MANILA - Running a business was not exactly what Lorraine Belo-Cincochan had in mind when she was still a student in UP Diliman.

She did not enroll in a business course. Instead of taking up accounting, management or economics to prepare herself for her family's enterprise, she took up Creative Writing.

“I wanted to be a professor, I wanted to teach,” she told ABS-CBN News, recalling her passion for English literature.

But as luck would have it, she found herself pulled into the family business. The reluctant businesswoman became the head of the family company, and she grew it to an entity now worth around $2 billion.

When Lorraine took over as president and CEO of Wilcon Depot in 2016, it was already an established name in the home construction business. Her father William Belo had built it up from a 645-square-foot hardware store in Quezon City in 1977 to a major retailer for building materials and furnishings.

But under Lorraine's leadership, the company saw explosive growth, with the brand becoming nearly synonymous with home improvement.

GROWING THE BUSINESS

Lorraine led Wilcon’s listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2017. From an IPO price of just P5.05 per share, the company’s stock rose dramatically in the succeeding years, hitting P40 per share at one point in October 2021.

Its 2017 debut in the PSE was named Best IPO for the Philippines at The Asset Triple A Country Awards that year.

Lorraine also led an aggressive expansion. After taking the company public, she sought to put up more Wilcon outlets across the country.

“We have been on a growth trajectory. And every year since then (the IPO), we’ve been growing by 8, 9 or 10 stores a year.”

From 37 stores in 2017, Wilcon Depot has grown to 84 branches across the country as of March this year, with 10 stores in the Visayas and nine in Mindanao. The company targets to have a total of 100 stores by 2025.

• Wilcon 2017 highlights: Building big ideas through the years

Besides increasing the number of stores, Lorraine also expanded Wilcon’s offerings.

“Our value proposition is really to offer a wide variety of products for anyone who needs to renovate or build a new space. We want you to come here and find everything.”

She said this was also partly the reason why the company’s stock has risen dramatically.

Wilcon Depot currently has a market capitalization of around P110 billion ($2 billion, $1 = 55), making it one of the most valuable companies in the Philippines.

The Belo family has also become one of the richest in the country, with an estimated wealth of around $1.15 billion as of 2022, according to the international business media website Forbes.

Forbes, in 2018, named Lorraine as the lone Filipino in its list of Asia’s “Emergent 25.”

According to the publisher, Lorraine was one of 25 honorees who “reflect the broader impact women are having in the Asian business world and were chosen for the money they generate, the influence they wield, and the ideas and trends they are advancing.”

SOURCE OF SATISFACTION

But she doesn’t let this accolade get to her head. Besides the corporate results, her real satisfaction comes from seeing the company’s employees thrive along with their business partners, especially the suppliers that were with Wilcon from the start.

"‘Dun ako natutuwa, dun ako nasisiyahan.“

Lorraine said she recognizes that women in the workforce face added challenges compared to men.

“As a woman CEO, I can imagine na there would certainly be biases and stereotypes that would be associated when you are female. I think there is that difficulty.”

But this is not the case in Wilcon, she said.

“I’d like to say that our company... very encouraging kami sa women leaders.”

Wilcon is a meritocracy, Lorraine said, and she makes sure that women and other genders have equal opportunities to advance in the company she runs.

“In my context, in the Wilcon context, it’s not that difficult to be female.”

“I work to ensure that we treat, or we hopefully give proper attention to talent or achievements regardless of gender–male, female or other.”

“You deliver, you get results… you get recognized.“

CHALLENGES

Like many businesses, Wilcon Depot faces the proverbial myriad of challenges right now, with elevated inflation and high interest rates weighing down consumers’ purchasing power and sapping their willingness to take out loans.

“The high inflation rate is everybody’s concern,” Lorraine said, adding that it might affect their sales “a bit.”

But she also noted that people who are building their homes are unlikely to hit pause just because prices have gone up.

“You don’t really stop in the middle of the construction.”

Wilcon’s customers–people who are building their dream homes– see to it that their projects are finished, she said.

And unlike food and fuel whose prices can swing wildly from one week to the next, the prices of construction materials and home furnishings generally don’t rise as much, Lorraine said.

“Our prices are a bit steady because we have stocks, and we have inventory.”

Anyone who has ever built a home or renovated their house has likely at one time or another bought something from Wilcon. It’s the largest and most well-known retailer of hardware and home materials. It sells everything from tiles to bathroom fixtures, plumbing essentials, roofing materials, electrical equipment, paint and furniture.

And Filipinos have come to associate the brand with these needs. This is what keeps the company resilient, according to Lorraine.

“Mainstay ang pagpapatayo ng bahay sa Filipino dream.”

While the pandemic sapped some of the growth momentum Wilcon built following its IPO, the company has bounced back with a vengeance.

Last year, Wilcon opened 10 stores in Luzon. And as the economy fully reopened and Filipino families resumed building their dream homes, Wilcon’s net income jumped 50.2 percent to P3.85 billion.

Not bad for an English Major who did not originally want to be a businesswoman.

This article is part of the Amazing Women series of ABS-CBN News this month of March, featuring stories of select women who are making a mark in their respective fields and advocacies. March is National Women's Month in the Philippines.

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more News on iWantTFC