3. Cecilio K. Pedro – Lamoiyan Corporation

“Fighting multinationals was very tough. At first, everyone thought I was crazy. They told me, how will I survive this? True enough, it’s by the grace of God that I’m still here in the toothpaste industry after 20 years. God is good,” – Cecilio K. Pedro

Cecilio K. Pedro is another Filipino businessman of Chinese descent but his story is not the typical rags-to-riches tale but about turning adversity into triumph. He earned his business management degree at the Ateneo de Manila University, one of the more prestigious private schools in the Philippines.

He once headed Aluminum Container, Inc. which was the major supplier of the collapsible aluminum toothpaste tubes that were formerly used by local manufacturers of Colgate-Palmolive, Procter and Gamble and the Philippine Refining Company (now Unilever). However, technological innovations and the environmental concerns over aluminum materials prompted the multinational companies to make use of the plastic-laminated toothpaste tubes as an alternative. As a result, Cecilio’s aluminum factory closed shop in 1985, but this didn’t stop him from exploring other ways to put his factory equipment into good use.

Cecilio K Pedro decided to compete with the multinational giants by producing locally made toothpastes and hit them where it would hurt the most --- the selling price. He founded the Lamoiyan Corporation, which became the manufacturer of the first locally produced toothpastes “Hapee” and “Kutitap” (sparkle). They were sold in the Philippine market at 50 percent lower than the selling price of the well known foreign brands.

Although Colgate countered by dropping the price of its toothpaste products 20 percent lower than their original price, Cecilio Pedro came up with another innovation that gave him a further edge in the local market scene. He developed