Filipino businesswoman Teresita Sy-Coson shares her thoughts about artificial intelligence.
“AI is the big buzz word nowadays, but we see it as a tool, not to replace humans at work. We need to study and assess AI. [If] it is too fast, developments in that field, some might make mistakes and it might be costly,” she said.
She said that AI or no AI, hiring the right people wasn’t that easy. “We need to be patient, to get people to join your team and [learn] how to be aligned with you. We usually look for people aligned with our vision. We need to learn how to handle people. One cannot be too liberal and too democratic.”
Sy-Coson remains calm and self-effacing despite her enormous fortune. She exudes an unshakable aura of self-confidence and toughness in decision-making.
Born in October 1950, Sy-Coson is the daughter of legendary Henry Sy, founder of the SM mall chain with 88 branches nationwide, plus eight in China. She was widowed with the passing of husband Louis Coson in 2003.
She is considered Asia’s most powerful businesswoman, running a string of business enterprises that practically covers a broad spectrum of Philippine economy—from large shopping centers to universal banking to real estate.
She is the vice chair of SM Investments Corp., reputedly one of the “largest publicly-traded holding companies with interests in retail, banking, property and portfolio investments,”
She is also the chair of BDO Unibank Inc., the largest of its kind in the country in terms of total resources, capital, loans, deposits and assets-under-management.
Sy-Coson has received numerous awards and citations in recognition of her business leadership, notably in banking and retail.
Among her laurels were Asia’s Best CEO award, Asian Corporate Director of the Year award 2012, Best Retail Banker of the Year, Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) President’s Award in 2014, not to mention inclusion in Forbes magazine’s 50 Power Business Women.
Owing to her exemplary credentials, Sy-Coson was designated part of the three-member Philippine delegation to the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC), an organization formed in 2003 by ASEAN leaders “to provide private sector feedback and guidance to boost the alliance’s efforts towards economic integration.”
This businesswoman, philanthropist and heiress initially wanted to be an architect but apparently did not have the time and opportunity to chase that dream.
The defining moments of her philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors came amid the COVID-`19 pandemic through the SM Foundation. She was able to save countless lives by donating 150,000 doses of vaccines to multiple inoculation drives spearheaded by the Department of Health across the country.
Sy-Coson also handed over P1.5 billion in hospital equipment for the welfare of frontline medical personnel, as well as for those handicapped to deal with the surge in patients, particularly protective gear for doctors, nurses and orderlies; and additional vaccines for public hospitals “that were not on the priority list.”
She jestingly discloses her secret to staying young: give your stress to other people. She is also a big fan of the late American President John F. Kennedy’s motto: Ask not what the government can do for you; ask what you can do for the government.
She also recalls how her father “taught us to be hardworking, to make the most of opportunities, to be the best in our chosen fields… We all felt pressured, he was a very demanding father. We all had to work hard and persevere.”
“Our parents taught us the importance of hard work. I’m okay to work even 10 hours a day now at my age,” she reminisced in an interview with write Wilson Lee Flores.
“Our parents taught us not to forget where we came from, we should never forget. We started out as lower middle-class. Our business started as a small company,” she said.
Just how the family business grew to be a conglomerate that it is now, Sy-Coson said they have kept reinvesting their earnings.
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