John Gokongwei leads honorees in Asean Business Awards

President Duterte congratulates John Gokongwei Jr. after the businessman was honored at the Asean Business Awards.—RICHARD A. REYES

Filipino tycoon John Gokongwei Jr., who built a small trading business into one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates, was honored on Wednesday for his contribution to supporting entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia.

Gokongwei — the founder of JG Summit Holdings Inc. and the second wealthiest man in the Philippines — was recognized by the Asean Business Advisory Council during the Asean Business Awards as one of its legacy awardees for 2017.

The 91-year-old Gokongwei is known as an entrepreneur who invested in agribusiness and the manufacturing of feeds and prime food commodities, and a visionary who channeled resources and expanded into financial services, textile and property, among other enterprises.

Other Filipino awardees were Dennis Uy of Udenna Corp., who was named Asean’s young entrepreneur of the year, and Teodoro Ferrer and Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala for Erikagen Inc.’s inclusive business practices.

Cecilio Pedro of Lamoiyan Corp. was honored for his corporate social responsibility efforts in the SME excellence award category, while Emma Imperial of Imperial Homes Corp. was cited for her company’s use of green technology.

Also awarded for excellence in their respective sectors were Paul Rodriguez of Asian Marine Transport Corp. for logistics; Pedro Delantar of Nature’s Legacy Eximport for wood products; Olivia Limpe-Aw of Destileria Limtuaco & Co. for agrifood, and Bernie Liu of Golden ABC for the retail sector.