Work hard!- Lucio Tan
HARDWORK, determination and humility.
These are the virtues that Filipino-Chinese business tycoon Lucio Tan urged new graduates of Lyceum-Northwestern University during their commencement exercises on Wednesday at the CSI Stadia.
Tan brought his audience down to memory lane to recount how the seeds of business entrepreneurship were planted in him by his experiences in life, by the experience of survival not only of self but of protecting and providing for his parents, brothers and sisters and eventually his wife and children.
“I was in my teen years doing menial work at Divisoria Market… One day, I saw this old woman buying a few kilos of rice, not there was rice shortage then, but a few kilos was all she could afford to buy”, he related.
After counting every bill and coin from her purse to pay the storekeeper, she walked away slowly carrying her precious load. Suddenly, the sides of the plastic bag that contained the rice burst wide open and everything lay scattered on the ground.
“On seeing this, I ran to help the woman scrape from the ground every grain of rice.”
After this incident, Tan started looking for a plastic bag that was dependable, strong enough to carry a heavy load and once he found this bag and its source, he started vending it, running around among storeowners whose commodities were weighty.
“Business and entrepreneurship are like bread and butter. They are inseparable. One engages in entrepreneurship to gain from business,” he said.
Tan believes that entrepreneurship must be customer-centered, adding that as one recognizes the opportunity for business, he sees also the customer’s need and cash-capability to support the business.
“Entrepreneurship for the entrepreneur is an opportunity to serve others. It is not just about making money,” he emphasized.
The president and chief executive officer of the Lucio Tan Group of Companies was in Dagupan to receive his honorary degree from LNU.
Tan is the controlling stockholder of such companies as the Philippine Airlines, Philippine National Bank, Asia Brewery, Tanduay Distillery, Inc., Allied Bank, among others.—LM
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