Baller turned businessman
A football injury prevented him from pursuing a sporting career. Unfazed, he found a niche as an entrepreneur promoting neutraceuticals, cosmetics and household chemicals.
THE middle child in a brood of three,
Ronald G. Quintans, chief operations officer of Pro-Fit Corporation, knows the value of hard work and personal relationships in business.
His mother Conchita was a former nurse at Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City, while his father Jaime was an electrician, who worked on a cruise ship for nearly 30 years. After her retirement, Conchita opened up a number of stores at the local market, selling plasticware, utensils and other household goods.
As children, Ronald, his older brother and younger sister were expected to share responsibility by doing chores. “I remember that when we were kids, my older brother and I would make ice tubig (iced water) and iced candy, and we sold it around the market,” he recalls.
True end goal
“I’ve been playing football for as long as I can remember,” he continues. “It’s how I spent most of my time after school. I also remember wanting to be an aeronautical engineer because I was always curious about how to build and fix airplanes.”
In college, however, he tore his ACL (anterior cruciate ligaments) on both sides on different occasions. (This kind of injury can be serious as it compromises one of the bands of tissue that connects the thigh bone to the shin bone, and requires months of rest to heal with the help of physical therapy.)
“I realized that while I loved it, it wasn’t the end goal for me,” Ronald says. I couldn’t sustain that level of play for the rest of my life. Thankfully, I got into Coca Cola FEMSA (Fomento Económico Mexicano, SA) as an onthe-job trainee and got very interested in (all things) procurement.” He reached back into his childhood once more when he was helping his mother at the market and learning from her how to source merchandise as well as how to handle all types of people. “I also learned how to be meticulous in inventory and stocks,” he adds.
From there, Ronald went on to work at Century Pacific Food Inc. for three years as procurement senior supervisor. This proved a valuable experience for the budding businessman as this was where he picked up and honed skills such as strategic planning, negotiation and business continuity in times of crisis. He sharpened his people skills as well. “Knowing more about a person’s department, position and working environment plays a part in how to negotiate and continue business with them, while setting aside personal emotions,” he says.
A family affair
In December 2019, Ronald married Nica Torres, the daughter and only child of Marikina-based entrepreneur Nelson Torres, a former shoe factory owner and veteran of the multilevel marketing (MLM) industry.
Pro-Fit, which they built together, is among the first fully online MLM enterprises in the country selling organic and ethically-sourced nutraceuticals, cosmetics and household chemicals. In less than a year, the company attracted around 3,000 enterprisers and resellers across the nation and from overseas, particularly in Florida and Hawaii in the US. The company won the People’s Choice Award for Outstanding Health and Wellness Business Opportunity,
while Ronald won a Dangal ng Bayan Award for Outstanding Young Entrepreneur.
“My father-in-law started with a vision, which he elicited with the help of my wife and myself,” Ronald says. “You can say he’s the big-picture guy. My wife, on the other hand, specializes in sales and marketing, while I specialize in procurement and operations.”
MLMs admittedly have a less-thansterling reputation in the country. People shrink away from those making even the slightest overtures for fear of being offered a product. Ronald explains how they broke away from such notions. “Mr. Nelson Torres has always maintained that MLM is a business whose main objective is to sell goods or services. Recruitment is and should always only be secondary. He constantly reminds us to avoid overpromising, something that has been in the industry lately. We push for sustainable and ethical business practices and rely on three components of business success.
“First, good quality and affordable products. Our flagship product Berry Barley received the 2021 Top Brand Asia Award for Outstanding Herbal Juice Drink. Two, efficient service to our enterprisers. We have invested in our IT systems, so that they can transact 24/7 online, eliminating the need to frequent the office, which takes time away from their sales activities. The last, most important component is relationship: MLM, and any business or industry that deals with sales is a relationship business. It’s all about your customers trusting you. Consumers will only buy from people, companies or brands they trust.
“In Pro-Fit, we do our best to maintain our good relationship among management, employees, enterprisers and customers.”
While many businesses have gone under, Pro-Fit continues to thrive. They launched right in the middle of the pandemic in September of last year, when Ronald’s first child Isaac was born. “My wife and I would joke that
It’s all about your customers trusting you. Consumers will only buy from people, companies or brands they trust.”
our son and the company are our twin babies,” he says. “Our company is doing well, all things considered. We’re mostly online, and we have partnerships with multiple logistics providers. Berry Barley moves easily, as it not only helps boost the immune system, but is also delicious and among the most affordable in the market.”
Ronald also places value on their ability to provide a source of income to those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic: “We believe that this time is our company’s incubation period and when it matures, the pandemic will have already died down.”
The new father admits he is something of a workaholic and so used to have a hard time balancing work and personal life. He reveals: “My wife helped ground me. She insisted that non-office hours be devoted to family time.” He also relates that although Nica and Isaac are his reason for getting out of bed every day, his extended family and the people at the company are also family to him. “We are invested in their development and in how they achieve their goals and dreams,” he declares.
Together, he and Nica try out various sports, whenever possible. “Of course, I still love football. But we also play badminton, basketball and we do a little bit of swimming. Also I have this weird hobby, but I enjoy doing electrical work,” he adds.
The future looks bright for this dedicated 31-year-old, who sees himself playing an active role in the company, which he hopes to see grow into a powerhouse in the industry
As he says: “We can only go up from here.”