Fe Barino: A biz leader with her people at heart

This year’s Most Inspiring Woman Entrepreneur Fe Barino said their corporate culture is deeply rooted in the essence of being family, with relationship considerations always taking precedence over profit or business structure.

CEBU, Philippines — If there’s one thing businesswoman Fe Barino might have inspired other people, it’s her idea of “people philosophy” in running a company.

Being the woman behind one of Cebu’s growing companies in construction and real estate, she considers the people as the most important asset to any business.

At the company she founded together with her husband, Rafaelito Barino 30 years ago, employees are more than human capital.

A native of Liloan, Cebu, Fe has been instrumental in the establishment of what is now known as the Duros Group of Companies whose core businesses are into construction and real estate.

The Barinos’ corporate culture is deeply rooted in the essence of being family, with relationship considerations always taking precedence over profit or business structure.

“Sincerity is very important to me. Sa business, importante ang tinud-anay. Being sincere in what you’re doing. And people will look up to you,” the 60-year-old vice chairman of the group said in an interview with The FREEMAN.

That being said, Fe puts so much importance on making people working in the company believe in its ideals and values as these usually make up a successful endeavor.

Her “people philosophy” idea has indeed paid off.

It has created deep-seated loyalty, sense of security and honest fidelity of their people to the company.

Beyond good business decisions, the values of quality work, honesty in dealings, respect for people, concern for environment and most of all, faith in God have been instrumental in making the family-owned enterprise to be a key player in various industries in the past 30 years.

As the companies evolved and expanded, Fe heavily pursued for the development of all employees, on both competency and non-competency based disciplines. She was front and center of the initiative to revise the organizational structure, develop systems infrastructure and upgrade the business processes.

For being an image of “woman power” in business, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently recognized her as the Most Inspiring Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, the first ever award of its kind the chamber has given.

Becoming the boss

Looking back, Fe had never dreamed to become a boss that she is today.

“I just really wanted to have a stable job then and marry a man nga dako og sweldo,” she said in jest. But God may have put her in the world of business for a certain purpose — to inspire others.

Together with her husband, she had built and defined the vision of the family business that had grown to become the multi-billion venture that it is today.

Aside from her entrepreneurial obligations, Fe also makes herself busy serving the Church.

She is instrumental in the stimulus and motivation of the religious and civic groups in Cebu where she had actively taken leadership roles.

The Duros Group is a family business, which started with just a very simple contracting work with San Miguel Corp in 1990.

Today, the company still enjoys the trust and confidence of SMC and the business relationship have expanded and became more diversified.

A breakthrough opportunity came in 1995 when the company became a sub-contractor of Dongsung Construction Co. Inc., for the reconstruction of the Northern Cebu Road Asphalting project. Its first Asphalt Batching plant, equipment and machineries were all imported from Korea, with financial assistance from the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Since then, Duros Development Corp. (DDC), the group’s parent firm, has developed a huge construction portfolio that included some of the most significant infrastructure that defined the growth of Cebu and lately, some parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

DDC eventually grew to become a major player in the civil construction industry with projects that included construction of highways, concrete and asphalt paving, port and bridge construction, infrastructure maintenance and rehabilitation.

In 2011, the company launched Duros Land Properties Inc., (DLPI) to become its real estate arm. The company’s land holding is a mix of ancestral land and acquired properties.

Today, the DLPI’s land bank is about 250 hectares. The company just recently launched the Northside Beacon, its 200-hectare township development in Liloan with residential, commercial and institutional components anchored on a par 72 18-hole golf course.

In 2015, the group took on the challenge to build the 15,000-capacity IEC Pavilion, which was to become the venue of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress.

With only a little over than a year to plan, design and construct, the project became a serious challenge, taking a toll on all resources: from manpower and equipment to financial reserves.

But the company withstood the challenge and successfully turned over the project on schedule.

Today, its property management arm, the Regent Property Management, transformed the structure into the IEC Convention Center (IC3).

Being the biggest convention center in southern Philippines and accredited by the Department of Tourism, IC3 has hosted some of the biggest and most notable trade fairs, exhibits and concerts in Cebu. Over time, the homegrown construction and real estate firm has also diversified.

Aside from construction and real estate, its business lines now include trading (San-Vic Traders Inc., and Cebu Eco-thermal Horizon), agro-industrial (San-Vic Agro Builders), food (San-Vic Foodchain), school (Divine Life Institute of Cebu) and property management (Regent Property Management).

On the sidelines, Fe also actively takes leadership roles in various civic and religious groups.

She established the SuGod Drug Rehabilitation program because she firmly believes that by restoring each individual’s human dignity, they could possibly re-transform themselves back to being productive members of society. This undertaking had so far produced 566 program graduates, 53 of which are now employed by the Duros.

She also became the chair of the newly-activated Commission of the Laity, a collaboration of all the lay organizations in the Archdiocese of Cebu.

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