This insurance executive spent Saturdays learning the food business—under his wife’s name.
When Mariano Manas founded Henlin, the now well-known Filipino food brand specializing in siopao and mami, he didn’t come from a culinary background. In fact, he spent decades in the insurance industry—more specifically, reinsurance. But that didn’t stop him from finding ways to learn a completely different trade.
“I would attend seminars on Saturdays about siopao making,” Manas recalled. “I would register my wife’s name pero I would be the one attending.”
By day, he was a corporate executive. On weekends, he was a student of food entrepreneurship—quietly laying the groundwork for what would become a thriving business. For Manas, knowledge was the bridge between a corporate paycheck and his vision of a self-made brand.
He didn’t make a dramatic exit from the insurance world. Instead, he spent years balancing both—building Henlin during off-hours and using every available resource to learn the craft. While some entrepreneurs might wait for the perfect moment or a culinary degree, Manas simply showed up—with a notebook, a seminar pass under his wife’s name, and the mindset of a lifelong learner.
These seminars weren’t glamorous, but they were essential. They gave him hands-on insights into production, ingredients, and techniques that helped Henlin evolve from a small trading operation—buying siopao from a friend’s restaurant in Ongpin—to eventually producing their own.
“We never let yung sideline namin to interfere with or disrupt our work,” Manas said of his and his wife’s double duty. Yet even while maintaining full-time jobs, they were intentional about leveling up their knowledge and capabilities.
Manas’ story is a reminder that entrepreneurship doesn’t always begin with a giant leap. Sometimes, it starts with spending your Saturdays at a seminar—quietly collecting the skills you’ll later need to scale.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong.
