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THE following speech by Ms. Tessie Sy, chairman of BDO and president
of Shoemart, was delivered at SM’s 50th anniversary party on Jan.
19.
“Today, we are celebrating the 50th
anniversary of SM, which many of you may know started in 1958 as an
innovative shoe store called Shoemart. As a fairy tale would put it,
“one shoe store grew and grew and grew until it transformed itself
into a holding company called SM Investments, a diversified group of
companies engaged in retail merchandising, mall operations, banking,
and property and tourism development.”
“You know these companies as the SM Supermalls,
SM Department Store, SM Supermarket and Hypermarket, SM Appliance
Center, ACE Hardware, and Watsons among others. The banks are BDO
and China Bank. We are now in property development in residential
projects, tourism estates, and hotels.
“These all began 20 years before 1958 with a
young man who dared to dream big. He dreamt about a bigger and
better world as he established his business, growing it until he
hoped to sell a pair of shoes to every Filipino.
“He did much more—as he continuously planned
and worked to realize his vision to establish a business that has in
one way or the other touched the lives of many Filipinos. When he
got married, he planned his family around his dream. Along the way,
other people joined him in his journey– his staff, suppliers, and
business associates, many of who are here today, and whom he
continues to make part of even bigger dreams.
“That person, of course, is our Dad, whom many
of you call Tatang. He is a symbol of determination, guts, and
grounded optimism. We are proud of what he has accomplished in the
past 50 years. His story is an inspiration to everyone who believes
in hard work and perseverance as success to him is dreaming big and
working hard to make this a reality.
“He has been through many challenging times
and seen many economic and political changes in the country. But he
has been fortunate to be able to move his business on the uptrend
throughout the changing times. He has maintained a low profile until
recently when his company had become public. He knew long ago that
his journey in business would take a thousand steps. He has already
climbed several hundred steps and now, he expects us to continue the
climb to the thousandth step.
“Today, we are happy with the blessings we
have. My father’s dream has become possible because of many of
you, especially those who had been with us during the early years.
In behalf of my family—my parents, my brothers and sisters and our
children.
“We would like to thank our staff for their
hard work and dedication all these years.
“We would like to thank our suppliers for
providing the merchandise for our customers and making them happy;
our tenants for having the confidence to open their stores in our
malls to make these exciting places to go.
“We also wish to thank many of you who
have been supporting us in many countless ways. Some are not here
today because of the rather short notice, and I must admit it is not
easy to gather a large group of people who has contributed to what
we are today. Some are no longer in this world, and we thank them
for being part of us during their lifetime. Of course, we thank God
for bring us together and working together all this years.
“For our 50th anniversary, we will be saying
thank you to our customers with a P50-million prize promo, and we
are also giving an additional P50 million through our SM Foundation
for over 50 institutions.
“This is on top of our usual contribution of
over P50 million yearly. Last year, we distributed P68 million for
scholarships, school buildings, health centers, medical missions,
livelihood projects, as well as toys. These works are done in
far-flung places, places we do not usually go to. Our advocacy is
poverty upliftment, so the foundation work is not done in privileged
surroundings, nor do we have edifices or big grants to show. We hope
to touch as many lives as we can in those underprivileged areas.
“This year’s amount includes contributions
from different business units within the group. If they make a
profit, they will allocate a certain amount to SM Foundation. This
year, the amount will be over P100 million.
“If you would like to join us in SM
Foundation, you can call up their office. We have a very dedicated
team who can help you donate scholarships, school buildings, or even
just medicines, toys, or books.”
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