It’s a great honor, and I’m grateful to Bloomberg for taking note of our work and the developments here in the Philippines.

Ramon S. Ang, president and chief operating officer of conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC), has made it into the Bloomberg 50, an elite annual list of top global innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders who have changed the global business landscape, as compiled by Bloomberg Businessweek. He is the first Filipino to make it to the list.

An unranked list, the Bloomberg 50 represents the most influential thought-leaders in business, entertainment, politics, finance, fashion, and science and technology, whose accomplishments were particularly noteworthy and defined 2019.

“It’s a great honor, and I’m grateful to Bloomberg for taking note of our work and the developments here in the Philippines,” Ang said. “I hope this helps to showcase the many great and positive things happening in our country.

Ang is joined in the list by Warner Media News and Sports chairman and CNN President Jeff Zucker, TV host Jon Stewart, pop star Rihanna, Shopify CEO Tobias Lutke, Glaxosmithkline CEO Emma Walmsley, Marvel Studios president Kevin Fiege, American gymnast Simone Biles, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, Disney International Chairman Kevin Mayer, celebrity and Kylie Cosmetics CEO Kylie Jenner, and climate activist Greta Thunberg.

In the last decade, Ang engineered the massive diversification and transformation of the over 100

years-old San Miguel from a beer, food, spirits and packaging company with market leading positions, to a diversified conglomerate with interests in industries crucial to Philippine economic growth: Food and Beverage, Oil and Fuels, Power, Infrastructure, Banking.

SMC is one of the country’s largest companies by revenues and profits. In 2018, its revenues breached P1 trillion, equivalent to about 5.9 percent of the Philippines’ local output measured as the gross domestic product.

Much of San Miguel’s earnings are ploughed back and reinvested in the Philippines in the form of growth-generating manufacturing facilities and infrastructure projects aimed at improving people’s lives, decongesting cities, and sustaining economic growth.

Currently, SMC’s Food and Beverage business is in the midst of the largest capacity expansion program in its 129-year history. It is building additional breweries, new feed mills, flour mills, food processing plants, poultry facilities, and a ready-to-eat plant, in various locations nationwide.

These new facilities bring direct and indirect jobs, livelihood opportunities, and boost local economies.

SMC, under Ang, is also managing, operating, and constructing some of the country’s biggest infrastructure projects.

Its operating expressways include the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), Skyway 1 and 2, Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), the NAIA Expressway (NAIAX), and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).

It is building Skyway Stage 3, which will connect SLEX and Skyway 1 and 2 to the Northern Luzon Expressway from Buendia, Makati; Skyway Stage 4, from Skyway FTI, Parañaque City to the Batasan Complex in Quezon City and to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, and the Skyway Extension from Alabang to SLEX Susana Heights.

SMC is also set to build the SLEX TR4 project, which will extend SLEX from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Lucena City in Quezon province.

San Miguel is also building the MRT-7 project, which will stretch from North Edsa through Quezon City, to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. The project includes an intermodal transport terminal and a road component that will connect to the North Luzon Expressway.

Most ambitious project SMC’s biggest and most ambitious upcoming project to date is the new Manila International Airport project in Bulacan province, just north of Metro Manila, and accessible via an expansive infrastructure network.