Med tech succeeds in making business dreams into reality
This licensed medical technologist recalls mopping floors and serving donuts to customers of a donut outlet in Cebu while she was still studying business administration in the early 1990s.
Vicky A. Dy said she rose from the ranks of Dunkin’ Donuts employees and later became the owner of Ad Network Corp., a branding, marketing and consultancy firm.
Dy said despite being a licensed medical technologist, she worked as a service crew of Dunkin’ Donuts because she wanted to learn many things as an employee of a Cebuano businessman Jonathan Gesalem, whom she considers as an elder brother.
“Jonathan Gesalem was my mentor and he was like a big brother to me. I learned a lot while working for his company,” said Dy.
While working for Dunkin’ Donuts, Dy was eventually noticed by Gesalem as a person with good potential for marketing and made her his first staff member for the marketing department of Dunkin’ Donuts, which he created about after three months upon Dy entered the company.
Dy later become the marketing manager of Dunkin’ Donuts until 2005, when she left the company to pursue her dream of creating and managing her own business.
“I think it is really in my blood and I tend to be attracted to people with similar interests and drive as mine. When I left in 2005, it was that time when I felt I have already enough and that I already need to go out and achieve what I have always wanted for myself.”
So with an initial investment of about P150,000, Dy opened her own business, Ad Network Corp., which was a branding, marketing and consultancy company.
“I started by opening the office and buying computers needed for our services,” she said.
She now employs eight people to help her with her one-stop-shop marketing and branding services that will include conceptualization, design, printing, delivery and even logistics support for all their clients marketing collaterals.
After around six years of operations, Dy said her business is doing well with a number of long-term customers patronizing their services.
Dy said she belonged to a large family where she developed her competitiveness, which she applied to whatever endeavor she would undertake to succeed and excel.
Dy is the youngest among eight siblings of their Chinese parents who were then into copra-trading business.
Dy attended elementary and high school at the Cebu Eastern College with her seven other siblings and then went on to take up a medical course in Velez College.
“I took up medical technology although I knew back them my interest was really into marketing, but because I was still so young then and I still didn’t know what I really wanted in my life and my elder sister took up med tech, so I thought of taking up the same course as well,” she said.
But after two years of taking up the medical technology course, she wanted to shift to a marketing or business course.
Her mother, however, convinced her to finish the course, which she did in 1990.
“I graduated and even took the board exam and passed,” she said.
She then decided to pursue what she wanted—a business course. She was a working student from 1993 to 1994.
“I went on and enrolled at the University San Carlos taking up business administration while also working for Dunkin’ Donuts,” she said.
With the success she experienced with her own business—Ad Network Corp.—Dy is pursuing other passions like organic farming and helping other businessmen to achieve success.
She’s also giving back to the community through her active participation with the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“My involvement with the chamber is also my CSR (corporate social responsibility). After the achievements I kind of feel that I need to give back to the community. Aside from that I would also like to go into organic farming so that I will be growing my own food in my backyard someday,” she said.
Dy is also into the water-refilling station business, which she acquired last year and was able to grow by 50 percent within six months.
“Next, I would also love to have a business in food. I just hope it’s not too late to take up a culinary course,” Dy said as she laughed.
Dy, who is still single, said she’s contented with all the love that she got from her family and thinks that getting married could or may not be her calling.
“I have all the love in the world and I have a lot of niece and nephews to also pour in my love for kids,” Dy said.
