Enrique Zobel
| Enrique J. Zóbel | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Enrique Jacobo Emilio Zóbel y Olgado January 7, 1927 |
| Died | May 17, 2004 (aged 77) Alabang, Muntinlupa City |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Education |
De La Salle College The American School UCLA |
Enrique Jacobo Emilio Zóbel-Roxas y Olgado (January 7, 1927–May 17, 2004), better known as Enrique J. Zóbel and EZ, was a prominent Filipino businessman and polo player.
The only child of Col. Jacobo Zóbel y Roxas and Ángela Olgado, he was a grandson and namesake of Enrique Zóbel de Ayala.
After the Japanese forces entered Manila in 1941, the 14-year-old Enrique displayed his resourcefulness and audacity, having to care for his mother while his father was with the USAFFE forces in Bataan. To generate income for their daily needs, he used his father's polo ponies to offer kalesa rides and even befriended General Ota, the head of the Kempeitai in the process.
He became the favorite of his aunt, Doña Mercedes Zobel McMicking (matriarch of the Zóbel de Ayala family after the deaths of her brothers, Jacobo and Alfonso), and her husband, Col. Joseph McMicking. The couple took interest in his education and growth and groomed him, together with other clan members for the family businesses.
Zóbel joined Ayala y Compañia in 1955 and worked closely with his uncle, Col. McMicking, who was credited for engineering the transformation of Makati from vast tracts of swamplands into the Philippines' premier financial and commercial district. When the Ayala y Compañia partnership became a corporation in 1967 (after the retirement of Col. McMicking), Zóbel became its first chief executive. Like McMicking, Zóbel showed great strength and business savvy in contributing to the growth of Ayala as one of the Philippines' biggest and most respected conglomerates. He sustained McMicking’s vision for the Ayala group. He professionalized the Ayala group and was instrumental in fulfilling Ayala’s goal to become a major player in the banking sector, as the company gained control of the Bank of the Philippine Islands. Ayala also moved into new industries - semiconductor (Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc.), food processing (Pure Foods Corporation - now, San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc.), agribusiness (Ayala Agricultural Development Corporation) and telecommunications (Globe-Mackay Cable & Radio Corporation - now, Globe Telecom). In 1973, Zóbel welcomed the Mitsubishi group as partners and took Ayala Corporation public in 1976. On November 8, 1976, Ayala Corporation was listed in the Makati Stock Exchange (now ).
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