Converge co-founder on Forbes Asia’s power businesswomen list

MANILA, Philippines — Converge ICT Solutions co-founder and president Maria Grace Uy, wife of Converge founder and CEOGrace Uy, made it to Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list 2021.

She is one of 20 female business leaders in the Asia-Pacific region who made it to the list which recognizes outstanding leaders from different industries including technology, health care, banking and manufacturing.

“Businesswomen across the Asia Pacific region continue to break barriers and, in many cases, expand their businesses despite the lingering pandemic. Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list this year recognizes 20 outstanding leaders who managed to adapt and thrive in industries including technology, healthcare, banking and manufacturing. They are leading the way as the world struggles with the post-COVID-19 reality,” said Rana Wehbe Watson, editor of the 2021 Asia’s Power Businesswomen list.

All the businesswomen highlighted this year are newcomers to the list, further expanding Forbes Asia’s network of prominent businesswomen in the region, Forbes said.

They have been selected for their achievements in managing either a business with sizable revenues or a startup valued at over $100 million.

Uy is in the company of other distinguished businesswoman including Thailand’s Wallapa Traisorat, president and CEO of real estate company Asset World Corp. Another female executive on the list is Helen Wong, the first woman to helm the 89-year-old Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Singapore’s second-largest bank by market value.

Uy, a certified public accountant, is cited for helping grow Converge into one of the largest fixed broadband operators in the Philippines and, together with her husband, for bringing the company public in 2020.

“In 2019, Uy led the negotiations for a $250-million investment from Warburg Pincus that Converge used to expand its fiber network to cover 25 percent of Filipino households,” Forbes said.

The husband and wife team took the company public in late 2020 and shares have since risen over 70 percent, pushing Converge’s market cap to P233 billion, according to Forbes.

“Its financials are doing well, as pandemic-driven demand led to an 84 percent jump in first-quarter revenue to P5.5 billion from a year earlier, while net income nearly tripled to P1.5 billion. Converge doubled its subscriber base to over one million last year and plans to more than double the reach of its fiber network by 2025,” Forbes also said.

Uy, as quoted by Forbes, said she believes they have just started despite Converge’s phenomenal success.

“I have always lived with the principle that to be successful, you need to put in everything you’ve got and always work to do it better...And we still believe that we have just started.”