theceomagazine.com | 111“ We see
customers
as KING.”
South Pacific Incorporated’s President and CEO Iñigo Golingay
strongly believes in taking care of his customers.WORDS SHARON MASIGE • IMAGES JASPER SALCEDAW
hile the customer
may not always be
right, their needs
are still an integral
part of any business.
Iñigo Golingay,
President and CEO of liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG) company South Pacific Incorporated
(SPI), knows how crucial it is to maintain
positive partnerships with customers. For him,
it means more than one lunchtime meeting.
“It’s really important to have a close
relationship with customers,” says Iñigo. “When
I talk to a customer, I really spend time with
them. I don’t finish with them after having
spent one hour in a meeting. I’m not happy
with those kinds of discussions.” Iñigo takes
pride in the rapport he is able to build with
his customers and considers the continuing
relationship a key measure of success. “I view
myself as successful when a customer has a
family gathering and I am invited,” Iñigo says.
“I want to build a strong relationship with
customers. I want them to be comfortable and
know that when they come to me, they don’t
need to negotiate, and that what I am giving
them is fair.”
An engineer by profession, Iñigo began
his career at Caltex Philippines Incorporated,
working in the inventory and marketing
division for LPG. His marketing experience
at Caltex developed his ability to handle
wholesale businesses, which in turn helped
him succeed in his later position at Liquigaz.
When Liquigaz entered the Philippine
market, Iñigo says, it had a lot of issues,
but this changed when it shifted its strategy
to focus on wholesale markets. “During
that time, I think I was one of the people
who could manage wholesale,” Iñigo says.
“When I transferred to Liquigaz, it only
had a seven per cent market share, and then,
from 2003 until the end of 2015 when
I left the company, it grew to 31 per cent.”
At Liquigaz, the name of the game was
wholesale, and large distributors controlled »Interview | INVEST