- Details
- Category: Marketing
- 13 Jul 2014
- Written by Jeahan Virda B. de Barras / Photo by Stephanie Tumampos
WHEN you ask a successful man about what he could still possibly want in life at this point, you’d possibly get upright answers like “I want good health,” or “I want my family to be happy,” or “I want to leave a mark in this world.” But here is Manny Osmeña, popularly known as Manny O., who gives the most surprising answer of all: “I want more money. I need more money,” he declares, without even a slight tinge of indignity.
This is a very odd answer from him because, backed with his businesses that are important players particularly in the tourism industry, he evidently doesn’t need more money. And for many people who know this man of faith, his life does not revolve around money at all.
But now we find him lobbying tycoons after tycoons, bluntly imploring for large funds—all in the toil of making possible some things that are very close to his heart.
A new hope for all
Hailing from Cebu, Osmeña is the group chairman of the Manny O. Group, with a roster of companies including the Mövenpick Resort and Spa Cebu, the Cebu Pacific Catering Services, the SkyKitchen Philippines Inc. and the SkyLogistics Philippines Inc. He also has quite a fascinating passion for wines which he translated into the multiaward-winning, globally renowned Manny O. Wines brand.
From afar, one would think that Manny O. already has it all in life. Supported by his loving family, his passionate team behind his businesses, and his faith in God, he is nothing short of satisfied over what he has and who he is now.
But when he celebrated his 60th birthday last year, he started plummeting. “God suddenly placed a burden in my heart—He told me that I should now start helping to really bring social progress. For the longest time, I’ve been telling my children that before God calls me home, I have to go back to helping those who are in need first. When I crossed 60, I realized, what am I waiting for?”
A couple of weeks after this realization, a big earthquake happened in the Visayas region. “I was really scared. It was not an ordinary earthquake at all. I felt that was already my time,” Osmeña recalled.
The big earthquake was then followed by a twister in Cebu. And then finally, by Supertyphoon Yolanda. “With all the destructions that hit home, I was wondering about what God is personally trying to tell me,” Osmeña said.
The Manny O. Group sent volunteers during the whole time that the Visayas was recuperating from the disasters. Quite notably, all the revenues of Mövenpick Hotel during the weekend after Yolanda struck were used to help the affected people. But after all these, Osmeña wanted to do more. “We handed packs to 10,000 families which were good for about two days. The thing that really bothered me was that, what’s next for them?”
“By that time, I was thinking, these people lost everything—most of them have no hope anymore. And they need to regain that, starting with getting a new home and livelihood. This is why I partnered with Gawad Kalinga for a community-rebuilding program.” The partnership, Osmeña said, aims to build 160 houses in four Yolanda-affected communities, and finish everything by the time the year ends.
This project also further spurred the HopeNow Foundation, which will be mobilizing on full swing in the coming months. “This foundation is how we want to show that there must be an urgency to give hope—not tomorrow, not the following day, but now,” Osmeña said.
A key to braving future disasters
For months, the HopeNow Foundation and the partnership with Gawad Kalinga have been keeping Osmeña busier than ever. And busier days are still ahead, with the start of the Hospital on Wheels, a new ambitious project that had the mogul himself lobbying around to seek support.
He first officially opened up this idea during the Open Collaboration with East Asia New Champions (OCEAN) 14 in Cebu, a post-summit of the World Economic Forum. “The forum brought about the topic on how doctors, who were volunteering during the aftermath of the disasters, couldn’t carry out their duties effectively because, although there may be medicine, there was a big shortage of medical facilities where they could perform major or minor surgeries.”
“From there, I just suddenly spilled the grand idea of hospital ships,” he said. “I didn’t even know how much that would cost, what that would mean. But right then and there, I said I’m going to put in half a million dollars as seed money, to get the ball rolling.”
Osmeña then talked to two of his tycoon friends who both became very interested with the project. After much planning, the idea was redeveloped into the Hospital on Wheels. Osmeña explained that the Hospital on Wheels will be a fully functional, state-of-the-art hospital. “For this, there will be three trucks with specific purposes. One would hold a high-tech operating room. The other two would have diagnostic laboratories to perform major first-aid works. And then tents would be set up around the ‘hospital’ for people who are recuperating.”
“We will be using solar energy, of course. And all trucks will be all-terrain to be able to travel even without roads. It will be the first of its kind,” he added with excitement.
But Osmeña was advised that he cannot perform such an ambitious project alone. Hence, he is now seeking for the help of the biggest names in all industries. “It feels so good to go and ask for money from wealthy people, to be able to give to those who need it more. Normally, asking for money is for your own and it’s embarrassing. But with this, asking for money, it just makes me proud,” he said.
“What is really touching is that right after I stepped out of the stage during my speech at the OCEAN 14, people from big corporations were already lining up to support. From drug companies, information technology, banks...big companies both in the Philippines and other parts of the world. This project has become global.”
“I’ve now been talking to people from all parts of the country and the world. But I tell you, it was God who prepared these contacts for me to do business with. I didn’t even look for them. When God orchestrates it, He just surprises you.”
“I’m just being obedient to God’s will now. So during gatherings, while people are exchanging their business cards, I am handing out materials talking about the Hospital on Wheels,” he quipped.
A good use of the businesses
In the midst of Osmeña’s current advocacies, he is also starting to think of ways on how he could find more money for the Hospital on Wheels using his businesses.
His Manny O. Wines, for one, are going to be put to good use in the coming months. A hundred bottles of the famous Manny O. Bibulus ’07 Medoc Cru Bourgeois—a premium red Bordeaux which won the “Trophée Vin Rouge,” the highest award at the Vinalies Internationales 2013 in Paris—will be put on auction on September 1 this year at the Mövenpick Hotel.
“After we won last year, we started recalling all the ’07, and we were able to recall about a hundred bottles only. So it has become rare. And I thought, this will be a good avenue to raise more money for the project.”
Osmeña said he has settled at P50,000 as floor price for the auction. So far, he has already had a few friends who have committed to coming to the auction.
“Whatever amount comes in from the auction, I will double it and add to the seed money that I’m putting in for the Hospital on Wheels,” he declared.
When asked about how he is going to sustain the leverage of his businesses while he is busy running his advocacies, he confidently said: “I am empowering my managers now. I am urging them to make a stronger charge. Most important, I am encouraging them that the Manny O. Group has a higher purpose. We don’t just make money to put in our pockets.”
He also said that he is very particular with empowering not just his managers, but the rest of the people who make up the whole Manny O. Group. “I always tell them that whatever they could contribute to the pie, that will be the one to sustain the business. I also tell them often that I need them to help me, not to help me enrich my pocket, but to help me to be able to give more.”
“How so? I believe that the only way charity is made sustainable is to have good income. You cannot give what you cannot have.”
A life lived by faith
Ultimately, Osmeña said his advocacies are really what he will be spending most of his time for in the next years.
“I know that this is where God is calling me now. I just have to be obedient and He will take care of the rest, including my business. Business is about opportunities. And who gives you the opportunities? You cannot arrange it. Only God can arrange it.”
“So whatever I have now, it’s all because of Him. So this life is about following His good and perfect will. And to me, more than anything, that’s what matters most,” he concluded.
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