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PHINMA President and CEO Ramon del Rosario Jnr talks about the importance of education and everyone’s role in the development of the country.
With the firm belief that Filipino entrepreneurs and managers can mobilise capital, implement significant projects, and manage these projects as well as or even better than the foreign management teams that were dominant in the Philippines at that time, Ramon del Rosario Snr, together with fellow businessmen Filemon Rodriguez and Ernesto Escaler, founded the first Filipino management firm in the country, the Philippine Investment Management and Consultants, Inc (PHINMA) in 1956.
“PHINMA was set up 58 years ago. That means it was still in the aftermath of the World War II, while Filipinos were trying to build the economy. Dad formed PHINMA without much capital but with people he believed had talent,” says Ramon del Rosario Jnr, the current president and CEO of PHINMA. With an initial foray in the cement industry, PHINMA’s portfolio now includes interests in education, energy, hotels, housing, steel products, and strategic consulting. When del Rosario Snr passed away in 2008, the Manila Jaycees, the oldest leadership development organisation in the Philippines and Asia, which he established in 1947, wanted to honour him by instituting an award recognising individuals who exemplify outstanding corporate citizenship and passion for nation-building.
“I suggested to them that it would be better if they team up with another institution that my father was involved with, the Asian Institute of Management, which at that time had already set the Ramon V. del Rosario Centre for Corporate Responsibility,” del Rosario Jnr relates. “We suggested that they might want to team up with an institution that has the capability to run these things.” And so, the Ramon V. del Rosario, Snr Award for Nation Building came to be.
“It’s an award for nation building, which my father really believes in and until now, that is what PHINMA is really about. We think our role is not just about delivering good returns to our stockholders but participating in nation building in a socially responsible way, and in the process making the lives of Filipinos better,” he says. “That’s really the distinguishing feature of the award.”
Know more about the nation builder and his steps in continuing his father's legacy in the Philippine Tatler February 2015 issue. Available in any leading newsstands and bookstores, download it on your digital device via Magzter and Zinio.
