The best tip for family businesses,” says Olivia “Olive” Limpe-Aw, 54, fifth-generation leader and president of Destileria Limtuaco and Co. Inc., “Don’t spoil your kids.” Destileria Limtuaco is the oldest brewery in the country.
When Limpe-Aw was in fourth grade at an exclusive girls’ school in San Juan, her parents Julius Limpe and Lily Cheng-Limpe, decided she and her five sisters needed to learn more Chinese. The siblings were promptly transferred to a co-ed school in Manila.
“We used to live in a bubble,” says Limpe-Aw. “But (eventually) we had to slug it out with girls and boys. Changing schools grounded us in reality.”
She later majored in Business Economics at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and later joined siblings in the family business. One after the other, they all got married, and she was the only one left.
“If I didn’t take on the responsibility, kawawa naman my ancestors, kawawa naman my dad who sacrificed a lot (My ancestors would look pitiful). When I was young, my mother, a lawyer, said I had a good sense of right and wrong. You enjoy the good life, she told me, because of your ancestors. Working in the family business is not pressure for me.”
In 1850, 36-year-old Lim Tua Co, a martial arts master from Amoy, China, sailed for the Philippines, and two years after, set up a distillery along Gandara Street in Binondo, peddling the herbal wine which became known as “sioktong.”
Son Carlos was supposed to be the heir, but died on a visit to Amoy. In 1926, nephew Lim Chay Seng added American-type liquors, and a decade later, his son James Limpe, took the helm.
“My grandfather James was an Am-boy (American boy),” says Limpe-Aw. “He ate coffee and donuts for breakfast. He studied in the US. He even taught English. That’s how he met my grandmother, who was a Chinese teacher.”
“He travelled in suits, he looked like a gentleman, and he was a gentleman.”
During the second World War, James obeyed an injunction for liquor makers to dump their products before the invaders entered Manila. He was imprisoned by the Japanese in Fort Santiago, where a marker stands today to honor him and other patriots.
In 1945, James started training his eldest son Julius to run Destileria Limtuaco. Likewise educated in the US, Julius learned business management, and the distillery processes of whisky, gin, vodka, rum, wine.
“My father Julius made the company grow,” says Limpe-Aw. “A researcher doctor, he was unconventional and bold. He was artistic, playing the piano and harmonica by ear, painting landscapes, having fashion sense. That’s why he was great at marketing. He was responsible for our White Castle Whisky ads on TV in the 1970s. They were a game-changer. The company really took off then.”
By that time, the firm already had 30 products, multiple plants, several warehouses in Metro Manila.
In the late 1980s, the company suffered a labor strike. “My father told me, ‘Kaya mo iyan (You can do it)!’ It would have been easy to close, then open again later. But dad wanted to continue operations.
Limpe-Aw became vice president of finance in 1991, and took the helm in 2004.
“Though scary, things happen for a reason. Perhaps the management style was no longer appropriate. We have to accept change.”
But change for its own sake can backfire.
Once, a nonfamily executive zealously wanted to increase sales. “The culture was not ready. The structure was not there. The hearts of the people were not with him. A lot of resources and effort were wasted. I’d rather be the tortoise than the hare, because timing is important.”
Limpe-Aw is the first female head in the predominantly male business. “At the start, some male heads of other companies will doubt or even belittle you. But don’t take it personally. It’s the way of the world. When they see you know what you’re doing, they will accept you.”
Next week: The next generation.
Queena N. Lee-Chua is on the board of directors of Ateneo de Manila’s Family Business Center. Get her book “Successful Family Businesses” (e-mail msanagustin@ateneo.edu). E-mail the author at blessbook.chua@gmail.com.