In 1936, the 12-year-old Sy Chi Sieng, which means in Chinese “to attain ultimate success,” brought nothing but the shirt on his back and an equivalent of 10 centavos in his pocket to sail to the Philippines from Xiamen City in Fujian province and join his father who had set up a retail store on Echague Street in Quiapo, Manila.

He did not speak English nor Filipino and, unlike most Chinese immigrants then who travel in a group, he was alone.

Sy Chi Sieng became Henry Sy and he recalled in one interview that his Filipino-Chinese mother, Tan O Sia, gave him just one advice on the day of his departure which is “don’t look back.”

He found the Philippines a good place to call home and he never did look back until years later when he was a business tycoon and ready to build the SM City Xiamen mall.

Sy worked in the sari-sari store of his father in Quiapo where, at night, he would clear the store’s counter to become his makeshift bed.

He said his father would wake up before dawn and carry the goods he purchased from Divisoria to the store in his bare feet. From then on discipline, hard work and good reputation became his life’s compass.

Aside from looking after his father’s shop, he bought cigarettes in cartons from American soldiers at a corner of Plaza Miranda.

He would earn a few centavos in mark ups from each pack and use these to buy second-hand books needed in his school since the family had no extra cash to spare.

Sy, despite the odds, worked hard and completed his elementary education within five years.

As a teenager, he would climb to their roof to stargaze and plan for the future, Sy said.

Hard work was his investment as he was at the store right after school even on weekends and holidays.

Earning from the fruits of hard work was the basic lesson he gave his children.

Even before he passed away he would tell his children to rather earn through selling goods at SM stores and use the income they get to buy whatever they needed particularly luxuries.

Sy would often remind the youth — there is no such thing as “overnight success or easy money.” Sy would recall that it took him several years of hard work selling different merchandises to raise a capital for Shoemart.

Sy was 17 when the Japanese occupied Manila. It was then when he did much of the purchases for the family stores. During the American liberation of Manila, Sy with his father fled to Novaliches, and found out upon their return to Manila that one of their stores was burned down while the other was looted.

The tragedy led to his father returning to China in despair but Henry chose to stay with only a few hundred pesos to rebuild his business.

Henry then became a friend of Don Vicente Lim Rufino who owned properties in Plaza Miranda and other places in Manila. He leased to Sy a property on Calle Carriedo.

Sy set up a stall that served as a store by day and his home at night. He bought shoes from American traders which he sold in retail. The Americans trusted Henry since he always paid on time.

Sy was off to the road of success. Henry bought his first car, a second-hand Chrysler, for P1,000 and at 23, he had enough to pay for college. In 1952, he enrolled at the Far Eastern University and took up commerce.

He then leased more properties from Rufino. He tapped a neighbor, Lao Kang, to open the Paris Shoe Store which was followed by the bigger Park Avenue Store.

Before reaching 30, Henry had made his first million. “Only the first million is difficult. After that, the rest is easy. There are countless ways to make more money. Only your willingness to work, your imagination, and time can limit the ways,” Sy said.

Running two stores, however, forced Sy to give up the four-year course and settled for a two-year Associate in Commercial Science.

In 1949, after being a client for 12 years, he secured his first credit line from Chinabank which he later owned.

What he missed in school was made up by his travels, Sy would say. Indeed, he saw unlimited possibilities through his travel later on in life, resulting in the many SM group investments overseas.