College Dropout to Billionaire: Edgar Sia of Mang Inasal

In the road to success, self doubt will always be the number one enemy. As they say, your mind could be your ally or your greatest adversary. In that sense, Mang Inasal’s founder overcame all odds and adversaries and went on to become Philippines’s biggest barbecue fast food chain has around 500 stores nationwide.

The founder, Edgar “Injap” Sia was said to be ludicrous during his younger days. He took up architecture at the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City but later dropped out to start a small laundry business. Sia was indeed a hard worker armed with consistency and perseverance in his arsenal. He later then opened-up a photo-developing center, and by 2003, his grand idea of having a chicken barbecue business became reality as Mang Inasal was born.

Mang Inasal is an Ilonggo term for “Mr. Barbecue”. His father however, strongly suggested that they change the name to “Mng Inasal” so that it will contain 8 letters that many Chinese people believed it to be lucky according to “Feng Shui” and other Chinese superstitions.

His father also cited that many successful fast food chains like Jollibee and Chowking had 8 letters in it but he also suggested that “Banco de Oro,” which is a successful bank in the Philippines had 10 letters in it. After a long time of brain storming Mang Inasal was finally born at a mall in Iloilo City.

Mang Inasal grew at a rapid pace as it reached over a hundred branches nationwide in 2009. Eventually, the growth of Mang Inasal caught the eye of Jollibee founder and owner Tony Tan Caktiong and he made a deal with Sia for Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) to acquire 70-percent of Mang Inasal’s stake for P3 billion in 2010.

The remaining 30-percent stake of Sia was also acquired by JFC in 2016, giving the food conglomerate full ownership of Mang Inasal.

Sia’s business accumen did not stop at the food industry, however.

He founded Injap Land Corporation in 2009, which became DoubleDragon Properties Corporation, now the developer of the CityMall chain of malls.

DoubleDragon Properties became a public company In 2014.

Edgar Sia also entered the investment industry after Injap Investments Inc. was created in a joint venture of DDP. Injap is also the owner of the People’s Hotel, one of the finest hotels on Iloilo City. (MLC)