CORAZON DAYRO-ONG

Corazon Dayro Ong is the founder of the meat-processing company CDO

Foodsphere, Inc. Ong is a dietician by profession and has been awarded Most
Outstanding Dietitian Award by the Nutritionists-Dietitians Association of the Philippines.
She was also awarded the 2009 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young.
Ong started out as a dietitian in Manila Central University in the 1970s. She
married Jose, a professor at the Ateneo de Manila University who gave her three children.
Jerome, the corporate vice-president who has a degree in Economics from the University
of the Philippines; Jason, a nutritionist and head of the research department; and their only
daughter, Sharmaine, licensed physician but joined the family business as the one
handling the financial aspect.
After she got married, Ong decided to quit her job as dietitian in a hospital to take
care of her children. At that time she was only preparng baon for her family. But these
snacks turned out to be a favorite in the neighborhood. Eventually, Ong turned this hobby
into a business.
The company was founded on the June 25, 1975 at the backyard of the Ongs
house in Valenzuela as a processing area. It was initially registered as CDO Food
Products, having a capital of P60,000 loaned from a local bank. Ong and her family began
the operation with longaniza and tocino as their front liners.
In 1981, Foodsphere Inc. was duly registered and CDO was retained as the
flagship name of its food products. Innovations and modernizations followed to ran after
the growing industry. The company was converted into a family corporation.
In 1987, tragedy struck when a fire broke out and destroyed their processing plant.
At that time, CDO has been producing 5,000 kilos of longaniza, tocino and hotdogs, and is
due for accreditation from different restaurant chains when the event happened. What was
salvage was just a not-so-modern equipment. Ong however, did not waste any time and
rebuild the company after just two days.
From then on, different innovations of products were continuously being
researched to satisfy the palates of the consumers especially Filipinos. From Longanizas
to tocino, hotdogs and many others, the company tried to develop more and more
products to cater the masses base on their consumption.
In 2001, the company introduced carne norte which suited the Filipino taste at a
very reasonable price and another innovation in the industry. CDO-Foodsphere has
emerged as the number one producer of carne norte in the land. She was also the brain
behind the San Marino Corned Tuna, which is now a hit in the market. CDO Foodsphere
has established its success based on the needs of the consumers. Ongs core vision came
to reality that is to provide affordable food products to the most number of Filipino
households.

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