What do Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Stripe’s John Collison, and Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy have in common?
All of them are millennial entrepreneurs and part of the list of the world’s top billionaires who embrace the digital space by utilizing new technologies to develop businesses.
In the Philippines, there’s a company that uses the same strategy— incorporating technology and research into its practices—to better service its clients and stakeholders. And the man behind it is also a millennial, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who dreams big and make solid actions to turn them into reality.
Experienced millennial CEO Jet Yu has a good history working in the real estate industry. He has a strong entrepreneurial skill in Advertising, Sales Management, Real Estate Economics, and Real Estate Transaction such as property acquisition and disposal, office space leasing, retail space leasing, industrial space leasing, property and facility management, and real estate research/advisory services.
“Real estate business has evolved rapidly in the past ten years driven by the millennial market and technological advancements.I have passion for angel investments to foster and sustain Filipino ingenuity and innovation,” Yu, who is very critical in picking the right entrepreneurs to mentor and invest, told Manila Standard in an interview.
Better known as one of the investor-judges in the previous season of CNN’s The Final Pitch, Yu graduated at the University of Asia and the Pacific with a Bachelor’s degree in Science in Entrepreneurial Management in April 2011.
“As an angel investor, I’m always on the lookout for businesses that foster and sustain Filipino ingenuity and innovation. On the The Final Pitch, I supported a team that pitched an application that simplifies the intimidating concepts behind stock investment so that common people would know when and how to invest in different companies,” he shared adding that he is keen on pursuing ideas pioneered by Filipinos.
Even before they were required to start their own business, a part of their curriculum in their third year, Yu had already put up a food kiosk selling siomai and rice meals at one of the LRT stations in Caloocan.
“Managing a food kiosk was difficult and very time consuming so I had to sell the kiosk,” Yu, who came from a traditional Filipino-Chinese family who is also into real estate business, said.
At age 22, he had pioneered more than five successful businesses and at 23, he put up Prime Philippines.
Barely one year in the business, in 2014, the company brokered the biggest transaction in Quezon City with a project that was worth P500 million.
Now, PRIME Philippines is leading the real estate consultancy business in the country. In Quezon City for instance, it dominates the city holding 65 percent of its commercial lease transactions and several big ticket acquisitions. His new venture Greatwork business campus redefines the traditionally congested cubicle design of the office by introducing a co-working setup conducive to collaboration.
Apart from the Philippines, the millennial CEO and investor has also strategically invested in several start-up companies in Singapore, and Hong Kong, and is continuously still in the hunt for property technology-related companies or PropTech.
According to Yu, his five-year-old company is proud to be the country’s flag carrier in the field of commercial real estate. With P30 Billion worth of portfolio and various notable big-ticket projects, the firm is proud to be the nation’s leader in its industry. The company is committed to its mandate of providing excellent services to its clients and to contribute to the progress of the Philippines through its industry. He also revealed that he plans to bring his company public by the year 2021.
“The company’s growth for the past five years has been exponential. We have offices now in Manila, Davao and we have our first international office in Shanghai. The company has completed more than 100 real estate research projects and employs more than 100 full-time employees,” he shared.
When he put up his own company, his goal was simple, he wanted to challenge tradition and to create real estate solutions.With only half a decade from its start of operations in 2013, PRIME Philippines is committed to providing twice the impact and the service excellence.
“When I was starting the company, it was hard, I was dealing with people twice my age. But my parents, the people who I consider my big influence, told me that before anything else, I need to build a good reputation and I should always prioritize character over skills,” he ended.
