From malls to school halls

Just a few short years after the first SM mall opened its doors, its founder Henry Sy Sr.’s vision extended beyond one establishment.

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The chain of malls would come later. When SM City North EDSA opened in 1985, the vision was clear: people’s access to products is important but Filipinos’ access to quality education is priceless.

In 1991, Sy turned his vision into a reality through a milestone partnership between SM Foundation Inc. and IBM Philippines. This collaboration led to the establishment of Asia Pacific College (APC), embodying the timeless adage: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

“Right from the start, the vision was very clear—it was inclusivity,” said APC president Teresita Medado. ”

“Quality education should be available to all and this was APC’s way of helping the youth to be competitive IT professionals for the industry,” she said.

The SM group emphasized this commitment to inclusivity when the company insisted that APC operate as a non-profit and non-stock institution.

It was the ‘90s and the boom of the information technology (IT) sector was in full swing. Countless theorizing and key innovators have alluded to interconnectivity beyond anyone’s imagination. Encapsulated in APC’s core values of industry, integrity and innovation, it became the college’s mission to educate students to become world class with a strong ITbased foundation.