From abaca to AI: Filipino conglomerate’s leap from hemp to electricity, to algorithms

Manila: In the heart of the Visayas, long before “techglomerates” were a thing, there was abaca.

The late 1800s on Leyte Island saw the humble beginnings of a family business that would one day become one of the Philippines’ most enduring corporate empires. 

Back then, the Aboitiz family traded abaca — “Manila hemp” — used to make ropes and textiles. 

Fast-forward more than a century, and they now trade in megawatts, bank accounts, airport terminals, and, soon enough, algorithms.

Today, at the helm is Sabin Aboitiz, with a personal net worth estimated at $2.2 billion as per Forbes in 2025.

He is a fourth-generation scion-turned-transformation-architect, who’s determined to push the Aboitiz Group into a new era — what he calls “The Great Transformation”. 

His ambitious goal? 

To turn the family’s 100-year-old conglomerate into the country’s first “techglomerate”.

“We want to be legacy,” he told CNBC in an interview, “but also agile.”

Abaca, electricity, and everything in between

The Aboitiz story is nothing if not an odyssey through Philippine economic history.

From its provincial trading post origins, the family enterprise grew steadily across the decades, mirroring the country’s own fits and starts of industrialisation. 

The abaca business expanded into shipping, then into power generation, and eventually into a full suite of industries: banking, food manufacturing, real estate, infrastructure, and now tech.

In an interview in 2023, Sabin also mentioned exploring hydrogen and ammonia, among other renewable technologies.

Under its holding company, Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), the group now controls brands like AboitizPower, UnionBank, and Aboitiz InfraCapital. 

The group also recently entered the airport business, with a growing portfolio that includes Cebu, Bohol, and Laguindingan.

And yet, even for a conglomerate of this size — ₱18.8 billion in net income in the first nine months of 2024 — change was never easy.

“We started our digital transformation ten years ago,” Sabin admits, “and we failed miserably. Minds weren’t open.”

Pandemic wake-up call

Ironically, it took a global crisis to shake things up.

When Sabin assumed the CEO role in 2020, the world was going into lockdown. Power demand dipped. Tourism evaporated.

But the crisis also revealed an opportunity: reinvention.

“The pandemic stared us in the face,” he recalls. “We planned week by week. Month by month. But the key takeaway was: we had to accelerate diversification.”

Out of that urgency came new plays in renewable energy, consumer banking, and even beverages — with a $1.8 billion acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines in 2024.

“The middle class is growing. The economy’s booming. We’d rather enter with a trusted brand than build from scratch.”

Airports, beverages, and bigger bets

Airports, too, have become a promising frontier.

“We treat them like malls,” Sabin says. “Passenger service charges are just part of it. The real play is tourism and the development around the airport—hotels, retail, restaurants. It’s a long-term bet on the country.”

With non-aeronautical revenues — like shopping and dining — accounting for up to 50% of the world’s top airports' income, the model makes sense. 

And with the Philippines leaning into tourism as a growth engine, Aboitiz InfraCapital wants to be at the center of that runway.

Vision: ‘techglomerate’ 

But perhaps the boldest move yet is the transformation into a techglomerate — a hybrid of tech company and traditional conglomerate.

The idea isn’t just digitalisation, but fundamentally rethinking how businesses operate: using AI, big data, and machine learning to make smarter, faster decisions across the portfolio.

It’s not without risk. The returns are hard to model. The learning curve is steep. And the financial payoff? Still uncertain.

“Sometimes you do exciting things that don’t pay off,” Sabin says. “But you have to make the leap. If not, you’ll fall behind.”

Family ties, future-proofing

Behind the boardrooms and billion-peso deals is a family that’s still very much involved — and deeply intentional about legacy.

“I think it’s parenting,” Sabin says, when asked what’s kept the family aligned over generations. “You grow up with this structure, and that sticks with you.”

That structure extends to regular family board meetings, long discussions about values, and careful planning for the future — how to adapt without unraveling what’s been built.

“We’re transitioning a 100-year-old legacy into a 25-year-old athlete,” he explains. “That’s the toughest job: to be old and new at the same time.”

Private sector with a public role

Sabin’s influence extends beyond the boardroom. As Lead Convenor of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), he works closely with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., rallying business leaders to align with national development goals.

“The President believes in the private sector,” he says. “Every six weeks, we meet to propose ideas across agriculture, infrastructure, education, health care, and tourism.”

It’s a unique bridge between policy and profit—and one Sabin believes is key to unlocking the country’s growth.

Endurance, evolution

From abaca to AI, the Aboitiz Group’s story is a rare one: a family business that not only endures but evolves — learning from failure, leaning into change, and always keeping one eye on the future.

The goose is alive and well. And now, it might just be laying golden code.