Having been dirt poor once, Henry Sy Sr. completely understood what it was to be poor and the needs of the poor. When he started his business in 1958, he first sold surplus shoes just to be able to raise funds to send himself to school and eventually provide the seed capital for his business.
The one thing he had was a clear vision to extricate his family from poverty and then contribute to society through business. His vision and mission thus flowed in his persona and later, in the empire that he built.