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who travelled all the way from his diocese in Lingayen to Cebu just to preside over the mass, said, “We all know that Golden ABC is not just a human project, it’s a human project blessed by God.”
After the Mass, Golden ABC employees visited SM Seaside Cebu to shop at any Golden ABC store using the gift certificates that were a gift to them from the company’s founders. It was a thrill to see them excitedly hop from store to store—the fresh and hip Penshoppe, the edgy cool Oxygen, the fun and pretty ForMe, the eternally summery Regatta, the workforce wonder Memo—this time as customers of the brands they work for.
“These are the things that we do that our customers do not know. We have to engage our people. If you can’t convince our people to patronize our own company and our own products, how can you entice our customers to buy our products? You have to win their hearts first,” Bernie said.
The employees also had plenty of time to enjoy the facilities of Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa where they were billeted for three days, playing beach volleyball, doing yoga, hanging out by the beach and swimming in the pools.
But the highlight was undoubtedly the awards night.
Love and passion
There was so much love and passion in the ballroom as people cheered and shed tears for their friends and colleagues who were called onstage. Even I, a virtual stranger to most of the people in the room, couldn’t stop smiling. It was an evening full of joy. Awardees, often overwhelmed with surprise and gratitude, gave credit to the other people they work with. “It’s not a one-woman show, it’s a good synergy,” said one.
“I cannot be here and I won’t be here without your help. At the end of the day, I’m just one person in this company,” said another.
Some of them addressed the founders directly. “Thank you for giving us the gift of Golden ABC.” The founders were also given a standing ovation by everyone in the ballroom.
Before the after party kicked off, with Sandwich headlining, Bernie had inspiring words for his employees. “Our path to globalization has begun. We have 183 countries to go and we will continue in bringing the Philippines’ best to the world.”
One awardee said, “When we are working for a company like Golden ABC, para siyang family, it’s not like working anymore. It’s like serving your family.”
It’s true—I witnessed it. Golden ABC is more than just a company, it’s a family. And for one weekend, it felt great to be this family’s adopted daughter.