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A Short Feature on Mr Francisco Licuanan III
2008-09-04
BUSINESS
MIRROR
Property
September 4, 2008
Francisco Licuanan III, chairman and chief executive officer of
Geo
Estate Development Corp feels that it was like a homecoming for him when he
came back into the property scene after
retiring as president of Ayala
Land Inc in 2004. What made it special for the Ateneo and Harvard
alumnus was that he
was able to renew his acquaintances with his
contemporaries.
"I just rested for a while and kept track of the sector
because I have a
lot of friends there. When I started The Beacon, I met people who were also
just starting their companies.
It was like a reunion. Our project
manager, traffic consultant, foundation designer are my
contemporaries. We all started
out in the industry at around the same time," says
Mr. Licuanan.
Mr. Licuanan says his comeback is timely because
the property sector is
enjoying a boom. At this time however, threats such as inflation
continue to challenge the gains
of the property sector. "For me, the
property sector is like a pendulum because it accentuates the
movement. When the
country's economy is doing well, the property
sector also does well," says Mr. Licuanan.
Mr Licuanan says that after
establishing Geo Estate and embarking on its maiden project, he had to adjust to a much smaller organization than what he
was used to. Mr. Licuanan is enjoying managing a small company as compared to a bigger company because he’s closer to
the action.
"In a small company, people can still show you what they are doing and
consult you on these things.
In a big company, there's a structured
bureaucracy to handle the day-to-day operations," he says.
In Geo Estate,
they're starting from scratch and the whole structure
is new. However, the people are veterans in the industry. As a veteran
manager,
Mr. Licuanan has to make sure that his people understand
the things he's saying, "Expectations have to be relayed to the
team.
You have to build a culture so that people can work with each other,"
says Mr. Licuanan.
Furthermore, Mr.
Licuanan is also sharing his wealth of knowledge to the
younger staff. He says it's important to first build the organization
before
building the business. "We encourage people to develop their
own initiatives to help the business. I keep on telling the
younger
guys that we may be the ones running the show for maybe the next 5 to 10 years.
But after that, you'll be the
ones running the company," he says.
Although the property market is more challenging now because of increased
competition,
Mr. Licuanan sees that there's still a big potential for The Beacon
because they're not targeting the market speculators.
He says The Beacon
is after the serious buyer who wants to invest because he wants to own
a home.
At present,
the company also sees a window of opportunity in the
current upsurge of oil prices. As fuel prices continue to soar,
Mr.
Licuanan says the typical middle class professionals will feel the
pain in the increase of the price of gasoline. As a
result, professionals who are
living in suburbs and working in the urban areas are thinking of
moving to urban areas
to save on gasoline expenses and time.
"Driving and commuting are going to be very difficult for the urban
worker.
Even before that, many people already knew that the traffic situation is not getting better. “When I first bought a
lot and started building a house in Quezon
City, I passed by every day to check on it. At the time it took me 30 minutes
to reach
Makati. When the house was finished, it took me an hour to reach
Makati," says Mr. Licuanan.
Boasting
of a one-hectare site, Mr. Licuanan says The Beacon can offer
competitive prices for their units since they can spread
the cost among
the three towers.
At present, the sales of The Beacon have exceeded the expectations of Mr. Licuanan.
He believes that this has a lot to do with the philosophy of The Beacon. According to him, showing the customer what they'll
get
in specific terms through their model units has made them popular with
the market. They also picked up EEI as the
general
contractor to ensure there would be quality in the
construction.
For Mr. Licuanan, Beacon is a milestone because
it gives him
a different fulfillment. "I think because intrinsically we have
something to sell. Being a new company,
we decided to build a new
product," he says.
With a colorful and impressive track record in property development,
many
people would think that Mr. Licuanan should enjoy his retirement. However,
Mr. Licuanan says he does not treat
his position as job but as an activity he
enjoys doing.
I want to be closer to the action. Limelight is not a problem
for
me. My problem is what I will do in the morning, I need to have something to
do to compel me to get up in the morning,"
he says.
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