Filipino tycoon says Hong Kong missing out on business opportunities in her country
Teresita Sy extends invite to city’s investors, but many still have reservations about doing business in the Southeast Asian nation
A prominent Filipino businesswoman has said Hong Kong investors have overlooked her country’s potential, urging them to forget any negative perceptions they have about the country and invest.
Teresita Sy, daughter of the country’s richest man, Henry Sy, and vice-chair of SM Investments Corporation – the Philippines’ largest family-owned conglomerate, worth more than 1.1 trillion pesos (US$21.8 billion) – said she would like to invite Hong Kong businesspeople to see the Philippines for themselves, so they would not be deterred by any preconceptions.
But local traders said they have genuine worries about doing business in the archipelago nation.
Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) in Hong Kong, said what worried his peers most was the domestic and political risks in the Philippines, ranging from the 2010 Manila hostage crisis, during which eight Hong Kong tourists were killed, to the country’s relationship with China.
Speaking from her office with the Manila Bay sunset behind her, Sy said: “Hong Kong [business]people look elsewhere, but not the Philippines.”