BIZ BUZZ: Andrew Tan to AIM grads: ‘Travel light, fly high’

Tycoon Andrew Tan proudly joined the graduates of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) last Sunday, after being conferred an honorary Doctorate in Management.

He waxed nostalgic about how he was eager to start a business after leaving school.

Tan talked about his beginnings in the liquor business, starting 46 years ago with a 200-square-meter factory in La Union.

Back then, his workers would climb to the top of the big steel mixing tank and use a long bamboo pole to stir and mix the alcohol.

That small factory eventually become Emperador, now a global company with nine distilleries, 1,500 hectares of vineyards and 1 million square meters of bottling and cellar facilities in Europe, Mexico and the Philippines.

Emperador is part of Alliance Global Group, with a 56,000-strong workforce and interests in real estate, integrated tourism, fast food and e-commerce.

That growth was not easy and he learned valuable lessons along his long journey, some of which he shared with the AIM graduates.

First, he encouraged the graduates to “embrace a positive mindset.”

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“If there comes a time when we feel we missed out on something good, we must stay hopeful. We must persevere, keep trying, and never give up,” he said.

“There were moments in my life when I thought I had missed out on a good opportunity. While I may have been disappointed, I never stopped looking for new possibilities. The new opportunities I discovered later proved to be even better and more rewarding. What I missed out on turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” he added.

He also advised them to enjoy the good moments, and be prepared to experience challenges, setbacks and even failure.

“To gain value from these difficult experiences, we must focus on extracting the wisdom from them, and letting go of the emotional burden. When we do that, we are not weighed down. We can travel light, and we can fly high,” he said.