MIGUEL TAN answers the MH Questionnaire

Tell us what you do.

I am the CEO of Fasclad Inc. We are a Glass and Aluminum Façade contractor for highrise buildings. I am also CEO of MVT Group of Companies which is the holding company for some of our investments related in diverse industries such as Mosaic Realty & Development Corp, Studio 300 Bowling, Anytime Fitness Franchise, and Yedang Korean Grocery Corp.

How do you define success?

Success can differ for every person, but for me I believe that it is all about being content with your work and the postive impact you create in your society. In my case, whenever we complete a successful highrise building project we take pride that we take part in nation-building efforts towards a First World Philippines, especially since the buildings we clad will essentially last a lifetime.

What life lessons did you derive from the pandemic?

The biggest challenge during the pandemic was to continually adapt and operate our business groups in the most safe and efficient way, especially with our portfolio which is involved heavily in Construction, Fitness Gyms, and Restaurants. Our industry by nature is dependent on human interaction and labor.This proved to be a great challenge for us because of the pandemic and multiple lockdowns.Nevertheless, we were able to quickly adjust to the current situation by addressing the problems at the onset. The pandemic has forced us to think out of the box in terms of our previous business processes; this triggered us to innovate the way we conduct our business and through that, several changes were made in which most of our transactions and business communications are now done through online platforms. This has really helped us avoid unnecessary contact and exposure and at the same time we were able to shorten our processes which translated to cost efficiencies in our operations. With the improvements made we were able to efficiently cut cost and maintain low overhead. This allowed us manage our quarterly cashflows and buy us time to agressively pursue new clients and construction contracts. Thankfully by the grace of God and the collective efforts of the company we were able to pull through.

What’s the last movie/series you watched? The Menu

What book is on your bookshelf but you’ve never read?

Barack Obama’s The Promised Land

What song can't you get out of your head?

The Girl from Ipanema

What would you like to see in the “next normal”?

I believe we are living in it today already, I personally prefer not to compare pre-pandemic levels anymore as a means to measure progress since we have crossed over the curve already. I do hope to see a world that will be more prepared for the unexpected since this crisis was unthinkable so we as a nation must always be prepared for crisis.

What’s your favorite thing about Manila House?

I personally love the diverse food selection and the unique learning events, this is something I tend to look forward to every month.

If you had to be quarantined (again) which country would you choose to be in?

I believe I would want to be in Thailand, for the simple reason of it being close to home with delicious food.