This story has been told and retold, but it is an honor to tell it anew because it can continue to inspire young people to follow their dreams and become successful.
It isn’t exactly a typical rag-to-riches narrative because the man-of-the-hour, Edgar Saavedra, chairman of Megawide Construction which he founded with college friend Michael Cosiquien, was born and raised by a well-off family in Mindanao.
It may be said that Edgar and Michael were still wet behind the ears when they put up Megawide after graduating from the De La Salle University, but sheer guts and determination grew it from small beginnings in 1997 into a multi-billion enterprise that it is today.
Over the years, Megawide has morphed into an engineering and construction conglomerate with substantial exposures in transportation, real estate and recently, renewable energy.
Saavedra is also the chairman of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp (CREC), reputedly the country’s second largest solar energy provider.
Having gone public in June 2024, CREC already operates 10 solar farms and rooftop facilities.
Saavedra is looking at a 5,000-megawatt solar energy output, and he is on his way there with CREC’s over-subscribed initial public offering that mustered P5.3 billion.
It was his third successful IPO, the first being Megawide’s in 2011, followed by Citicore Energy REIT Corp. in 2022.
All taken, the Megawide Group garnered a total of P30.5 billion from the three offerings.
Saavedra was naturally delighted with the resounding successes of his ventures at the Philippine Stock Exchange. “The success of our latest listing motivates us to exceed expectations in fulfilling our commitment to regulators and investors,” he said.
CREC’s P5.3-billion IPO also enshrined Saavedra to the 43rd spot on Forbes magazine’s 50 richest Filipinos with a net worth of $270 million.
Rewind to 2004, Megawide, then a struggling mid-size company expanded to cover assets in engineering, procurement and construction. It went into private-public partnership (PPP) involving such huge projects as the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange and the terminal building of the Clark International Airport.
In 2007, Megawide got its Triple A license from Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB). In the same year, it won two large construction contracts, the Berkeley Residences and Grass Tower 1 of SM Development Corp.
Megawide went public on Feb. 18, 2011 and was able to raise nearly P2.3 billion in fresh capital. The IPO was part of Megawide’s plan to expand its client base and undertake PPPs with the government, using the funds for the construction of its precast concrete plant in Taytay, Rizal.
On March 1, 2018, Megawide and its India-based consortium partner GMR Infrastructure, submitted a P150-billion, or $3-billion, bid to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, but lost to San Miguel Corp.
Undaunted, Edgar set his sights on more PPP projects. “So I would say, more than half of our revenues and earnings are coming from these PPP projects, from airports, to school buildings, now to transport terminal project,” said Saavedra.
Megawide has constructed classrooms in more than 1,700 sites at different locations in seven different municipalities in Luzon.
“It’s the spirit of believing in ourselves that led us to this new business,” he said. “We were able to develop the skills in winning the bid in PPP.”
In retrospect, Edgar said “drive and passion” were crucial in nurturing Megawide.
“In our early days, we didn’t know much about running a construction company because we had no experience, but we loved what we were doing, so this gave us the drive to achieve our goal. We were very passionate for our work. We’re almost like a fool, otherwise, we would’ve given up,” he said.