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Edgar “Injap” Sia II’s idea might have seemed ludicrous at the time, but the founder of
the country’s first fast-food barbecue business did not doubt his idea one bit.
The country’s youngest billionaire at 40 years old, Injap Sia is the man behind one of
the country’s most popular food chains, Mang Inasal. Yes, it’s now under Jollibee Foods
Corporation, but the barbecued chicken they sell came from the mind of Injap Sia,
whose nickname comes from the lineage of his parents: Edgar Sia Sr. is half Chinese
or Instik, while his mother Paz is half Japanese.
Early days
A hard worker even at a young age, the Iloilo-born Injap was no stranger to doing the
legwork just to reach your goal. He took up Architecture at the University of San Agustin
in Iloilo City, but would later drop out at the age of 19 to start a laundry business and
open up his own photo-developing center.
2003 was the year when Injap came up with the grand idea of opening up a chicken
barbecue fast-food restaurant – an idea that was a bit of a novelty at the time. His
father, a Filipino-Chinese, gave him a hard time before eventually giving in.
The name
The name “Mang Inasal” was pretty straightforward: it’s Ilonggo for Mr. Barbecue. His
father, Edgar Sr., had other ideas. He wanted the name to be shorted to “Mng Inasal”,
citing feng shui and companies like Jollibee and Chowking. Both had eight letters in
their name, and both were successful in the fast food business.
Injap nearly gave in to the suggestion until he came across Banco de Oro, which had 10
letters and was just as successful as Jollibee and Chowking. Edgar Sr. eventually gave
in, and Mang Inasal was born at a mall in Iloilo City.
The deal
From that one branch, Mang Inasal ballooned to over a hundred in 2009. One Manila-
based company took notice and wanted in on the chicken barbecue craze: Jollibee
Foods Corporation and its owner, Tony Tan Caktiong.
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Caktiong later acquired 70 percent of Mang Inasal’s stake for a whopping Php 3 billion
in 2010. In April 2016, Jollibee acquired the remaining 30 percent to the tune of Php 2
billion.
Two years after fully acquiring Mang Inasal, a partnership between Sia and Caktiong
was born: Double Dragon Properties, a real estate company that wants to develop 100
community shopping complexes called City Malls in the smaller cities of Visayas and
Mindanao.
Diversify
That first Php 3 billion didn’t go to waste. Ever the eager businessman and learner,
Injap invested the money he got from Jollibee into banking (he was part of Philippine
Bank of Communication’s board for two and a half years), and health maintenance (he
still serves as a director for Maxicare, the country’s largest HMO).
Today, he is the CEO of Injap Investments, Inc., which holds a joint venture in Double
Dragon Properties with Tony Tan Caktiong’s Honeystar Holdings Corporation. He’s also
the owner of People’s Hotel, a 5-storey businessman’s hotel in Iloilo City.
Injap Investments also owns Hotels of Asia, Inc., known for its line of Hotel101
condotels. They also acquired Deco’s La Paz Batchoy in 2007, the country’s oldest La
Paz batchoy restaurant in the country, and is located mostly in the Visayas region.
QUESTIONS:
1. What basic functions of marketing emphasized to the business success of Edgar Sia? Explain.
2. What marketing strategy being applied by Edgar Sia those bring success to his businesses?
3. Highlight which part of the story relating to need, demand and offer?
4. What Entrepreneurial characteristics displayed by Edgar Sia in the story?
Best Regards,