‘Iron Man’ of Cebu
Mischievous. Shrewd. Bold.
These are just three of the many descriptions closely attached to the metal-working industry leader in Cebu. But, if you look beyond his success in business, he is a man with the softest heart and deeper perspective in life in general.
Philip Tan is the founder of
Wellmade Motors Development
Corp., a company which has strings of branches in Visayas and Mindanao with close to 200 employees.
What is not known to many though, Philip champions in giving the PWDs (Person with Disabilities) regular employment, to live a normal life and even teaching them the powerful value of paying it forward philosophy.
IRON MAN
Raised in a hardcore Chinese family, Philip is a self-confessed “black-sheep” in the family with four siblings.
He never liked school but, managed to fund his education from high school to college on his own.
“I was a working student all the way,” Philip confessed. His parents that time couldn’t afford to send the four children to school. Philip, who showed least interest in school was the last priority.
Mischievous, he was often called in school and to friends. An “iron man” who works his way and often annoyed by structured rules especially in school.
At an early age, Philip worked as a gasoline boy for an uncle’s Gasoline station, a utility boy, a cashier, just to get a college degree.
Although, he got a promotion as general manager in the gasoline station immediately after earning his Business Administration major in marketing diploma at the University of San Carlos (USC), Philip resigned from corporate “slavery” at the age of 25 with a promise — to be on his own.
He realized early on, that once a person is hooked being an employee, he never becomes an employer.
His jobless journey — enduring a meager income from doing just anything to make a living taught Philip to value of pain, how it would transform a person to fulfil his desired destination.
BUY-AND-SELL
This past president of Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) started his way to become a legitimate employer by entering the “underground economy” for years.
Buy-and-sell was Philip’s vessel to forming a company, which is now responsible for all the metal working requirements of large corporations and manufacturing plants.
He started empty-handed with only his “integrity” as capital to develop a network of people who trusted him.
In 1988, Philip gambled to set a small trading company that sells iron and metal products particularly automotive and truck spare parts.
From a mere buy-and-sell, Philip’s dream of becoming a provider of jobs realized, making his trading company to a full-blown manufacturing business. This happened not because he saved enough profits to grow, but because he was able to develop a good reputation and connections with clients.
SELF-STUDY
While his business deals largely with engineering works, Philip, a marketing man decided to self-study all about engineering. Investing his time to know more about metal working, machine engineering and related skills.
“I went abroad and immersed myself into metal engineering, machining. I asked help and advices from successful engineer friends abroad. I was open and willing to learn anything about engineering,” he shared.
When he thought he had enough knowledge to build his own manufacturing plant, Philip let go of his pride and asked his father, Tantiong Han for help.
LUMPSUM HELP
“I made a deal with my father to help me in my plan of setting up the manufacturing plant” he shared.
Philip was able to convince his father to make their house as a guarantee for a P10 million bank loan.
This was considered his “lumpsum” plea for help, after he was able to prove to his family that he can make good as a businessman, rather than getting high grades in school.
Along the way, the business went through several trials and birth-pains, but Philip was stubborn in making the business work, otherwise he will leave his parents homeless.
RIGHT TO DEMAND
His shrewdness worked will to fight the difficult roads to succeed while operating an ambitious manufacturing plant.
Philip made his way to the doors of different government agencies to demand his right to be helped.
“I demanded for help,” his confidence and fearless gesture moved the otherwise “numb” government hands.
Upon setting up his re-manufacturing and overhauling of automotive and truck engines, at least four government agencies joined him.
He acknowledged the help extended by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), to the realization of his expansion to venture into metalworking industry.
Reaching out the hand of the government also helped him fight the greatest crisis ever faced by business sector in 1997, the Asian regional economic turmoil.
HIS PROFIT
This mischievous man not only made it to his dream of being an employer, but his fate exceeded his expectation as his influence reached beyond the corners of his office, but the business community in Cebu.
In 2012, Philip was elected as president of MCCI, a prominent voice in the Regional Tripartite Wage Board representing the business sector.
He is also the vice-chair of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and is the incoming district governor in the Rotary Club.
At this stage, Philip discovered that real profit is not measured by money, but by how much a person impacts the community by generosity.
For years, Philip’s company has been the refuge of hope for PWDs.
“I believe God has blessed me so much — from nothing. I have this enormous urge to give back,” Philip said. Championing the cause of PWDs to be given a significant role in the formal employment platform is just one of Philip’s profits.
“Being entrepreneur is not about money. At the end of the day, you are accountable to your the One who gives you everything you have now, including your very life,” he said.
The reason why, he is giving his time to be in the wage board is to re-enforce the cause for companies to give the rightful pay to their people.
Monetary profits gained from greed is not profit at all.
Practicing social conscious in business is the right profit. Paying the right tax, and giving employees their worth.
“Pay the right taxes. Pay the workers rightfully well, and everything will just fall into place, believe me,” Philip his call to entrepreneurs.
GLOBAL PLAYER
Philip’s company is not only serving the local metalworking market, but it is moving towards a global player.
It has an existing joint venture with a Malaysian firm.
It also built a wholly owned WM Global Holdings, which now operates several companies, including his parent’s company Hans Marketing Corporation, among others.
THE REAL BUSINESS
After spending most of his life playing the ballgame of business, Philip discovered its very essence — the real business is all about giving.
A true successful businessmen, he said, is the one who knows generosity at its core, and live by it from the heart.
“Sometimes entrepreneurs forget about kindness and all they think is money. I tell you, it’s never just about the money. Money should only be a tool to make life meaningful and use that back to society,” he uttered with certainty.
At the heart of it all, business should be founded in kindness and generosity, apart from one should not consider himself successful — even if he has no place to put his money on.
At 60 years old, Philip is in the vanguard of advocating generosity or giving back as the true measurement for success of a business.