MANILA, Philippines--Dr. Vicki Belo has a new man in her life. And he's her boss.

Meet Enrique M. Soriano III, who took over the reins of the Belo Medical Group Inc., owner of seven Belo clinics in the metropolis, as group CEO.

His entry was quite for a group owned by a celebrity, but Soriano's plans are not at all quiet. These include a possible public offering at the Singapore Stock Exchange where a couple of other Filipino firms are listed.

In a one-on-one with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Soriano says he has been affected by "proceduritis" the past months--creating systems and matrices for the 18-year-old Belo group which, despite its size, has remained in some ways a "mom-and-pop" type of operation because of Belo's hands-on management style.

He says that, to a large extent, decision-making is still very Vicki Belo-centric. But with the group's growth and expansion, the need for clearer systems and procedures is becoming more apparent. And it is Soriano's role to put these in place.

Lack of sufficient systems and procedures is common among entrepreneurial ventures where the founder or originator of the business still does everything she did when she just started out--operations, human resource, finance, marketing. But as businesses grow, originators need to realize that they need an organizer and an operator to provide the legs for the business to stand on.

Soriano for now becomes both the organizer and the operator.

He says his vision is to begin with the end in mind.

He knows that he may not be the most popular man in the group right now because of the changes he is instituting, but he feels these are necessary.

One of the things he did was to give different clinics some autonomy in the decision-making process. In the past, everything was cleared with the head office.

He also points out that the work ethics required for the Belo Group are not of the ordinary.

"Our patients are out of the ordinary. They are outside the ordinary course of business, the expectations are higher," says Soriano, referring to the rich and famous clientele of Dr. Belo.

Classic MBA case
The Belo case is a classic case for MBAs.

"We are establishing the matrix, the fundamentals and the accountability systems. We need proper role definition of each employee. We need to put a science to decision-making," he says.

Which is why Vicki Belo herself discusses the viability of buying a new machine with Soriano first, unlike before when she would just arrive home from a trip with a new machine.

Cost benefit analysis now has to be resorted to, Soriano says. However, he admits decisions and analyses have to be done quickly as new technologies are always coming out, making obsolescence a constant threat.

Admittedly, not a few raised their eyebrows when Soriano, largely a real estate man, was chosen to head a beauty and wellness group such as Belo.

Soriano worked with the Madrigal-owned Globo Realty, the Campos' Greenfield Realty, the US firm Electronic Realty Associates and recently with Andrew Tan's Megaworld group. But he says his foray into the retirement industry prepared him for his transition to the Belo Group.

Transition
The 40-year-old Soriano is with the Philippine Retirement Inc., the private sector counterpart of the Philippine Retirement Authority, which aims to help provide guidelines and direction to those who want to venture into the retirement business.

Soriano also has a major ace up his sleeves--he has been teaching MBA for over 10 years.

"I have gone through hundreds of business plans and that sharpens you," says the marketing professor at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.

These business plans cover varied industries and train the mind to be attuned to factors that affect the businesses, a company's strengths and weaknesses.

He says he has students of ten years ago still calling him for advice.

Also he has been privy to the Belo Group having had Dr. Belo, her daughter Cristalle (involved with Intelligent Skin Care Inc., owner of the Belo Essentials line) and some of the group's managers including doctors, sit in his classes at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.

Family of lawyers
Business was not at the top of Soriano's mind in college. He comes from a family of lawyers. He was born in Iloilo.

Finishing high school at 15, he graduated from college with a degree in History at 19 and proceeded to law school. But law was not his cup of tea, so he looked for work.

After landing a job at Globo Realty in sales and marketing, he pursued his MBA at De La Salle University, where he also began his teaching career.

Last year, his father got sick and he decided to take an easier schedule. He left Andrew Tan's group and joined Belo.

"I thought Belo was going to be much easier because of the Vicki Belo brand," he says.

And true enough, brand-wise he joined a very strong company. His travels proved this. He cites a particular trip to Malaysia wherein upon learning that he was from the Belo Group, so many people wanted to meet with him and he had nonstop meetings from 7 in the morning to midnight.

The huge brand awareness for Belo is what inspired Soriano to move for the listing of the group in the stock exchange. "The power of the Belo brand" is how he calls it.

"Vicki Belo is a maverick. Her attitude is out of the box, non-conformist. I want people to emulate out of the box thinking, including my students, Soriano says.

But he admits he owes a lot to Andrew Tan, the low-key real estate magnate.

"He had a penchant to push my mind. You have to be three steps ahead of him."

For now, Soriano is putting in 10- to 12-hour workdays that include pursuing a doctorate in Business Administration.

But at the top of his agenda this summer is to spend more time with his wife, their 3-year old-son and make another baby.