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Today, I profile two more entrepreneurs, Wilfredo Tan
and Jose E.B. Antonio.
For as long as he can remember,
Wilfredo Tan has always been into business. He grew up in Sta. Cruz,
Manila where he grew up manning the family’s grocery. In college,
he dabbled in buying and selling office supplies. After graduating,
Tan continued putting up different businesses until martial law made
him decide to return to Pampanga, his parents’ hometown. There he
established Hausland Assets and Realty.
Tan started buying and selling
foreclosed properties from GSIS and SSS. Slowly, he learned the
ropes—-buying land, and tapping programs such as SSS housing,
National Home Mortgage financing and Pag-ibig.
He built the first subdivision in
Angeles City in 1992, which was sold out in one year. He then
decided to position the company in socialized and low-cost housing.
Tan observed in 2000 that the
bulk of the market for housing was made up of overseas Filipino
workers (OFW) with purchasing power. Low-cost housing packages worth
P1 million to P2.5 million were saleable. After successfully
completing various low–cost subdivision projects in Central Luzon,
he decided in 2004 to incorporate and register Hausland Development
Corp. (HDC) with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Now, 80 percent of HDC’s
projects are made up of low-cost housing. Of the 6,141 housing
packages the company expects to produce from its 17 subdivision
projects, 3,785 have been completed.
Tan works with his designers to
put personal touches in every unit. Space is maximized: 45 square
meters and a floor area of 25 square meters, compared with other
developers’ 38 to 40 square meters and a floor area of 18 sqm.
Every project has a fence, complete water system and underground
drainage. HDC develops and constructs a project
immediately—-putting in all the amenities—before it starts
marketing.
HDC plans Fiesta Communities to
handle the low-end market. Its target clients are workers in or
around the former Clark airbase with monthly salaries of P8,000 to
P10,000. Fiesta Communities offer housing packages worth up to
P750,000, with monthly amortizations of P1,800 to P5,000 for 30
years. HDC concentrates on housing packages worth P1 million and
above.
A couple of years ago, President
Arroyo assigned Jose Antonio to promote trade and investments
between the Philippines and China. He was given the designation
“special envoy.” Envoy, of course, is another name for
“ambassador,” a title the former messengerial clerk retains to
this day.
Joey Antonio’s original passion
is real estate. In the mid-1980s, a turbulent period marked by
economic problems, scarce investments and social unrest, he started
Century Properties with six employees and a capital of P30,000.
Antonio acquired insight,
business sense and confidence from school and job training. A
self-made man, he earned most of his academic credentials through
scholarships. While attending university, he worked as a
messengerial clerk in a bank during the summer.
Antonio eventually started
investing in small businesses such as a tailoring shop and a
restaurant. Realizing that the effort invested in small businesses
is the same as in investing in larger enterprises, he focused on
real estate. After all, nearly all tycoons started with real estate
before they became rich.
Think Ayala, Gokongwei, Henry Sy,
Manny Villar, George SK Ty, Lucio Tan. They are all heavy into real
estate, a business as old as the Philippines. Which may explain why
Joey Antonio calls his company “century.”
Century Properties has provided
professional property development for over 20 years, both for the
upscale and developing markets. With OFW remittances now being
invested in real estate and being saved in banks, Antonio believes
that a new middle class is rising. He provides them with
high-quality housing.
The company develops commercial
and residential spaces, mostly in Metro Manila and outlying areas
such as Cavite. It also has a project in New York City. Antonio
stresses that product quality is what customers value the most. As
such, he makes sure that his developments are of top quality.
His company claims to be the
first real estate developer selling fully fitted and fully furnished
condominium units (such as South of Market, Grand Soho Makati and
Gramercy Residences at Century City). He has other innovative plans,
including the improvement of landscapes and skylines.
Century Properties has created a
foundation where Antonio and his team can share ideas and channel
their resources to the community. The foundation currently has two
projects: the Sagip-Mata Project, which provides medication to those
with eye problems, and the Sagip-Tahanan Project, which aims to
maintain and repair homes of those in need. One beneficiary for the
program is the Golden Acres Home for the Aged.
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