BRINGING Divisoria prices close to every Filipino home and providing jobs at the same time transforming the lives of people are the keys that opened the gate of opportunities to Divimart Shopping Malls and 167 Hypermart.

Thus said Vivian Juanitas Uy, wife of businessman and tycoon Harry Uy who owns several community malls and department stores in various parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Ms. Viv, as she is fondly called by many of her employees, is a very simple person who describes herself as an ordinary wife, a mother of three kids, and a friend to everyone.

Ms. Uy revealed that she and her husband Harry also faced the hardest challenges one could ever imagine but these did not stop them from pursuing their goals to help people.

“We became motivated to succeed in life not only for ourselves but for our employees who treated us like their own family. Our business grew from a simple and ordinary department store to a community mall not because we intended it that way but because we just wanted to help people. Yun lang,” Ms. Uy said.

From a simple Dep store (short name for Department Store), Harry Uy absorbed a small supermarket after its previous owner asked him to help to absorb several of his people who were im danger of losing their jobs after his business was sold to a bigger player in the supermarket industry.

Harry Uy did not hesitate to take the responsibility of absorbing the said employees and the supermarket as well.

The humble intention of Mr. Uy helped him build the now successful Divimart Shopping Malls.

Divimart Shopping Mall, which also offers online shopping, expanded fast in various areas to cater to the needs of many people and to make life easier for consumers — convenience shopping from groceries to department store items for their households without having to drive a long distance away from home.

“Which is the very reason why my husband Harry pushes for this community shopping center that contains every mentioned service in a medium-sized supermarket and department store all in one roof —- wearing apparel, appliances sales, kitchen needs, and all the much needed basic things —- and bringing Divisoria prices close to your home,” Vivian stressed.

Harry Uy started from humble beginnings in the Divisoria market as a “cariton guy” during his younger years because he used to sell goods on the strees pushing cariton, a kind of cart with built-in wheels. And the name Divimart is because Divisoria in Tondo, Manila molded him to be what he is today.

Before Divimart and 167 Hypermart, he was also in the business of selling sanitary wares.

“My husband and I had early struggles in life. Adversity in life is our teacher. We strive hard and take challenges as they come our way. We have daily battles to face in these pandemic times but what we learned in life is never to entertain fear. We have to go above and beyond to fight the challenges,” Ms. Uy said.

A hands-on mother to her three children, Ms. Uy revealed that she is an early bird as she personally takes care of their children and their elders to make sure they can cope with the challenges of the pandemic.

“There must be an established symbol in a family that should run the show. My husband is very busy with our business and as a wife and a mother, I should play both roles as a follower to my husband and a leader in critical decision making. We are in a modern world and a career woman should know how to play both roles and at the same time pursue your social role in society,” she added.

Stating the need to set a distinct path for herself, Ms. Uy said calamities, conflict, and changes are all part of daily existence.

“At hindi kami natakot kahit ngayon nagkaroon ng COVID. We just have to live with it. Every day we have to go to the office to work with our employees. My husband Harry is determined to fight all odds no matter what and the value of hustling at an early age from scratch and nothing is his tool to become who he is right now,” Ms. Uy said as she described her husband as a man with a “true spirit entrepreneurship” yet with a kind heart for everyone.

Ms. Uy added that her husband is a very sincere man whose strategy in life is purely hard work.

“Hard work is his key. He knows the value of discipline, dedication and determination. Gusto naming maging example sa mga tao. Ayaw namin na isipin nila na kami nakaupo lang sa bahay at sila lang ang nagbubuwis ng buhay. Gusto namin patas. Mahal namin mga empleyado namin,” said Ms. Uy who admitted working hard with husband Harry hand-in hand to supervise their business.

A dreamer herself, Ms. Uy said the pandemic did not stop them from dreaming and extending those dreams to a lot of Filipino people.

“Since nasa supermarket business kami, we considered ourselves frontliners and our goal is to serve the people. Kailangan makapaghatid tayo ng pagkain at pangangailangan sa maraming tao,” she said.

Loyalty for Ms. Viv is priceless and several pioneer employees of their company still work for them. These include Jona Martel Denobo who described Ms. Viv and Harry as a friend, and an idol to so many employees like her.

“I have been working with them for the last eight years and they have treated me like family. They never hesitated to risk their lives during this pandemic. They stood with us side by side and made sure that we and our families are getting the much-needed help to survive the challenges,” said Denobo a mother of two and wife of Police Officer Sheldon M. Denobo, who is assigned in Northern Isabela.

Denobo described the Uy family as a very positive influence in her life “because of their happy and strong disposition in facing the many struggles that they encountered in the last three years of the pandemic.”

Calling herself a “probinsiyana” from Guimpingan Romblon, Ms. Mortel Denobo, one of the pioneer employees of Divimart and 167 Hypermart, also came from a very poor family and this is the very reason why she opted to stay with the Uy family whom she described as her extended family

“I started with them na maliiit pa sila. Mula sa pagiging general merchandise to community mall supermarket, na witness ko ang transformation namin. And mula nuon hangang ngayon, humble ang mga boss namin. Walang yabang at mapagmahal sila sa mga tauhan na kagaya ko,” Mortel Denobo said.

Denobo said she did not hesitate to report for work every day even during the pandemic because of her boss who was never absent despite the surge of COVID-19 cases.

She revealed that the secret why many of them survived the pandemic was the happy disposition of the Uy family in the middle of the crisis.

“Bawal kaming malungkot dapat laging masaya at laging excited. Laging sinasabi ni Ms. Vivian na iyan ang sikreto para tumaas ang metabolism namin at makalaban sa COVID. Yan din daw ang sikreto para maging successful kaming lahat. Pag happy ang tao ay lucky rin ito,” she said.

Denobo admitted she is an Uy family loyalist because they fought for each and every employee in order for them and their families to survive the pandemic.

“Habang ang lahat ng tao ay nagtatanggalan, sila ayaw nilang may mawalan sa amin ng trabaho. Sila mismo hindi natakot na pumasok. Sila ang mga klase na tao na walang pahinga sa buhay. Hindi marunong mapagod at hindi marunong magreklamo at lagi nilang sinasabi na kailangan walang mawalan ng trabaho sa amin. Kaya mahal ko sila dahil mahal nila kami,” she added.

She further said that being an employee of Divimart is like a blessing from God, as she insists that having a job is manna from heaven.

“At ang blessing natin kailangan laging pinagpapahalagahan at iniingatan dahil kasama yan sa dasal natin na bigyan tayo ng kakanin sa araw araw. Kaya’t kasama dapat sa bawat empleyado na gaya ko ang pasasalamat na meron tayong mabait na boss at maayos na hanapbuhay sa araw-araw,” she said. By CAMILLE P. BALAGTAS-SARMIENTO