THE MAN FROM FUJIAN
Dr. Lucio Tan is a household name in the Philippines. Perhaps only a few have not heard of the Chinese immigrant who have a great impact in the lives of the citizens of his adapted country.

Filipinos in the United States or any place in the world, could relate to the success story of this man from Fujian.

A genius never shows off, goes a Chinese saying. So it is with Lucio. He does not readily strike others as the tycoon that he really is.

In one of my trips from Manila to LAX, I noticed Mr. Lucio Tan seated in the economy class of Philippine Airlines.

Wearing casual clothes and not attracting any attention, his seat mate does not have any idea that the person next to him was the owner of the airline we were riding.

Flight attendants who all know him, did not give him any special treatment. I was told that he prefers be treated just like an ordinary PAL passenger which is not bad anyways.

BUILDING AN EMPIRE THRU HARDWORK

The success of Mr. Lucio Tan’s enterprise is deeply rooted on liquor and tobacco.

He owns Fortune Tobacco, the Philippine’s biggest cigarette-manufacturing company; Asia Brewery, the second largest producer of beer and bottled water; Tanduay Distillers, one of the oldest and biggest rhum producer in the world; and Philippine Airlines, Asia's first airline.

Back in 1965 when Mr. Tan was just setting up Fortune Tobacco, the domestic market for cigarettes was dominated by old established companies.

With his meager funds, he wondered how he could position his products against the more than a hundred local and foreign brands competing in a cut-throat market.

Through research and ingenuity, His first Brand, Ever Cool, made it to the market with success. Now, another product of him Winston, is a top seller in the Philippines.

DIVERSIFICATION

With the success of Fortune Tobacco in the 70’s, Mr. Lucio Tan started the diversification of his conglomerate.

In 1970, He brought in from Taiwan the advance livestock technology to set up Foremost Farms, one of the biggest in Asia. in 1977, He acquired the defunct General Banking Corp ( GEN BANK ) and named it Allied Banking Corporation. Through innovation and restructuring, it now consistently ranks among the top 10 banks in the Philippines in terms of asset and deposit base. The core institution of Mr. Tan’s conglomerate is based at the bank’s building in the hearth of Makati.

In 1978, Mr. Tan acquired Riverside Steel, Inc and renamed it Grandspan Development Corp, a company that is recognized in the construction business all over the world. In 1982, he opened Asia Brewery and penetrated the beer market long dominated by San Miguel Corp.

In 1985, he purchased the 500-room, five star Century Park Hotel, now a favorite venue among local and foreign businessmen. Also the same year, he established Macro Asia Corp to provide catering, ground handling, engineering and maintenance services to its sister company PAL, and to over 20 international carriers landing in the Philippines.

The man from Fujian is now the owner of Lucio Tan Group of companies.