Isidro “Sid” Consunji wasn’t always set on becoming a business leader. In fact, he nearly didn’t finish school.
As a student at the University of the Philippines, he found himself bored and unmotivated while studying civil engineering. Eventually, he made a decision that many would consider risky—he dropped out.
“I stopped second year college eh. I got bored and wala akong ganang mag-aral noon,” he recalls.
His father, David Consunji, the founder of DMCI Holdings, didn’t pressure him to continue. Instead, he gave him a blunt reality check.
“My father said, ‘Kung wala kang ganang mag-aral, e di wag ka mag-aral. Wala ka naman matututunan kung wala kang gana,’” he says.
With no degree and no clear direction, Consunji went to work for the family business, starting in the motor pool division and purchasing department. His job? Buying spare parts and handling maintenance work.
It wasn’t glamorous, and the low salary hit him hard.
“When I get my paycheck on a Saturday, by Tuesday night, wala na akong pera,” he says. “So naisip ko, mahirap pala yung mababa sweldo, no good, so I went back to school.”
Realizing that financial independence required more than just work experience, he returned to UP to finish his engineering degree. After graduating, he took on a bigger challenge—running a logging company.
“We had a logging company, so I ran that for two years after college,” he shares.
His entrepreneurial instincts eventually kicked in. He started buying bankrupt logging companies, proving he had the business acumen to turn around struggling operations.
But in 1981, a tragic accident changed everything. A landslide buried one of DMCI’s barracks in Davao, leading his father to ask him to return to construction.
“My dad suggested, ‘Why don’t you help out in DMCI?'” he recalls. That moment shifted his career trajectory for good.
Today, Sid Consunji is the Chairman and CEO of DMCI Holdings, leading one of the biggest construction firms in the Philippines—all because he learned the value of hard work the hard way.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong.
