Henry Sy

Henry T. Sy, Sr. (Chinese: ; pinyin: Sh Zhchng; Peeh-e-j: Si Ch-sng; born October 15, 1924) is a Chinese-Filipino
business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is involved in the industries of real estate, hospitality, banking, mining,
education, and health care. He is responsible for the establishment of SM Malls, anchored by Shoemart Department
Store and Supermarket. He is the chairman of SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the holding corporation for all his business
interests in his vast business empire. In 2015, Forbes Magazine listed him as the richest man in the Philippines, ahead of
11 other billionaires including John Gokongwei and Lucio Tan.
Henry Sy was born to a poor family in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, China on October 15, 1924. He is the son of Henry H. Sy and
Tan O Sia.
He completed his secondary education in a school now known as Chiang Kai Shek College and earned his Associate of
Arts degree in Commercial Studies at Far Eastern University in 1950.

Career
In 1958, Sy established a small shoe store in Quiapo, Manila that marked the establishment of SM Prime Holdings. In
November 1972, the small shoe store became SM Quiapo, SM's first standalone department store.
On November 8, 1985, he established his first SM Supermalls, SM City North EDSA.
He is the Philippines' richest man, gaining $5 billion in 2010, amid the global financial crisis. The huge gain was due to his
holding company, SM Investments Corporation, which has interests in Banco de Oro, inter alia. Forbes magazine's 2008
list of 40 wealthiest Filipinos, revealed the Sy family's net worth was $6.2 billion. Earlier, he was the second wealthiest
individual in the Philippines, next to Lucio Tan, and (as of 2010) 201st in the world.
Sy is considered a tai-pan. The Sy group is the operator of Banco de Oro and owner of Chinabank. In 2006, he bought the
remaining 66% of Equitable PCI Bank which is merge to BDO today, the Philippines third largest lender, in which he
already had a 34% stake, and merged it with Banco de Oro in 2007. The merger created the Philippines' second largest
financial institution with resources of close to $17 billion.
In August 2005, Sy's stake in the San Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia's largest food and beverage conglomerate,
reached 11%. He sold that stake in October 2007[9] for $680 million.
Henry Sy, Sr., was named "Management Man of the Year" by the Makati Business Club in 1999 and was conferred an
Honorary Doctorate in Business Management by De La Salle University in January of that year. He organized the SM
Foundation Inc., which helps underprivileged and promising young Filipinos.
He has six children.

Award
Management Man of the Year" by the Management Association of the Philippines 1999
Honorary Doctorate in Business Management by De La Salle University in January 1999
40 Richest Filipinos of 2008
Forbes magazine Heroes of Philanthropy 2009
1st Chinese-Filipino recipient of the PCE Big Brother of Filipino Entrepreneurs award (2006)
1st Chinese-Filipino recipient of the PRA President's Award (2005)

Characteristic of Henry Sy.

In order to gain a successful business, hard work, creative mind and strategic mind should be one of your traits. These
are the traits that I have noticed reading the profile of one of the biggest business tycoon here in the Philippines, Henry
Sy.
Henry Sy is a well known business tycoon here in the Philippines through his famous SM Group. As I am reading his
biography, I have learned that this businessman came from rags to riches. He really started from nothing but because of
being industrious and productive he created the biggest shopping mall in the country.
As a 12 year old kid, he already shows how business minded he can be. They have a small sari-sari store in Echague,
Quiapo which was established by his dad. Instead of playing with other kids, he helped his dad in raising their small
business. At an early age he already showed how creative he can be in terms of business. He created some products that
will help their sari-sari store to be known.
These are the characteristics that I like with him the most. His family serves as his motivation in order to create a
wonderful and successful business. He was honed by his experiences as a business minded person which serves as his
great tool in creating the famous SM nowadays.
But like what had happened to his life, his business also started from rags to riches. SM was first known as a shoe store,
but due to the success of that store he decided to expand it and establish another branch but due to some circumstances
he failed to do so. But despite that entire challenges he did not lose hope, instead he branched out his business by selling
another product which is a clothing line, and SM Shoe Store was then by known already as an SM Department Store. And
as of today, Henry Sys source of income did not fall only to the SM Group, but he expanded it to other types of business
like having a bank particularly the BDO.
All in all, Henry Sy became successful due to having a strategic mind. This is what I think a very important tool in putting
up a business. It involves creative and critical thinking. Aside from that, his dedication on the business he pursued
became one of the tools that made him a successful one.