Everyone’s path to success is different.
While some are willing to change themselves or work until they find the perfect recipe for success, others seem to have been lucky because at a young age they knew what they wanted in life.
Among the many success stories today, one that Filipinos admire is the success story of entrepreneur Maria Francesca Tan or better known as Mika.
Hi Chinoy TV.
This is Mika Tan.
Welcome to MST Group.
Welcome to our office.
[Music] In reports and interviews here, Mika shared that she is the youngest of six siblings.
Although their family is large, her parents provided for their needs and sometimes more.
Her father is a doctor who focuses on treating cancer patienTS.
While his mother came from a family of mortgage or pawn brokers.
Although he often accompanied his father to the hospital and was familiar with the mortgage business, Mika realized at an early age that he did not want to be a doctor or manage mortgages.
Instead, he wanted to enter the world of entrepreneurship or business.
Their family was already influential and was often invited to events, which was why Mika was exposed to older businessmen at a young age.
His interest in business grew even more.
He watched businessman Donald Trump’s TV show The Apprentice.
So when he finished high school in Poveda, Mika was determined to enter the world of finance.
He also dreamed of going to New York because of the intensity of Trump’s influence, which became his obsession.
He also got into Fordham University, which is his alma mater.
“I always wanted to be like Donald Trump.
So I was obsessed with him until the day I found out I could also study where Donald Trump studied, which was in Fordham University, and that became my ultimate goal when I was young.”
I had a little principle that I held onto back then and it was, if I wanted to be a millionaire, I would learn from millionaires.
He was a third-year high school student when Mika secretly took a test to fulfill his dream.
His parents were surprised because Mika not only passed the exam, but he also got into this school to study finance in New York City, the dream of almost everyone who had the same dream as him.
His parents were very proud of him, but they were disappointed with Mika because he backed out a few minutes before the flight.
In the interview here, he shared the reason why he backed out of that great opportunity; it was because his boyfriend had broken up with him.
In the midst of the pain, Mika vowed not to leave the country until her ex regretted leaving her.
She shared that she would do everything to succeed and that maybe one day, when she was famous, the person who left her would regret what she did.
A few weeks later, Mika’s parents convinced her to enroll in another university.
But he strongly refused because he believed that he would learn more about business by talking and interacting with businesspeople in person than by studying for several years.
Although his parents were against his decision, they did not force him.
When the pain of the breakup subsided, Mika began trading stocks and that’s where he fell in love with the fast-paced world.
And she shared that she is proud of herself because she bounced back from the pain she went through from the breakup.
“I survived because I wanted to prove to myself that I could bounce back from as I said, being broken.” With the help of her three older friends and various strategies she learned from businesspeople she knew, they formed the MFT Group, which is an acronym for her name Maria Francesca Tan.
He said that his three partners are also entrepreneurs with their own businesses so he is confident that what they are doing will be successful.
The report stated that MFT started as a purchase order financing, or in other words, the company helps a business by providing capital loans so that they can supply large orders from their customers without drowning in debt.
Instead of cash-strapped businesses, MFT uses PO financing to pay their suppliers or vendors.
At his young age, many were hesitant and raised eyebrows because they doubted whether Mika’s company would succeed because he didn’t have enough experience, wasn’t a college graduate, and didn’t have a degree.
But instead of getting discouraged, Mika used the insults and judgments to work hard in life.
From sunrise to midnight, Mika was busy with work.
And unlike others who spend their time going out and going to different places, instead of wasting time, Mika could be found repeatedly inside his office.
With the intensity of his dedication and the strategy he followed, MFT eventually grew.
With its rapid growth, Mika and his business partners agreed to ask their family members for help so they could build a bigger company.
Because the number of people who wanted to use their services was too much for them to accommodate.
Seeing MFT’s good numbers, they were quickly convinced.
So from simply providing PO financing, Mika agreed to study the companies they were lending to.
Because they knew that besides lending money, they could provide more information on how to grow their businesses.
Soon, Mika became not only the CEO of MFT but also of the other companies they acquired.
It had been less than five years since he founded MFT.
With the help of his mother, they opened a foundation called “To Help the Creature.” When he was of age, people gradually admired him because he also opened his second company which he called Angel Investing which offered to lend money to private individuals and small companies to build their own businesses.
The said company was even heard of in local news outlets in the country and experts in Angel Investing said that it will help the country’s economy.
Because of Mika’s help, there will be more entrepreneurs.
If there are more businesses in the country, there will also be fewer unemployed people.
Although success is within reach, Mika has not stopped expanding his knowledge.
He attended various trainings in the Philippines and abroad.
Along with the growth of his businesses, the number of people who know him has increased, even prominent businessmen.
With the amount of work he does, Mika wakes up almost every day at seven in the morning and has up to six to eight meetings a day in different cities in Metro Manila.
In an interview with him, the young CEO shared that the lifestyle he grew up in was fast-paced and tiring.
He also said that he still enjoys hearing heated discussions in board meetings because he likes to observe how veteran CEOs make decisions.
In just a few years and less than a decade, the company had various branches so they called it MFT Group of Companies.
With her business doing well, whenever she has the opportunity, she also travels abroad and to beautiful places abroad.
Along with the growth of her company, the trend of her personal life has improved.
In 2019, the 27-year-old CEO was also reported to have gotten married.
It was publicly announced that the man she married was the same man who left her before.
The couple’s wedding was attended by a variety of people from different industries.
But as expected, after the honeymoon, Mika immediately went back to work.
The reason why she is so passionate about working is because according to the news, her operations can be seen in 10 countries and twenty cities around the world.
From her ability to walk, she already has various company sectors such as finance, food and beverages, and health care.
Whenever he is interviewed, Mika says that his dream is to have hundreds of businesses around the world.
In fact, according to the size of his business, Tatler Asia in 2019, private equity firm MFT Group has assets of 661 million dollars or 3.5 billion Philippine pesos.
And if you ask what advice he would give to people who dream of becoming entrepreneurs, Mika advises them that if you are going to enter the world of business, you must have a brave heart.
She added that you should never let fear control you because if you are led by fear, you will never achieve anything.
People admired Mika so much that they called her “boss woman.” But in 2023, Mika’s name became a talking point in various news outlets as rumors began to spread that the entrepreneur’s company operation was a Ponzi or pyramid scheme.
Because of that damaging information, Mika wasted no time and filed a lawsuit against architect Elaine Ogtong for allegedly spreading false information about MFT.
Although there were people who were trying to harm her, she also continued working and helping others.
According to the report, after she formally filed the case, it was reported that Mika opened a State of the Art Dialysis Center.
But before the end of 2024, rumors of anomalies in her company were unearthed again because some people went to the Department of Justice office to seek help.
But when Mika released an official statement in April 2024, she said that they were still happy that their company was being investigated by the DOJ because they believed that their name would also be cleared and the spread of rumors would end.
As the investigation continued, the public gradually doubted whether MFT Group was really a legitimate company.
Because some people filed another case against Mika and his partners.
And this time, they went to the office of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But as before, Mika said that no matter what government agency investigates them, they are not afraid and are ready to cooperate with them to clean up and restore the good reputation of his company.
Despite all the hype surrounding MFT Group, Mika was still recognized by Tatler Asia’s Gen.T List as one of the 300 women who will change Asia.
The Filipino Women’s Network also recognized her as one of the most influential Filipinas in the world.
But those accolades were quickly forgotten.
Because in June 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered banks to freeze more than 100 bank accounts, four security accounts, and four insurance accounts of the entire MFT Group of Companies.
For several months, Mika was unable to access the said accounts because the SEC found anomalies in their operations.
The commissioner also shared that their order to freeze the accounts was also to protect the public.
Mika did not like that decision and criticized the said agencies for allegedly refusing to meet with them.
When the Department of Justice’s investigation continued, everyone was surprised because at the height of Mika and his colleagues’ success, the authorities had already arrested them.
After the arrest warrant was issued, people started to file lawsuits because they realized they were not the only victims of MFT.
If you read through the various threads on Reddit, you will realize that there are always people complaining.
All the checks they were promised bounced.
When the Court Records were made public, the public learned that Mika and his colleagues at MFT were able to lend to entrepreneurs because they met nonstop with businessmen who wanted to invest in MFT.
Although Mika was not very experienced in running a business at first, other entrepreneurs who had been running their own businesses for a long time did not hesitate to invest their money in MFT.
They were promised that the money they invested would not only grow, but they would also earn 12 to 18% per year, or 1% to 1.5% per month.
Some of them did not doubt because they knew many entrepreneurs who had confirmed that they had already earned millions.
In terms of entrepreneurs, Mika’s target investors were those with incomes of millions of pesos.
But if you remember, later they also opened a business that provided loans to small entrepreneurs.
And at the same time, they are also recruiting ordinary people.
As Mika told wealthy investors, their money, no matter how small or big, will earn 12% to 18% per year.
Many people are quickly attracted to invest because they will earn more if they put their money in MFT compared to the bank.
So others sold their lands and properties just to invest.
According to many sources, the minimum amount invested by wealthy businessmen was not less than a million pesos.
But later, Mika also agreed to accept an investment worth 1,000 pesos.
But according to the SEC and DOJ, like other pyramid schemes, they only use the money of new investors to pay off previous investors.
One of the investors, who asked to remain anonymous, withdrew the 14 million pesos he had invested in it.
Initially, the check arrival was smooth, but everything went wrong when the year 2022 arrived.
According to investigators, the stoppage of the checks simply meant that MFT could no longer recruit.
It was also revealed that aside from the huge investment returns, those who invested 30 million pesos were also given travel perks such as trips to Balesin Island and other luxurious destinations.
In the MFT newsletter, it can be seen that not only clients enjoy the perks they offer, but also ordinary MFT employees are able to travel to Balesin and sometimes to other countries such as Iceland, New Zealand, and Australia.
The SEC said that Mika and his investors have been deceiving them for a long time because the two conspired with employees from Isla Lipana & Co., an accounting firm.
The firm conducts audits annually and has 370,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The DOJ confirmed that Geraldine Apostol and Ruth Plasco from the said accounting firm, with the help of Mika and his accomplices, created fake documenTS.
At the time of this recording, there were two arrest warrants against Mika and his accomplices, and it is possible that more could be added.
However, according to authorities, due to the slow issuance of the arrest warrant, Mika was able to quickly leave the country with three of his family members and two co-workers.
The Philippine Airlines manifest stated that since there was no court order barring them from leaving the country, the businessman was able to travel to Los Angeles on October 15, 2024.
His mother did the same and reportedly arrived in LA on October 4.
His brother Enrique is hiding in Vietnam.
While another identified as Charles Tan traveled to Hong Kong on January 8 of this year alone.
His accomplices, Christian and Roxan, are hiding in Istanbul.
All of their names are not on the Interpol website, so the only hope of catching them is for the authorities in the Philippines to cooperate with those from other countries.
And my reminder to my countrymen, when an investment is “too good to be true,” don’t forget to do your research because usually, it’s the people who don’t do their research who are often the ones who get scammed.
If you’ve listened to this video to the end, thank you very much for watching this episode.
Please leave a comment or like this video.
And if you have a case you’d like me to cover, please let me know.
Good day to all of you, fellow countrymen!
