Meet the Philippines’ youngest self-made billionaire. At 26, he opened his own barbecued chicken shop in the province.

By 34, he had sold majority stake in his 300+ store chain for  ₱3B ($51.6M).

Oh, and he also became the Philippines’ youngest billionaire and is currently the 40th richest Filipino on Forbes’ Philippines rich list.

This is the story of Mang Inasal and its founder, Injap Sia.

‍

🇵🇭 Meet the founder

Injap was an aspiring architect, but later dropped out of university to be an entrepreneur. He opened his first businesses, a laundry shop and photo-developing center at 20.

In 2003, he had the idea to open an affordable fast-food shop for barbecued chicken called Mang Inasal (Mr. Barbecue in Filipino).

He needed money. His father was doubtful, but he was able to pitch his father and convince him to give him a ₱2.4M ($43k) loan.

He then opened his first store in a carpark building in his hometown in the province.

It was a hit! And he repaid his father’s loan in just a year.

‍

😅 Not an easy journey

But that doesn’t mean it was easy. When he was starting out, several suppliers turned him down.

So, he had to look for suppliers at local wet markets and through cooperatives in his community.

‍

📈 Standing out

Even if his first shop was a success, that didn’t mean he could easily become a national success.

Injap faced tough competition since there were already a lot of chicken shops in the Philippines.

But what made Mang Inasal different?

During the 2006 rice shortage, the restaurant did the unthinkable. They offered unlimited rice with its affordable dishes.

He took inspiration from telco companies’ promotions that gave users unlimited calls and texts.

It was supposed to be a two-month promo, but sales skyrocketed

So, until today, “unli rice” is a signature of Mang Inasal.

He also kept adding new tasty local dishes beyond just chicken like sisig, grilled pork, bangus, and halo-halo to its menu, attracting more customers with different preferences.

‍

💰 Big win

By 2010, Mang Inasal had over 300 branches, catching the attention of Philippine billionaire and Jollibee Group founder Tony Tan Caktiong, who acquired a 70% majority share for  ₱3B ($51.6M).

This made Injap the Philippines’ youngest self-made billionaire in 2011 at the age of 34!

With over 460 stores as of March 2014, Mang Inasal became one of the largest and fastest-growing food companies in the country.

Eventually, Jollibee bought the remaining 30 percent for ₱2B ($35M) in 2016.

‍

😎 But he didn’t stop there

After making it big in the Philippines with Mang Inasal, Injap decided to dive into new industries with plans of going global.

He tapped into his childhood dreams as a former architecture student and went on to form property companies Double Dragon Properties and Hotel 101 with his now-mentor, Jollibee Group founder Tony Tan Caktiong, in 2012.

‍

🚀 Leaving a legacy

Today, Injap holds 37% of Double Dragon Properties and has multiple businesses, including Mang Inasal, Hotel 101, Double Dragon, and more.

He has a net worth of $330M and was once a dollar billionaire with an estimated $1.2B fortune in 2016.

21 years after it began, Mang Inasal operates more than 570 stores nationwide.

At the same time, Double Dragon Properties is a publicly listed company valued at $2B, which reported ₱24.74B ($426M) in consolidated revenue in 2023.

Hotel 101 is the first homegrown Filipino hotel brand that expanded overseas.

They have hotels being built in Spain and Japan and plan to expand to 25 countries by 2026.

It’s also on track to be the first Filipino company to list via SPAC on the NASDAQ with the estimated value at $2.3B.