Sports keeps Pru Life UK CEO focused on goals

TAKING out his BMW for a ride.

Antonio Manuel G. De Rosas, president and CEO of Pru Life UK, the local subsidiary of British financial services giant Prudential plc, has a laserlike focus on achieving a single goal: To get more Filipinos to get insurance and protect themselves and their families from life’s uncertainties.

At this point, De Rosas has his work cut out for him considering that only a miniscule portion— about 5 percent—of the Philippine population has any form of life insurance.

De Rosas, however, is a patient man and has the discipline necessary to lay out all the steps that he and his company need to take to contribute to achieving that goal.

That the 48-year-old has developed the patience and single-minded determination to accomplish what he sets out to do he attributes to his lifelong devotion to sports.

De Rosas, who keeps a busy schedule running one of the country’s largest insurance companies, still finds time to take part in triathlons and take his motorbike out for a ride with friends and colleagues.

At home, he regularly runs through his karate routine to clear his mind and get himself ready for a full day’s work.

De Rosas, who graduated summa cum laude from the University of San Francisco with a degree in Business Administration, has been into sports since he was a child.

He first took up swimming in grade school in Hong Kong, where his father was assigned, and then moved on to track and field.

And then he got into martial arts—De Rosas remains a member of the Japan Karate Association—which he combined with running and swimming.

DE ROSAS has been involved in karate since he was a child.

De Rosas gave up some of his time for sports in college to concentrate on his studies, although he managed to keep up with his karate lessons.

Sports, however, fell by the wayside when he started working.

“Those were difficult years,” says De Rosas, “I was working until 3 a.m. There was no time, so I got really fat. Even my wife got scared. For two to three years, I had no exercise. I was just 24 years old but my blood pressure was borderline high at 130/90.”

“I thought then that one day I was going to have a stroke, so I slowly went back into running again and then swimming. I also cut down on food. I avoid beef or pork now for health reasons,” says De Rosas, the first Filipino in the Philippines to receive the prestigious Chartered Global Management Accountant designation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

De Rosas, who had stints at consulting firms Arthur Andersen and Co., Ernst and Young, Asia Commercial Bank and Nippon Life Insurance Co. of the Philippines before joining Pru Life UK in 2007, has maintained an active lifestyle and he would not have it any other way.

“Sports is a way to de-stress myself and have a more balanced life,” De Rosas tells Business Monday, “As with anything, I like to do the best that I could. But I don’t want to be obsessed with just one thing.”

De Rosas, who became Pru Life CEO in August 2010, tries to take part in at least one triathlon a year, and he has a personal trainer who puts him through his paces.

When he was 28 years old, he could finish a 42-kilometer full marathon in less than four hours. These days, he needs about 4 hours and 20 minutes.

HE TRIES to take part in at least one triathlon a year.

And in the triathlon, swimming is still his best sport considering his constant training.

“Once a week, I do some swim training and I also keep up with my karate training at home,” says De Rosas.

Sports take a lot of his time and energy but De Rosas says that sports helps him do a good job.

“Sports keeps you determined, focused and also goal-oriented. Karate, like business, is also about the process and not just the goal. It is about the movements and how to execute them properly,” says De Rosas, who has a Masters in Business Economics from the University of Asia and the Pacific.

For Pru Life, which last year emerged as the second largest insurance company in the Philippines with total premium income of P15.59 billion, next to Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc., De Rosas says the goal is to further grow the business and contribute to improving the insurance penetration in the Philippines.

“A lot of Filipinos are still not covered, but people have the same needs. People are getting old and getting sick. People are also living longer. They will need income to live on. There are a lot of issues that Filipinos still need to understand,” says De Rosas.

He says that in other countries, selling insurance for protection purposes is not so much a problem as in the Philippines.

MUSIC is another one of De Rosas’ passions

“It used to be income that was preventing Filipinos from getting insurance, but now it is more financial awareness, the realization that they actually need it,” says De Rosas.

He adds that more Filipinos are buying insurance policies for the investment feature, not so much the protection for risks such as death or disability.

“But the first thing that people should get is protection. Because what will happen to the family if they suddenly go or get sick. That is what people should first look at, adequate protection,” stresses De Rosas.

He expressed confidence, however, that with growing awareness of the need for insurance, the goal of increasing penetration will be achieved.

It is a race that is more like the marathon that he loves, rather than a sprint.