ROSEMARIE Rafael, a former ticketing agent, built a powerhouse logistics company from the ground up.
She founded the Airspeed Group in 1985 with only six employees and a delivery van. Over the years, she has nurtured the small company into a dominant cargo forwarding firm manned by more than a thousand workers, deploying a fleet of some 300 vans for global operations in at least 90 countries.
About 70 percent of Airspeed’s top management team are females. Rafael is out to prove to all and sundry that women can compete, probably do even better than men in the male-dominated fields such as logistics.
This mother of four holds her people and stakeholders on top of her priorities, saying having happy employees work efficiently, in turn creating satisfied customers.
Airpseed boasts of efficient freight solutions management, warehousing, distribution, customized logistics, and Customs clearance services.
In 2022, the SM Investments Corp. took a majority control of Airspeed Group, holder of several other logistics companies including Airspeed International Corp., where Rafael sits as chair and president.
Rafael was also the first woman president of Aircargo Forwarders of the Philippines Inc., the lone air cargo trade association recognized by the Civil Aeronautics Board.
In 2020, Airspeed embarked on digital products such as UnboxMe which delivers items bought online in the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Hong Kong.
At the home front, she put up Pinaspeed, a local counterpart of Unbox Me, offering delivery services for online shoppers. As a visionary business manager, she garnered recognitions here and abroad, including the Asia CEO Awards, Asean Business Awards, Asean Women Entrepreneurs Network and Global FWN100 Awards.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Rafael embraced new ideas that generate business opportunities, empower people, help the underserved communities and advocate women empowerment.
She is a big fan of the adage, “When one door closes, another one opens.”
One negative experience she could never forget was when she was locked out of a meeting room because she arrived at least 10 minutes late because of a phone call that lasted more time than expected.
However, that phone call turned out to be a game-changer for Rafael. It was about a business offer she could not refuse.
Eventually, she bid her boss goodbye and set off on another career path that would take her to greater heights. She didn’t mind if her former employer was Numero Uno on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) list.
Rafael was so bullish about her decision to venture beyond the horizon. Five years later, Airspeed claimed the number one spot in the IATA, unseating her erstwhile employer.