When Dr. Doris Magsaysay Ho receives the Ramon V. del Rosario Award for Nation Building this year, she will make history as the first woman to receive the recognition since it was established nearly two decades ago.

That milestone deserves attention. It says something about Magsaysay Ho’s career, the industries in which she has worked, and the changing place of women in Philippine business leadership. It also raises a broader question: what does it mean to build a nation through business?

Magsaysay Ho’s career offers one answer. For decades, she has worked in an industry that connects Filipino workers to opportunities around the world while building systems that support their skills, careers, and welfare. Her work suggests that the contribution of a business leader can be measured in part by the opportunities created for people and by the capabilities they carry with them.

Magsaysay Ho inherited a family shipping business and helped develop the Magsaysay Group into a diversified organization with interests in maritime services, logistics, human resources, hospitality, and travel. The company’s growth has been accompanied by investments in training, professional development, employee welfare, and family support.

That focus on people is particularly relevant to the Philippine maritime industry. Filipino seafarers have long played an important role in the global maritime workforce. Behind that reputation are individuals who need access to quality training, professional opportunities, and support throughout their careers.

One example is the MOL Magsaysay Maritime Academy in Dasmariñas, Cavite, established in 2018 through a partnership between the Magsaysay Group and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. The 13.7-hectare academy was designed to train up to 1,000 maritime students and prepare them for careers in international shipping.

An investment like this takes a long view. A student entering maritime school today may spend years developing a career that takes them across different countries and companies. The skills they acquire can support their families and contribute to an industry where the Philippines has built a strong international reputation.

The Magsaysay Group’s work with its employees reflects the same long-term thinking. Its social development arm, Homer Foundation, along with employee-led support networks such as Fundamayan and MATTERS, provides assistance in areas including health, mental wellness, financial literacy, and career advancement.

These efforts matter because employment is part of people’s lives in ways that extend beyond the workplace. A worker’s ability to stay healthy, manage finances, develop professionally, and support a family can shape the kind of career they are able to build. Businesses have a role in that environment because their decisions affect the people who spend much of their lives working within them.

Magsaysay Ho’s recognition also carries a particular meaning for women in business.

Raising a business and three children, the Doris Magsaysay-Ho way

The maritime sector has historically been associated with male-dominated workplaces and leadership. Magsaysay Ho has built her career in that environment while helping create greater opportunities for women within the industry. The Magsaysay Group became the first Philippine maritime company to earn EDGE Assess certification for workplace gender equity, with women occupying 45% of its junior management roles. In 2023, Magsaysay Ho became the first woman to chair The Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association, a leading global protection and indemnity club.

Her becoming the first woman recipient of the Ramon V. del Rosario Nation Building Award adds another chapter to that story.

It is worth asking why this milestone is happening only now. Women have long been part of Philippine business, working as entrepreneurs, executives, professionals, and employees across industries. Recognition at the highest levels, however, also shapes public ideas about leadership. When a woman is recognized for building an organization, creating jobs, developing people, and representing the Philippines internationally, it expands the picture of who a nation-building business leader can be.

International engagements

Magsaysay Ho’s leadership has also extended beyond the maritime industry and beyond the Philippines.

From 2006 to 2016, she represented the country in the APEC Business Advisory Council and served as its chair in 2015, when the Philippines hosted APEC. She was later awarded the Order of Gawad Mabini, Rank of Commander, for her service and contribution to advancing Philippine interests and the country’s reputation internationally.

Her work with the Asia Society Philippines Foundation has similarly brought Filipino culture and perspectives to an international audience. During her tenure as chair, the foundation helped bring Philippine heritage to New York through the “Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms” exhibition at the Asia Society Museum.

The ‘golden’ age of the Philippines, rediscovered

These experiences point to another important part of Filipino leadership. The people who represent the country abroad carry more than professional expertise. They also bring their understanding of the Philippines, its people, and its possibilities into international conversations.

This connects closely with the three qualities recognized by the Ramon V. del Rosario Award for Nation Building: entrepreneurial spirit, national and global impact, and corporate citizenship and social responsibility.

Magsaysay Ho’s entrepreneurial leadership can be seen in the growth and diversification of the Magsaysay Group. Her international work has given her opportunities to represent Philippine interests in global business forums. Her work in education, employee welfare, gender inclusion, and community development reflects a sense of responsibility toward the people connected to the organization.

For me, this is what makes her recognition especially interesting. Her story provides a wider way of looking at the relationship between business and nation-building.

A successful company creates value for its owners and customers, but its influence can reach much further. It can give a young person a first opportunity, provide training that leads to a career, help a worker support a family, or give Filipino professionals the confidence and skills to compete internationally. Over time, those individual opportunities become part of a country’s economic and social story.

Magsaysay Ho’s career has been closely tied to that process.

Her being the first woman to receive the Ramon V. del Rosario Nation Building Award also gives the recognition a personal and historical dimension. She joins a group of Filipino business leaders whose work has been recognized for its contribution to the country, while opening the door wider for other women who aspire to lead.

The award will be conferred in November, coinciding with PHINMA’s 70th anniversary celebration. Its timing makes the occasion an opportunity to look back at the work that earned the recognition and to think about the kind of leadership the Philippines will need in the years ahead.

For Magsaysay Ho, that record can be traced through companies built, people trained, careers supported, opportunities created, and Filipino interests represented abroad.

That is a meaningful measure of nation-building. It is also a reminder that the future of Filipino business leadership will be shaped by the people given the opportunity to lead, the people given the opportunity to grow, and the leaders willing to invest in both. – Rappler.com

Madriella L. Mendoza is the communications officer of the PHINMA-DLSU Center for Business and Society. Ady specializes in event organization, social media strategy, and marketing. madriella.mendoza@dlsu.edu.ph.