CORAZON DAYRO-ONG

Corazon Dayro Ong is the founder of the meat-

processing company CDO Foodsphere, Inc. Ong is a

dietician by profession and has been awarded Most Outstanding Dietitian Award by the

Nutritionists-Dietitians Association of the Philippines. She was also awarded the 2009 Woman

Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young.

Ong started out as a dietitian in Manila Central University in the 1970s. She married Jose,

a professor at the Ateneo de Manila University who gave her three children. Jerome, the

corporate vice-president who has a degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines;

Jason, a nutritionist and head of the research department; and their only daughter, Sharmaine,

licensed physician but joined the family business as the one handling the financial aspect.

After she got married, Ong decided to quit her job as dietitian in a hospital to take care of

her children. At that time she was only preparng baon for her family. But these snacks turned out

to be a favorite in the neighborhood. Eventually, Ong turned this hobby into a business.

The company was founded on the June 25, 1975 at the backyard of the Ongs’ house

in Valenzuela as a processing area. It was initially registered as CDO Food Products, having a

capital of P60,000 loaned from a local bank. Ong and her family began the operation with

longaniza and tocino as their front liners.

In 1981, Foodsphere Inc. was duly registered and CDO was retained as the flagship name

of its food products. Innovations and modernizations followed to ran after the growing industry.

The company was converted into a family corporation.

 In 1987, tragedy struck when a fire broke out and destroyed their processing plant. At

that time, CDO has been producing 5,000 kilos of longaniza, tocino and hotdogs, and is due for

accreditation from different restaurant chains when the event happened. What was salvage was

just a not-so-modern equipment. Ong however, did not waste any time and rebuild the company

after just two days.

From then on, different innovations of products were continuously being researched to

satisfy the palates of the consumers especially Filipinos. From Longanizas to tocino, hotdogs and

many others, the company tried to develop more and more products to cater the masses base on

their consumption.

In 2001, the company introduced carne norte which suited the Filipino taste at a very

reasonable price and another innovation in the industry. CDO-Foodsphere has emerged as the

number one producer of carne norte in the land. She was also the brain behind the San Marino

Corned Tuna, which is now a hit in the market. CDO Foodsphere has established its success

based on the needs of the consumers. Ong’s core vision came to reality that is to provide

affordable food products to the most number of Filipino households.

Lesson

Love your work. Enjoy what you are doing. Focus on your project and be involved – be hands

on. Have perseverance and dedication. And that is the secret of being a successful of Ms.

Corazon.

Reference list:

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Corazon_Dayro_Ong