P&G’s Filipina Baby Care GM couldn’t take no for an answer

By: Doris C. Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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ONLY female Asian GM in P&G, world’s largest consumer products company

Hers is an inspiring story of hope shared by people who had given it to her at the time she needed it most.

Thus says Ma. Fatima “Fama” De Vera-Francisco, one of the three BPInoy 2011 awardees for outstanding international achievement.

Fama is the highest ranking and only Asian female general manager in the world’s largest consumer products company, Procter & Gamble, in its global headquarters located in Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States.

As head of the Baby Care and Global Innovation, she is responsible for about $2.5 billion worth of sales and 2,000 employees.

She was chosen as a BPInoy honoree for setting a world-class standard for child’s personal care and by climbing the global corporate ladder of P&G – against all odds that is. Her fellow BPInoy awardees this year are global boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, now the House Representative of Sarangani Province and Black Eyed Peas founding member Allan Pineda Lindo Jr. a.k.a. “Apl de Ap.”

BPInoy, now on its sixth year, is an annual recognition to outstanding overseas Filipinos given by Ayala-ledBank of the Philippine Islands, Southeast Asia’s oldest bank which is also celebrating its 160th year this 2011.

These days, Fama has lived and worked in multiple geographies and locations –

Philippines, Japan, and then Cincinnati.

She has led organizations across all aspects of business –  developed markets, lower-income markets, current business management, design and new business development.

One of her recent achievements is the successful launch of P&G’s premium diaper line in Japan, China and Eastern Europe and the company’s latest diaper innovation that delivers outstanding dryness in a much thinner diaper across North America and Europe.

NOEL and Fama Francisco in Chicago

As a leader, she believes that people are the most important assets.  “The most important role of a leader is handpicking the right talent, giving them challenging roles, and continually investing in their development so they can become future leaders of the company,” she says.

The BPInoy award is another feather to Fama’s cap. In 2005, she was recognized by one of the big four international accounting firms, Deloitte and Touche, in its “Wise Women” program. She was also named by the Cincinnati Business Courier as an emerging leader in its “Forty under 40” program.

In 2009, Fama was an Agora Awardee for Excellence in International Marketing, Philippine Marketing Association. Her alma mater, St. Scholastica’s College, had also cited her as an outstanding alumna, citing her mentoring of young Asians in P&G and Xavier University, as well as volunteering for Religious Education in Good Shepherd Parish, Cincinnati.

As cited by BPI, Fama is indeed viewed as a “woman who has, and is continuing to, blaze trails for other women.” To top it all, she has progressed in her career, while raising a family. She is a mother of four young children and leads a fast-paced, diverse organization and business.

Not bad for someone who once upon a time never thought she could finish schooling for lack of resources.

Lifeliners

Fama came from a family of limited means. Her mother was a teacher who supported five children while her father was sick for a very long time.

During the awarding ceremonies of BPInoy 2011, Fama recalled that the first lifeline to her family came from the nuns of St. Scholastica’s College, where her mother taught. The nuns allowed her and her siblings to study for free and even eat lunch for free.

AT the Arch of St. Louis with kids

When her father passed away in 1985, Fama says she wasn’t sure whether she could afford to go to college. After her dad’s funeral, an uncle gave her an ATM (automated teller machine) card – which incidentally was BPI-issued – saying that if she continued to study hard, he would deposit money to that account regularly. ATMs were only being popularized in the local market then and Fama says she didn’t even know how to use it.

“That blue ATM card was my lifeline,” Fama says, noting that she thus went to the University of the Philippines College of Business Administration.

P&G has always been her dream job and this she pursued after college. She applied for a slot at the marketing department. She passed the first three interviews but didn’t make the cut at the fourth.

“It was almost the end of my dreams but I couldn’t take no for an answer,” she says.  She looked up a P&G executive who had given a career talk at her college and told him she would really love to be employed by P&G.

That exec agreed to give her a second chance. In its half a century of operation in the Philippines, P&G had never hired women and was then reconsidering that strategy.

In that crucial interview, Fama was asked only one question: “Do you know how to drive?”  She didn’t know to drive at that time but knowing that she could otherwise lose the opportunity, told the interviewer she did. Thus she was able to join P&G sales team.  “One of the side benefit was that I found my husband Noel,” she says.

“When I joined P&G, I never thought I would be the GM, the chances were zero percent,” she says.  She was proven wrong 22 years later.

“I am where I am today because of the people who gave me hope,” she says.

Fama is thus a success story of how a Filipino stood out in a highly competitive field in a global economy and doing this by being a mom.

“As a wife and mother, family comes first.  I’m fortunate to be working for a company that shares those values, and enables it’s employees to achieve work and life balance,” she says.

P & G’s baby shower event

Fama says she and her husband jointly manage their busy travel and work schedules to ensure that they provide the appropriate attention and guidance needed to raise their four children.

“The kids all have their share of responsibilities too. It can get very busy, but we are a great tag-team!”

Would she want her children to follow her footsteps? “I believe my role is to guide them, provide the very best faith-formation and education.  We inspire them to pursue their dream and do their best in whatever career they choose.  Our greatest dream is that our children grow up to be Christ-centered, selfless and happy adults who are proud of their Filipino heritage.”

BPI chair Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala says the role of overseas Filipinos had been “under-appreciated” and that this was the bank’s way of giving recognition to exceptional achievements like that of Fama’s.

Past BPInoy awardees include: Indiana-based neurosurgeon and founder/chair of Hydrocephalus Foundation of the Philippines Dr. Manny Cacdac; international singing sensation Charice Pempengco; White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford; chief representative for the Asia and the Pacific of the Bank of International Settlements Eli Remolona; renowned painter Anita Magsaysay-Ho; Singapore-based BBC anchor Rico Hizon; celebrated fashion designer Josie Natori; famous heart surgeon George Garcia of Asian Hospital & Medical Center; international fashion designer Monique Lhuillier; US-based technopreneur Diosdado “Dado” Banatao and world-renowned musical theater artist Lea Salonga.

“Aim high and dream big,” is Fama’s advice for the Filipino youth. “Have the drive and hunger to make that dream a reality.  Go for excellence in everything you do.  Don’t get disappointed by trials or failures, they will only make you stronger.  And wherever you go in your career, never forget the ones you love!”

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