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As One Katipunan Residences comes into fruition after years of determination, Ecoglobal Homes’ Aida Caranto Reyes rises as an example that it’s never too late to pursue one’s dreams
The grandest of dreams tend to appear ever elusive. Yet as they sprout in one’s mind and heart, nothing seems as impossible through passionate grit and resilience. Such is wondrously portrayed in the story of Aida Caranto Reyes, a retired accounting and finance professor who bravely ventured into real estate by starting Ecoglobal Homes with her three children.
Humble beginnings
Shortly after she adjourned her prolific 22-year career between the Ateneo de Manila University and the Asian Institute of Management, it was Reyes’s penchant for continued learning that urged the Ecoglobal Homes chief financial officer on this unprecedented path. “My late husband, Architect Emmanuel Reyes was in the business of house construction and commercial projects. While working as an academician, I spent time assisting him. I always thought about the great business potential of real estate but my academic work was always centre stage,” she recounts. Even their children, young as they were, had all been involved early on—come summer break, their son learned to mix cement as an apprentice at construction sites, while their two daughters carefully handled materials procurement, payroll, and documentation.
After the professor’s retirement in 2002, the couple began building and selling townhouses in the city, which further revealed the opportunities in the field to Reyes. She shares, “The long process of home design and construction, of helping provide the security of having a roof over the heads of a family, never failed to give me a warm rewarding feeling.”
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What proved to be a cathartic moment came in 2009, when the enterprising husband-and-wife graciously acquired a 636-square metre space along the brimming Katipunan Avenue. “All we had in mind was a four-storey commercial building with five units,” Reyes admits. “Although the area already had a few high-rise developments at the time, we always thought that our small lot size will only allow a building of at most six floors.” While applying for a build permit, however, they were advised by local municipal engineers that the floor-to-area ratio could accommodate a 30-storey edifice.
