local entrepreneurs

Ben Chan -The Man Behind "BENCH"-  

Ben Chan is a prominent Chinese-Filipino entreprener who is the founder of the Philippines' largest clothing chain, Bench, under the trademarkSuyen Corporation. With his world class fashion style and hardworking ethic, he has expanded the Philippine clothing chain into international markets including China, the land of his forefathers.

Mariano Que -founder of Mercury Drug- 

Before the World War Two started, Que started his career working in a Manila drugstore. After the war, when the country was scarce in medications because most of the drug stores were destroyed, sulfa drugs, including sulfathiazole were considered as the cure-all drug and were much in-demand.

Que recognized the opportunity and started selling medical vials and capsules in marketplaces. When Que had enough money, he bought a bottle of sulfathiazole tablets and sold them in single dosages. This method of selling, known in Filipino culture as “tingi”, became very popular for the poor.

-Mecury Drug's Logo-

Henry Sy - Fonuder of SM

Henry Sy  is a Chinese Filipino businessman and the founder of SM Group and chairman of SM Prime Holdings, the largest retailer and shopping mall operator in the Philippines. He earned his Associate of Arts degree in Commercial Studies at Far Eastern University in 1950. Acknowledged as the country’s "Retail King," he has come a long way from the modest shoe store he set up in Quiapo in 1946, to become Asia's biggest shopping mall operator with over 41 malls throughout the Philippines.