Josephine Gotianun Yap helms one of the fastest growing diversifying conglomerates in the country.
The only daughter of the late business tycoon Andrew Gotianun Sr. has a lot on her plate: property, banking, power, sugar, among others.
Armed with an MBA major in finance and international business from the University of Chicago, Gotianun-Yap joined the family business, then mostly property and consumer finance, in her early 20s. Just as the family business have come a long way from used-car financing that her father founded in 1955, Gotianun-Yap also rose to the top to become president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the publicly-listed holding firm Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) in 2000.
Today, Gotianun-Yap has set her eyes on big, bold dreams for the Group.
“The goal of the Filinvest Group is to build sustainable businesses anchored on our vision of empowering Filipinos to attain their dreams,” Gotianun-Yap said in an email interview.
To achieve this, the Group intends to focus on identifying underserved markets in property, financial services, and utilities/urban solutions.
Having learned from the lessons of the pandemic, Gotianun-Yap said the Group “will be deliberate in promoting resilience across our businesses. “
“Sustainability will be at the forefront of what we do as a group,” she added.
Gotianun-Yap acknowledges the big role of innovation and people development in growing the Filinvest Group. Moving forward, these guideposts will greatly influence how the company will expand its businesses to serve its customers more meaningfully, according to Gotianun-Yap.
“Sustainability will be at the forefront of what we do as a group… Making our products and services more relevant through innovation will be key to our success”
“Making our products and services more relevant through innovation will be key to our success,” she said.
Gotianun-Yap sees the Group’s core businesses continuing to explore ways of giving majority of Filipinos a way to achieve their dreams.
For example, the country’s housing backlog estimated at 6.5 million homes provides the real estate business, through FLI, a well of opportunity for building quality homes and communities.
Gotianun-Yap said with many Filipinos still unbanked, the Group’s banking business, East West Bank, especially its digital banking arm, has ample room to grow.
She said the utilities business, FDC Utilities Inc., will aim to power more communities and explore areas of expansion where the service is most needed.
The hospitality business, Filinvest Hospitality Corp., is poised for growth with 7 operating hotels and resorts and a project that is under construction in Baguio City.
But beyond fulfilling the needs of the market through its core businesses in the property, banking, utilities, and hospitality sectors, the Group is particularly proud of past and ongoing initiatives that will serve the broader economy.
“We are particularly proud of our power contribution that finally stopped the brownouts in Mindanao and allowed the region to grow. Today, we are also proud of our participation in Clark International Airport (CRK). CRK provides the much-needed capacity to fuel the Philippine tourism industry as well as support business travel. We see this project as a way of participating in the nation’s development,” Gotianun-Yap said.
“We are particularly proud of our power contribution that finally stopped the brownouts in Mindanao and allowed the region to grow. Today, we are also proud of our participation in Clark International Airport (CRK). CRK provides the much-needed capacity to fuel the Philippine tourism industry as well as support business travel. We see this project as a way of participating in the nation’s development”
Through the LIPAD consortium where Filinvest Development Corp. partnered with JG Summit Holdings, Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc., and Changi Airport Philippines (I) Pte. Ltd., Gotianun-Yap said the company has been able to harness its combined expertise to deliver world-class airport operations in the Philippines. “We hope to explore similar projects that will allow us to serve the interests of the Filipino people in a significant way,” she added.
Gotianun-Yap believes having a new generation of leaders and transformational programs will make the company more agile and ready for the future.
Her leadership style is one of collaborative management. “It has been proven many times over that the synergistic effect of collaboration contributes more innovative ideas and builds trust-based cooperation in the organization,” she said.
Gotianun-Yap was recently hailed as first female Philippines Real Estate Personality of the Year by the PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards.
The official publication of Property Report by PropertyGuru, the official magazine of Asia Property Awards & Events, quoted Gotianun-Yap as saying that the accolade is “a testament to the decades of hard work and passion that Filinvest dream builders have poured into the growth of our businesses” and inspires us to double our efforts because we value the trust of every Filipino family who chose to build their dream with us.”
