Before Dennis Uy became known as the founder and CEO of Converge ICT, he was a young entrepreneur navigating crisis — and refusing to give up when it would’ve been easier to walk away.
Uy was running a Betamax rental business in Angeles City when he noticed something that would change everything: cable TV. “Sabi ko, eto pala ang papatay sa akin,” he recalls. “Why would people rent Betamax tapes if they could get all the channels and movies on cable?”
Realizing the shift in consumer behavior, Uy decided to shut down his Betamax operation and pivot. He invested in machines and equipment to launch a cable TV network in Angeles. But just as he was preparing to roll it out, Mt. Pinatubo erupted.
The devastation was massive. His pier was destroyed. The U.S. military pulled out of Clark. The local economy collapsed. Power was down. Food and supplies were scarce. People left in droves.
“Lahat ng tao dun sabi sa akin sira daw ulo ko,” Uy says. “Why start a cable business when everyone’s leaving?”
But Uy saw something others didn’t. “Saan ka naman pupunta?” he said. “This is temporary. Down ngayon, pinaka-down ka na sa pinaka-down — wala ka nang ibang pupuntahan kundi up ang susunod.”
He continued the project anyway — not just to build a business, but to restore hope. “I pushed through with cable TV so there would be public information,” he says. “We had local news, and entertainment to uplift people’s morale.”
That act of resilience laid the foundation for what would eventually become Converge ICT, now one of the Philippines’ leading broadband providers.
The takeaway:
Crisis can push most people to quit — but for those with vision, it’s also a time to build. Dennis Uy bet on recovery when no one else would. And in doing so, he didn’t just survive the storm — he came out stronger.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong.
