BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GOKONGWEI

John Robinson L. Gokongwei, Jr. was born on August 11, 1926 in Gulangyu, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China. He is a Chinese Filipino businessman with holdings in telecommunications, financial services, petrochemicals, power generation, aviation and live stock farming. As of September 2014, Gokongwei is the fifth richest entrepreneur in the Philippines, with a net worth of over $5 billion, ranking behind only to Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, Enrique Razon and Andrew Tan.

            John Gokongwei was born into a wealthy Cebu-based family, originally from China's Fujian province. The family fortune was lost when his affluent father died. John was 13 years old at that time. He initially supported his family by peddling items along the streets of Cebu from his bicycle. From the age of 17 to 19, he traded using a wooden boat, taking items to Lucena by sea, and thence to Manila by truck. After the Second World War, he started his own company called Amasia, which imported textile remnants, fruit, old newspapers, magazines, and used clothing from the US. During this time, he courted a young girl, Elizabeth, who would later become his wife. In the early 1950, along with his brothers and sisters who returned from China, he started to import cigarettes and whiskey too.

In 1957, seeing that trading would always have low margins and would always be dependent on government policies, the family concern entered the era of manufacturing. With a loan of 500,000 pesos from Dr. Albino Sycip, then chairman of China Bank, and DK Chiong, he started a corn milling plant producing glucose and corn starch. The company was named Universal corn products and later expanded into Universal Robina Corporation. San Miguel Corporation was a big customer of theirs.

In 1961, as his company started to launch brands such as Blend 45 (an instant coffee brand, to compete with Nestle's Nescafe), John returned to school to study and obtain an MBA at the De La Salle University. A decade later, he underwent a 14 week advanced management program at Harvard.

John is married to Elizabeth and they have six children. All of his children play an important role for his empire and other enterprises owned by JG Summit Holdings. His son Lance is now the president of JG Summit Holdings while his brother James is the Chairman Emeritus.

Gokongwei’s rag-to-riches is one of the most inspiring stories everyone can possibly read. According to him, his motivation comes from his competitiveness. He said competition is good for the soul. He also gave advice to young entrepreneurs who also want to make it big someday. They have to love their work. Instead of spending, they have to save money. It is also essential to look for places where there is a competition. Work hard and the most important ingredient for success is to love work.

John Gokongwei will always be that small boy who used to sell soap and candles in a Cebu market. Today, he makes the world a better place with his enterprise. He believes that every Filipinos can do the same. Everyone has their chance to make it big in the entrepreneurial field. He said that even the big players today started off small.

At present, JG Summit six (6) core businesses: branded consumer, agro-industrial and commodity food products in Universal Robina Corporation, real estate and hotels in Robinsons Land Corporation and United Industrial Corporation (Singapore), telecommunications in Digital Telecommunications Phils., Inc., petrochemicals in JG Summit Petrochemicals Corporation, air transportation in Cebu Pacific Air, and financial services in Robinsons Bank.

Robinsons Land Corporation is the real estate arm of the conglomerate and is one of the industry leaders in the country. It is involved in the development and operation of shopping malls, hotels, mixed-used properties, residential condominiums, and land and housing developments. To date, Robinsons Land Corporation has 32 shopping malls, 57 residential buildings, 8 office buildings, 31 housing developments and 9 hotels all over the country. Robinsons Land Corporation continues to foster communities of harmony and to build the foundation for the dreams of the Filipino people.