Rising star D&L president Alvin Lim Lao believes in tradition without being superstitious.

A second-generation scion of a Chinese-Filipino family, Alvin Lim Lao, president and chief executive officer of D&L Industries, considers himself a man of science, having taken his undergraduate degree in Information Technology at the University of West Australia and later his master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yet, he also believes in certain Chinese traditions without “being superstitious.”

He tells Daily Tribune, “But what’s the harm? If I see ‘eight’ as the number of a house, or if a phone number has several eights, I’d pick it out if I had to choose one.”

Alvin spent the first 14 years of his life in the Philippines and spent part of his high school at Xavier School, a Jesuit-run Catholic educational institution. He and his family attend the Greenhills Christian Fellowship.

What truly stands out, though, is his outstanding management of D&L Industries, which his uncle Dean, and his father Leon, founded in the early 1960s. The first letters of the elder Laos’ names became the name of the company which, today, is the top manufacturer of “customized specialty products,” shared Alvin in the exclusive interview.

“We are a B to B company, meaning that most of our customers are companies also,” he explained. “We don’t sell much to consumers, but most of our customers make products which are sold to consumers.

“These could be food ingredients in restaurants. Our largest customers would include Jollibee, McDonalds and Universal Robina Corporation. A lot of ingredients of the items they sell in their stores come from us. It’s possible that we also crafted the recipes that they use. We have a wide range of products that include different sauces, mixes, flavorings, the frying oil, or even the desserts. We make special flour mixes. Or a special oil. Or a flavoring spice.”

Ten years after living and studying abroad, Alvin returned to the Philippines and joined the family company. “No, we did not grow up expecting to be employed by the company that our parents founded. We applied for a job, and we had to submit ourselves to an interview,” he clarified.

Today, as the president of the D&L Industries, he applies much of what he has learned in the top educational institutions that he attended, while mixing this with common sense, advice from his father “to choose employees with the right attitude” and from the regular meetings of family members “where everyone young and old is allowed to speak his mind out. We just make sure to be respectful of each other,” said Alvin, a family man who raises his children the way “I was raised, too, with a lot of explaining why certain rules need to be followed.”

Daily Tribune (DT): From the way you explain what your company does, it is obvious that you contribute a lot to the kind of products that food manufacturers and fast food chains serve.

Alvin Lim Lao (ALL): Well, one is taste, but another is we can help our customers reduce their costs. We can help them improve their processing time. We can help the customers improve the storage time for their raw materials. Maybe, they normally could keep their raw materials for only two days, and after that, they have to throw them away. It would be such a waste, so we can probably develop an alternative product that they could store for a longer time.

ALL: My grandparents, all four, came from China – Fujian province. Because, 400 or 500 years ago, China was already doing a lot of trading. Since this part of Asia is closest to Fujian, this is where they would end up. That’s why we have the oldest Chinatown in the world, I believe.

DT: What was your family initially engaged in?

ALL: In the history of our company, my father, Leon, had four brothers, Uncle Dean, Uncle Alex, Uncle Edwin and Uncle Jack and they did not have a sister. The three eldest brothers are chemical engineers. And that is the basis of why we are what we are. We really have a foundation on chemistry research and development (R&D).

ALL: It was my father and uncle. The oldest uncle is Uncle Dean, and my father, Leon, is the second in the family; that’s why it became D&L.

DT: What was the family’s first product?

ALL: From the stories I heard, they started with colorants for baskets in 1963. It was considered a fairly technical concern, and it is a product that needs a lot of R&D and customization.

“I’m surrounded by a lot of really good people because there’s no way we can do what we do with only a few of you working together,” Lao said. Born in the Year of the Pig

ALL: From old San Juan, we moved to Quezon City in the 1970s. What I remember mostly of my childhood is Quezon City.

ALL: I was born in 1971, the Year of the Pig. I will be 48 this year. I have a wife and two kids.

DT: Where did you go to school in elementary all the way to college?

ALL: I went to Xavier. I stayed there until 1985 when my family migrated to Australia. The economy was in shambles and my parents felt it would take 50 years for the Philippines to recover. So, as a sacrifice for our sake as their kids, they decided to go to Australia. They felt there was no future for us here because back then it was really bad. So, I finished high school and college in Australia at the University of West Australia. I studied Information Technology and Statistic.

DT: What were your interests as a child?

ALL: I loved to read, I played with friends, spent time with the family and did the usual stuff that would interest a kid.

ALL: I did my MBA at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the United States.

DT: You must have been in the honors class.

ALL: I guess so. The normal undergraduate degree in Australia lasts for three years. If you have one additional year, they call that honors year. So, I stayed four years.

DT: What did your siblings do after college?

ALL: My brother worked in Japan after acquiring his degree. My first sister went to New York to study again. My fourth sister went to Taiwan. We four were in different places.

ALL: After college in 1993, I moved to Singapore where I worked for the Singapore government. I worked for the National Computer Board which manages the computerization of the Singapore Government. I was seconded to the Supreme Court’s Computer Department. And then I did my master’s in the States. And then, I came back to the Philippines and joined the family business.

DT: Did your parents continue to live in Australia?

ALL: My mum lived with us in Australia. My father would commute. He would spend, let’s say, three or four weeks in Australia. Then, he would return to the Philippines to work for two or three weeks.

DT: When did you return to the Philippines?

ALL: In the 1990s, all of us came back to Manila. One by one.

ALL: As Pinoys, it’s natural to want to explore the world and experience life outside of the Philippines. But by the time I finished my master’s, I had been away from the Philippines for 10 years, and that desire was completely out of my system. I was 14 when I left for Australia. Ten years was long enough and I missed home and missed being with family. So, I decided to come back.

DT: Were you involved immediately even when you were in high school here?

ALL: No. We were brought up not to expect to eventually join the business. That’s like one of our rules. So, before you join the business, you need to apply and have a conversation. No such thing as an automatic employment.

DT: What do you look for in an employee?

ALL: My father told me a long time ago that it’s important to have competency or job knowledge, but more important than competency is attitude. Competency can be learned or taught, while attitude is within the person; it is not something that can be easily changed. That’s what we look for. Competency is, of course, important – the skills you bring in and all that, the contacts – but if the attitude is not okay, we will pass.

ALL: A great set of people that make my job a lot easier. I’m surrounded by a lot of really good people because there’s no way we can do what we do with only a few of you working together. The whole company needs to cooperate, from the top all the way to the bottom. Even in matters of the simplest tasks, we need everyone to be cooperative.

ALL: Unfortunately, when things unexpected happen. Or when our politics gets volatile. Or when economic conditions, like the US-China trade war, affect everyone. It’s unfortunate because the Philippines is a growing country. There’s so much opportunity and there are so many people who want better things.

DT: What is your basic management style?

ALL: We hire people and we delegate, but we monitor and we also want to help in case they need our help.

DT: How are the dynamics within the family? You are related to one another, you are several Laos in the company, I suppose. How do you work together and remain successful?

ALL: The oldest to the youngest are all free to speak out. Of course, everyone is expected to be respectful of each other. So, there’s a lot of respect. And everyone gets a turn to say something. And I’m very thankful that all opinions are heard. In many ways, a lot of the decision making is delegated, so we can make a real difference in the company. That’s something I am very thankful for.

ALL: It involves a lot of meetings and discussions with regard to people within the company and our stakeholders outside the company like investors, suppliers, bankers and media. And then there’s a lot of thinking. I try to spend as much time analyzing – like are we on the right track in certain projects? I look up the numbers. I look at the various metrics. We also look at ways of how to improve doing business.

DT: Are you involved in civic work? Are you a member of a club that does philanthropic work?

ALL: Our family has a foundation that focuses on education for the underprivileged. We either sponsor or pay for scholarships through other groups that are already doing the work. We also try to do a lot in vocational courses. We work with TESDA, Don Bosco or Dual Tech because a lot of their graduates are employable already. And the demand is high. In some cases, we work with charitable organizations like Charity First. In some cases, we also grant direct scholarships. As much as possible, we leave it to the kids to decide what courses they want to study. Of course, we highlight to them that if this is the course they study, this is the kind of occupation you are likely to have. We make them aware of the what they can expect if they pursue a particular occupation such as the salary range, the working conditions, the chances of getting employed, and so on.

ALL: I like to try to spend as much time with my family. My eldest is 15, my youngest is 12. So, sometimes, it’s just small things like accompanying my kids to some activity, watching a school play, or going to a parents-teachers meeting in school.

DT: Is your wife a Chinese Filipina also?

ALL: Yes. We were introduced by my cousin.

ALL: My wife would say I am not strict enough. I guess I try to emulate how my parents treated me. We were given rules but they were not overly strict. But at the same time, it was always explained to us why certain things had to be followed. Like why we had to eat vegetables. Why we had to sleep at a certain time. What were the benefits to one’s health? What were the penalties? Things were explained to us so that’s also what I am trying to do.

ALL: Sleep. (laughs). I am not a maluho (extravagant) kind of guy. The car I drive now is eight years old. It’s a Lexus Hatchback. It’s not super high-end. It’s okay. I’m not the type of person who buys an expensive sports car.

ALL: I guess, at the end of the day, because I spent a lot of time in Australia, I love going to Australia.

DT: What Chinese traditions do you practice at home?

ALL: Well, we try to speak the language. With my parents, I always speak in Hokkien. I’m trying to do that with my kids as much as possible. We wear red on our birthday and someone else’s birthday party. We celebrate Chinese New Year. As much as possible, especially if I am with my parents, I don’t wear black. But if I am with my friends, I wear black. You just need to be sensitive to whoever you are with.

A lot prefer the number eight because the word, in Chinese, sounds like the word for luck, which is fat, or lucky. The number four sounds like the word for death. With your name, you can’t do much, but when it comes to your house number, or your telephone number, you can make a choice.

ALL: I wouldn’t say I am a superstitious guy because I finished a science degree. But what’s the harm? If I had a choice, and I see a number with number eight, I’d pick it out if I had to choose one.

ALL: I won’t say I am overly religious. I am a Christian because we are brought up as Christians in the family. I belong to the Greenhills Christian Fellowship. Although I attended a Catholic School.

ALL: I hope the Philippines can start fulfilling the potential it has because it would be a waste if the country didn’t fulfill that potential. We have so much going for us as a country, and people really want progress, but there are a lot of things that have held us back. So, that is something I really want to see.