Edgar "Injap" Sia II is the founder and owner of Mang Inasal, one of the fastest growing food chains in the Philippines. Born into a Chinese-Filipino family of entrepreneurs, Sia was exposed to business from a young age working in his family's grocery store. After some early business ventures like a photo shop and hotel, Sia founded Mang Inasal in 2003, opening the first location in a mall parking lot. Mang Inasal grew rapidly to over 400 locations nationwide. In 2017, Jollibee purchased a 70% stake in Mang Inasal, making Sia one of the wealthiest people in the Philippines. Despite the success, Sia emphasizes hard work,

2. The man behind the success of
is no other than

3. Edgar "Injap" Sia II is the
man behind Mang Inasal, one of the
fastest growing food companies in
the Philippines, which has become a
modern icon of the Ilonggo culinary
culture.
His parents gave him the
nickname “INJAP” because “Sia”
is originally from China while
“Jaruda”, his mother's name, is
originally from Japan. “INJAP”
stands for Intsik-Japan. His
parents are businesspersons and it
was expected that he take up some
business-related course in college.

4. Born into a family of Chinese-Filipino entrepreneurs, he was
exposed to business from a very young age.
•He worked on their family own grocery store as cashier, stacking
merchandise, taking inventories or manning the counter after
school. at age of 10.
The family store became the training ground that cultivated Mr.
Sia’s drive for success.
•He studied architecture in University of St. Augustine Iloilo but
dropped out a year short before graduating.
•Sia's first taste of running a business was when he was 20 years
old.
•His early business ventures are express photo shop, Laundromat
and small budget hotel. All these are based in ILOILO.

5. Then, he cooked up the idea of operating Mang Inasal, the
specialty of which, is grilled chicken. It opened on December 12,
2003.
•In 2003, Sia opened the first Mang Inasal on a mall parking lot.
With P2.4 million of borrowed money, he started the MANG INASAL
venture.
•By 2009, Mang Inasal has 100 stores.
Today, Mang Inasal has 422 outlets nationwide and has even
overtaken McDonald.

6. Who would have thought that then a
26-year old college dropout will become the
youngest Filipino billionaire…
The springboard for Edgar Sia to be on the list started when
Jollibee’s Tony Tan Caktiong bought 70% of Mang Inasal for P3 billion. A great
breakthrough for Edgar Sia, who founded his multi-million barbecue chain
in Roxas City. The deal earned Sia a spot among the Philippines’ wealthiest
for the first time this year.
But the story doesn’t end there. Edgar Sia together with his
brother Ferdinand and sister Rizza retains the 30% stake in Mang Inasal.

8. Sia considers sheer hard work and innovation as the primary reasons of Mang Inasal’s
success.
He also cites the UNIQUENESS that allowed him to beat the odds as a new player in the
fast food industry.
While he listens to his instinct, Sia is very calculated and strategic in his approach to
business. He firmly believes in hard work and perseverance, and encourages
aspiring entrepreneurs to do the same.

9. The phenomenal growth is due to a totality of factors including:
good business concept quality of food
marketing strategy affordable pricing and effective expansion
But the X FACTOR which has made all these happen is the blessing from God, Sia says
He also urges them to believe in their capacity to make their dreams come true, saying
“Nothing is impossible with the right attitude. Do not be intimidated by problems.
Instead, look at them as opportunities for growth. I was lucky to acquire the right
entrepreneurial attitude as a young boy. You could say I developed the
right asal (behavior) for inasal,” he quips.

10. MANILA, Philippines – The owner of Mang Inasal Philippines Inc., which was recently
sold to giant JOLIBEE FOOD CORP., said letting go of his chicken-based business was
“painful.”
In a letter to his “Mang Inasal Family,” Edgar Injap Sia II expressed “deep sadness” like
a “father parting with his child” as he hands over the care of the restaurant to the
giant conglomerate.
That Jollibee will be paying P3 Billion for a 70% stake in Mang Inasal has made Sia “a
very successful businessman,” according to bloggers and online commentators. The
buying price of Jollibee, which courted Sia for the transaction, values the entire Mang
Inasal business at P4.3 billion. Not a bad deal for a business that has an estimated
annual total revenues of P2.6 billion and system wide sales of P3.8 billion.

11. Thus, despite the pain and the deep
sadness, Sia said he is “ecstatic and in high
spirits” since the future of his “7-year old
child…is secured and filled with great
optimism.”

12. In 2003, when Edgar Injap Sia was offered a 250 sq. m. space in the
parking building of Robinsons Place Iloilo a lot of people advised him
against leasing the property but Sia determined that it had potential.
While thinking of a concept for the space offered to him, he
realized that for that business to succeed, he should innovate and start
something new, instead of just copying an existing business concept. He
zeroed in on the native Ilonggo chicken barbecue called Inasal in the dialect-
and combined it with the familiar fast food dine-in concept.

13. During Mang Inasal's first few days of operations, there were so
many customers that Sia himself had to help with cooking, cleaning,
serving and other tasks in the restaurant during the day. Afterwards, he
had to work at home, marinating the chicken to be cooked and served at
the restaurant the following day.
After four days of this kind of backbreaking work, Sia realized that
running a restaurant was no easy task, and he contemplated giving up
altogether. However, his belief in the promise of the concept kept him
going. "We learned along the way, we encountered problems, but I believed
that when there's a will, there's a way," he says.

14. From the very start of Mang Inasal, Sia had received a lot of inquiries
for franchising, but he held back until 2005, or two years after starting the
business. He wanted to ensure that the business was already stable before
taking the franchise route. When Mang Inasal was opened for franchising
in 2005, the company rapidly expanded-- a complete surprise for Sia.
To help him with his expansion efforts, he joined both the Philippine
Franchise Association and the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc., the
country's biggest franchise organizations.

15. Mang Inasal is the only one that tries to promote Filipino cuisine and
Filipino values. This, he says, sets them apart from all the other fast food
chains, which are mostly Western-themed. In addition, he introduced an
innovation that quickly and rapidly appealed to Pinoys who typically like a
heavy meal: Mang Inasal was the first quick service restaurant to offer
unlimited rice to patrons, a practice that they continued even when rice
prices surged last year.
Sia says expansion will continue with a hundred more outlets
planned for 2010. Sia is also looking at international expansion, possibly in
the US and Middle East, where there are sizeable Filipino populations.
Taking the company public through an initial public offering is also a step Sis
is considering.

16. MANG INASAL is doing its share in alleviating the
unemployment burden of the country. The presence of every
MANG INASAL in a certain area provides not only employment
but also opportunities to community members including
suppliers of:
Kalamansi
Charcoal
banana leaves
Vegetables
bamboo sticks
and other ingredients.
It also indirectly gives income-generating activities to many.

17. Sia was the Small Business Entrepreneur winner
handed out by Ernst and Young in 2010.
He also received the Urban Leadership Award from
the Canadian Urban Institute because of his
outstanding contributions to the enhancement of the
public realm and the quality of life in the Metro Iloilo-
Guimaras area.

18. My entrepreneurial career has been a roller
coaster ride, with so many loops and hurdles
along the way. But I know that you can win all
the challenges if you are armed with sheer
determination, clear intensions, and self-
discipline.

19. “I strongly believe in not having to rush into
what the next big thing is. Rather, just cruise
the days to learn, learn, learn more things
because big opportunities will just come at the
right time and whatever you learned can be
applied when that time comes”

20. Sia is an inspiration for young entrepreneurs to work hard
and grab the available opportunities for your business.
We admired this man for being optimistic that sooner he
can create another business like

21. We learned some deeper background
information about the owner of this
business.
We are really moved by the reality that
there are some known tycoons today who
made to the top of the industry without
the proper degree.