With an impressive net worth of $2.8 billion, PeopleAsia’s “Men Who Matter” 2021 awardee Dennis Anthony Uy and wife Maria Grace, co-founders of Converge ICT Solutions, made their debut on the Forbes’ 50 Richest in the Philippines list, landing on the sixth spot. According to sources in Converge, the low-profile couple were surprised at their inclusion, and “their ranking.”
Dennis Anthony and Grace join a formidable roster of Filipinos, including the Sy siblings, Manuel Villar, Enrique Razon Jr., Lance Gokongwei and his siblings, and Jaime Zobel de Ayala, who, according to Forbes, increased their collective wealth by 30 percent to $79 billion – even in the midst of a pandemic.
In an interview with PeopleAsia’s Alex Y. Vergara earlier this year, Dennis Anthony revealed that after chalking up P15 billion in gross revenue in 2020, his publicly listed company is poised to end 2021 with 1.6 million to 1.7 million customers. Last November, Converge signed up its one millionth subscriber. The number has since grown to 1.2 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of this year.
At the rate things are going, Converge, which now has a growing nationwide presence, is on target of hitting close to four million subscribers by 2025. “But I don’t see any reasons for us [competitors] to fight,” he says, referring to his competitors. “In terms of home penetration using fiber optic technology, for example, all of us combined haven’t even catered to 20 percent of the home subscriber market.”
The self-described “Greenhills Boy” also revealed that one of his earlier ventures was a video rental shop, which he later converted into a cable TV business in Pampanga – in the aftermath of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. “People thought I was crazy, siraulo daw,” he says. “After the Americans left, 40,000 Filipinos lost their jobs. Soon after, ash fall buried Angeles. Why am I opening up a business when people were leaving?” But he had to stay put because leaving Angeles for another region meant starting all over again from scratch.
“Angeles was so down that time, the only way for it to go was up. With just one Toyota Tamaraw, my men and I drove from village to village making cable installations. They took care of installing the lines while I myself climbed posts to make final technical adjustments.”
The Uy couple join a formidable list, which includes the six Sy siblings of SM Investments and SM Prime, who topped the rankings with their combined $16 billion. They are followed by real estate tycoon Manuel Villar of Vista Land & Lifescapes ($ 6.7 billion), Enrique Razon Jr. of International Container Terminal Services Inc. ($ 5.8 billion), JG Summit Holdings’ Lance Gokongwei and his siblings ($ 4 billion) and The Ayala Group’s Jaime Zobel de ($3.3 billion).
According to Forbes, “Fortunes in the Philippines have staged a robust recovery: collective wealth of the 50 richest was up 30 percent to $79 billion. Despite the ravages of COVID-19, the economy notched up double-digit growth in this year’s second quarter. Investor sentiment remained buoyant, fueling a 13-percent rise in the benchmark stock index from a year ago.” — Jose Paolo S. dela Cruz
