The men behind the women

It’s Women’s Month and I thought I’d like to look at the men behind the women, or who followed them. And suddenly, just in our sustainable circle, so many of these men came to my list!

Christopher Chua

Christopher Chua goes by the candy-nickname Toppee. He supports his wife Sharon, our licensee at ECHOstore Centris Mall.

Toppee has always been the quiet man behind a shy Sharon. But we always feel Toppee’s supportive presence. He says, “As a married couple, we try to support each other in every possible way. Sharon used to be a Chinese pre-school teacher as she loves kids, but she gave up teaching to help me with my business. She never hesitated to quit her job, that is why I am so lucky to have a very loving, supporting wife. Three years ago, for the first time, she asked me if she can open an ECHOstore. I immediately said yes, because I know she likes organic food and helping others at the same time.” Toppee says it is very important that men encourage their wives to open their own businesses.

Carlo Lorenzana

After his stint as a radio host and in a multi-national, Carlo Lorenzana decided against entering local politics. “I wanted to make a change…and I found it by entering the business with Mom,” he says.

I first met Carlo in our former sustainable restaurant where he was introducing Argentinian wine to us (he now runs La Cabrera Argentinian Grill with partners). But our real alignment arrived when he came to us with freshly-milled brown organic rice under his brand Sun Made. He was so honest asking for help and advice, refreshed by his candor. We started to just link him with whoever we knew. Not only did we sell and use his rice in ECHOstore, but he said that after meeting up with us, market opportunities opened in the bigger stores.

Mom to Carlo is Sylvia Calma-Lorenzana, who as working student, rose from being a teller to coming the vice president of Philippine National Bank, overseeing Manila and Mindanao branches. She is now president and general manager of Hotel Vicente in Davao City and has passion for culture as director of the Davao Museum.

The Lorenzana family took on an old rice mill in Davao del Sur. Mom and son took it on and turned it around, organizing the whole operations. “She [my mom] is also my boss and general manager of Mindanao Agri-Network Corp. (MANCOR),” Carlo says. Today, their business has moved from zero to several hundred tons a year. And because of successful marketing, Carlo’s task now is to look for more farmers willing to sell rice for them to mill and sell. Carlo is unabashed about sharing his secret that his success has been due to the many women working all around him — his mom as the big boss, his mill supervisor and even an agri-technologist. Plus,  women sort all his rice from damaged grains.

“My mom is slowly passing on the responsibility of managing MANCOR. It is daunting and challenging but I am positive about the future and potential of Sun Made because I am continuously being trained and guided by my mom. I’m also very fortunate that my wife, Julia, is helping me bring Sun Made to a higher level in terms of branding and new product development,” Carlo shares.

Johann Young

Cooking up a green storm in Cebu City is chef Johann Young. Johann is ECHOstore’s licensee and is the owner of Academy for International Culinary Arts (AICA) in Cebu. He is a new father who supports his wife Meyan, a first-time mom. Meyan was multi-tasking the set-up of all operations for the new ECHOstore.

“Home is a shared responsibility. I grew up seeing my mom work at her own business. She worked throughout my whole growing up years! After I arrived from my hotel studies at La Roche in Switzerland, I met my wife Meyan who was then working part-time at Starbucks. I also found out that she was working summer jobs since she was nine years old, because she wanted to! That got me as I said, ‘This is the type of mother I want for my child.’ Everything is a partnership with us. Home and baby care is a shared effort.” Originally,  ECHOstore was to be Meyann’s involvement but this,  too, has grown into a shared effort. “We are equal in all fronts,” Johann concludes.

Ron Duterte

Thirteen years in the US, Chase Manhattan banker Ron Duterte came back to the Philippines to become an organic farmer in 2007. Today, Ron runs his organic farm in Barrio Babag, Cebu.

“I dedicated this farm to my mom. It’s because of her that I was inspired to do this,” Ron shares. Gloria Parinas Duterte was a passionate cook (she cooked for several local hotels), author of A Cook’s Treasure (a cookbook of tried-and-tested recipes she loved cooking through the years), and was a columnist for local Cebu-Sun Star Daily’s food section.

I met Ron through chef Johann as we were checking the ECHOstore Cebu supplier grouping. Ron says, “I want to be the first person in Cebu to supply the province with fresh and organic produce. I plan to do this one Cebu resto at a time.”  Ron’s passion for the farm-to-table business began years back even when he was still living in the US. He would frequent the markets and small producers in Seattle’s side-streets and Pike Place Market, Seattle’s original farmer’s market. Then he would read his mom’s articles and taste her recipes when he would come home...“until everything fell into place. I initially named the farm, Gloria’s Farm Direct (which DTI didn’t approve) so I decided to call it Ron’s Farm Direct, not just because it was my name but Dad’s, too,” he says.

“I believe a woman’s role in the community gives greater benefit. Women make the economy prosperous, competitive and increase yields. In politics, it results in gains for democracy, which also increases greater responsiveness to people’s needs and increased cooperation. Women run the basic structure of society at home. For me, I am inspired by the memory of a strong woman, who spoke her mind and didn’t stop until she made the perfect recipe that helped mold me into who I am today,” Ron shares.