Manila Water Company: Manila Water is now 10

Manila Water is now 10

Posted: Thursday August 2, 2007

Manila Water Company celebrates its 10th anniversary this month of August. Looking back at the company’s first 10 years, one can say that the Ayala-led water concessionaire is a perfect study of what an organization can do if it sets a clear goal and vision of what it wants to be and then goes out and works hard for it.

Providing water to more than a million underprivileged people through its Tubig Para sa Barangay Program is probably one of Manila Water’s biggest achievements in its first 10 years.

The period was so eventful that looking at the company’s first decade is like pouring over a collection of best stories taken out of a management book, or simply an inspirational tone. For this is precisely what the Manila Water story has been – the best example of a successful public-private sector partnership, the paragon of an organization that went through a phenomenal transformation to become a dynamic, thriving enterprise, and a collection of success stories that, taken together, amounted to one organization whose growth trajectory reflected an impressive rise to stratospheric levels.

The journey to these heights was not easy, however. For every success story that Manila Water notched in its first 10 years, there were plenty of sacrifices, hard work and difficult decision making that had to be made, and even tears and blood spent.

Early test

The company’s resolve was tested early when shortly after its takeover of the East Zone concession in August 1997, the Asian currency crisis struck and the El Niño phenomenon hit the country, making what was already a difficult transition period even more daunting.

But armed with a new philosophy and a rejuvenated workforce that went through a cultural transformation and a development program meant to maximize its potential, the company weathered this early test of its tenacity and survived. This survival enabled the company to focus its attention on its customers, who got a taste of the “We Care” brand of service that Manila Water employees became noted for. The Tubig Para sa Barangay, the company’s flagship program for the poor, and the now-familiar customer service standards that stipulate a time frame for every service rendered, became two of the company’s most enduring symbols of customer service excellence.

Think business

With these two most basic requirements of all successful ventures – surviving and establishing a culture of excellence – having been fulfilled, it was inevitable that Manila Water would now shift its attention to the business at hand. The enterprise, after all, has to thrive to keep the lofty standards that have been established attainable. And thrive it did. In 2002, revenues exceeded the P2 billion mark for the first time, and the number of additional customers reached more than a million.

By 2003, Manila Water had become such a fast-growing business that the focus started to shift to expansion to make it an even more sustainable enterprise. Creditors were encouraged to put a stake in the company’s ventures, opening their credit lines to Manila Water such that the latter was able to finance its numerous capital expenditure programs. The company’s key performance indicators, including billed volume, non-revenue water or systems losses as well as service coverage, continuously showed marked improvement as a result.

No accident

It was no accident therefore that the outside world began to take notice. Professional groups, the public and private sectors and many other organizations in the corporate world, the academe and the media showered the company and its people with numerous recognitions and awards, culminating in the company’s winning the Outstanding Employer of the Year Award from the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines in 2006.

Such a lofty stature in the public’s eyes had actually begun to reap benefits even before this mother of all awards was earned. In 2005, Manila Water became publicly listed through an initial public offering, having evolved into such a hot commodity that its shares were 15 times oversubscribed even before the actual public listing could take place.

Logical fate

It just seemed to be the just, logical fate for a company whose service and performance levels have not only impressed both the general public and its customers alike but whose sense of social responsibility had also become so strong that its business goals were often said to be “perfectly aligned” with its social and environmental concerns. Aware that the viability of its business depends to a large extent on the state of the community at large, Manila Water made sure that sustainable development became a pillar of the core philosophy under which it worked. Sustainable development initiatives such as the “Lingap” programs that addressed the needs of various segments of society, the watershed management program and, of course, the Tubig Para sa Barangay and Sanitasyon Para sa Barangay programs that helped give substance to its two main services, became a fixture in the communities the company serves.

Worthy stewards

But none of these programs – in fact, none of the aforementioned success stories – would have been possible if the company’s employees did not embrace the corporate philosophy of doing business with a heart, nor became the worthy stewards of a business whose core operational issues they willingly and capably took responsibility for. When one comes down to it, it was they who made the ultimate difference in shaping Manila Water’s first 10 years. They were the unmistakable heroes of a first decade filled with the many stories that made Manila Water what it is now, and what it still can be.