No private jets or fancy cars for Manny Villar – 5 ways the Philippines’ richest man and former presidential candidate lives modestly
Once an impoverished child who sold seafood, now the Filipino tycoon behind the Villar Group is worth US$5.6 billion through his interests in real estate, malls, hospitality and education – but he stills flies cabin, drives a Toyota and works remotely from a coffee shop
Villar used to wealth to help shape his home country, serving as a senator for 12 years until 2013, and as president of the Nacionalista Party, even stood for president in 2010.
Despite having a net worth of US$5.6 billion in 2020, Manny does not live particularly lavishly. Here are five ways the country’s wealthiest man lives a modest lifestyle.
He doesn’t have an office
For a man who has constructed thousands of houses and high-rise buildings, you’d think Villar would have a slew of slick workplaces to slide between, but in fact he does not actually have an office. As the owner of Coffee Project, an Instagrammable coffee shop with 40 branches, he uses its outlets as his “mobile office”. The business mogul believes that as long as he has a smartphone and a stable internet connection, he can manage.
He sold fish and shrimp as a kid
It’s no secret that Villar was born to an impoverished family. The second oldest of nine children, six-year-old Manny would lend a hand to his mother by selling seafood at a market. Even while getting his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, the tycoon would earn a living by trading fish and shrimp.