Are Jeremy Lin & Kobe Bryant coming to Manila in 2013?

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word: excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

—Pearl S. Buck

CHENGDU, China — Are the SM Group and Mall of Asia Arena going to bring in the world-famous National Basketball Association (NBA) of the US to Manila next year for their pre-season games?

NBA will have its pre-season games next month in Shanghai, bringing 11 NBA All-Stars, three Most Valuable Players and six Olympic gold medalists to China’s booming financial hub. After this year’s NBA China Games, the league will have hosted 13 games in China in eight years.

SM Group’s Hans Sy told me he hopes to bring the NBA pre-season games to Manila. Wow! If he succeeds even for just some of the games, that would help put the Philippines on the map of global tourists and international media.

By the way, NBA superstar Kobe Bryant’s estimated net worth is US$200 million, while the world’s newest phenomenal athlete/brand Jeremy Lin recently signed what the media described as “a monster deal,” a $25 million, three-year contract with the Houston Rockets. 

This writer got that news from Hans Sy during the recent funeral wake of the Tan Yu family’s 80-year-old matriarch Pacita S. Tanyu, the late mother of Dr. Emilia “Bien Bien” Roxas-Yang, Elena Tanyu Coyiuto, Dr. Elton See Tan and others. She was a humble, soft-spoken and good person who married the late, self-made tycoon Tan Yu when he was not yet rich and famous. 

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Congratulations to SM, Robinsons and Oishi snack foods for being successful Filipino enterprises in Sichuan’s booming provincial capital of Chengdu, which is more world-famous as the hometown of the adorable pandas. The Ayala Group is also investing billions of pesos in a huge realty project in Tianjin City.

Though we are far behind other ASEAN, European, Korean and Japanese big businesses investing in Chengdu, it’s good to see visionary entrepreneurs ensuring that the Philippines will still have a foothold in the world’s second largest economy and huge market. I recently attended an international economic forum, with participants from 50 countries.

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Hidden champions part 3

Due to the many enthusiastic responses to our two recent columns on low-key or unheralded businesses successes, which we described as the “Hidden Champions of Philippine Business,” here are a few more:

NBA superstar: Kobe Bryant’s estimated net worth is US$200 million.

• Drawing Room art gallery – Owned by businessman Cesar “Jun” Villalon Jr., on Sept. 14 the Singapore branch of this top Makati art gallery opened in the Gillman Barracks. Villalon is bringing the best Philippine contemporary art to the world, while Singapore is now competing with Hong Kong to be Asia’s art capital.

Drawing Room and Isa Lorenzo’s Silverlens Gallery are among the 13 international galleries selected out of 30 applicants by a Singapore government-appointed committee of private and public arts experts for opening in the Gillman Barracks. Isa is part of the Lorenzo family that owns top multi billion-peso banana/ pineapple exporter Lapanday Foods and fast-food chain Pancake House.

• Jose “Pepito” Chavez Alvarez – The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) chairman emeritus and Columbian Auto Group chairman is a low-profile billionaire and self-made tycoon. Unknown to most people, former logger Pepito Alvarez also owns the successful water system of Cagayan de Oro City through his Rio Verde Water Corporation. He owns one of the most beautiful mansions in southern Philippines in Cagayan de Oro City.

Alvarez used to be an ally of the late Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr., but he is now a bitter political foe of Mitra’s son, Palawan Governor Baham Mitra.

• Metro Group (formerly Metro Gaisano Group) – One of the country’s best-managed department store businesses, it is less famous than competitors SM, Robinsons and Rustan’s. A competitor told me that this branch of the Gaisano family has hired an American professional manager to be president of the group.

Led by the low-profile and hardworking ethnic Chinese Gaisano siblings Jack, Edward, Frank and Margaret —cousins of Cebu leader Joseph Gaisano of the White Gold retail group, stockbroker Peter Gaisano and retailer James Gaisano — Metro has linked up with the Ayala conglomerate’s malls.

The Metro Gaisano Group has Market! Market! in Bonifacio Global City, Metro Ayala in Cebu, Metro at Ayala’s Marquee Mall in Pampanga and a new posh establishment in Alabang Town Center. They reportedly plan 40 more department stores. The legendary Chinese-community philanthropist, their late grandmother Modesta S. Gaisano, was the grand aunt of John Gokongwei Jr. and auntie of Filinvest Group/East West Bank founder Andrew Gotianun. 

• Solar Entertainment Group – William Tieng and his younger, more well-known brother Wilson Tieng are extremely successful broadcast media tycoons due to Solar Films. William’s son Irwin is a hardworking congressman with many bills. A competitor told me that Solar is also the Philippine distributor of the popular China-made Maling canned luncheon meat.

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Support SMEs for faster, more equitable progress

Kudos to the Internet Society and the Infocomm Technology Association of the Philippines (ITAP) led by Dondi Mapa for warning that possible changes to the Internet Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) could negatively affect users and businesses in the Philippines. Don’t increase Internet access costs! Mapa said: “Some of the proposals may require a system wherein users will pay more for traffic, similar to international telephone access that involves high rates.”

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An example of this correlation of the Internet and SMEs was the project under Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) vice president Lon Fernandez, which created an Internet café for their SME clients at the bank’s Makati head office.

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An example of the Internet helping SMEs is the Creativity Lounge one-stop multi-media hub in Glorietta 3, Makati City, for Internet access and digital printing services. SME entrepreneurs and business travelers can do their office work inside a mall and save on high rentals! Creativity Lounge has a new branch at the Caltex gas station in Valle Verde, Pasig City, and plans two provincial branches in Cebu and Davao soon. The owner is Philippine STAR reader and IT businessman Jing Arroyo of Parañaque City. Who else are doing similar businesses helping SMEs?

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Thanks to STAR readers in the US Embassy for e-mailing us information about their support for SMEs with a new eight-year $35 million credit facility through Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) led by president Aurelio “Gigi” Montinola III and BPI Family Bank president Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco. Can the US government expand this credit project to more banks? What other countries can extend credit facilities to Philippine SMEs through our local banks or NGOs?

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Thanks for your feedback! E-mail willsoonflourish@gmail.com or follow WilsonLeeFlores on Twitter or Facebook.