Jenny Lin Granados Maaño Ngai is one of those people who command the room with their radiance. The former beauty queen, crowned Miss Mabalacat 1998, has not aged a day and look as stunning as she was during her early years of modeling and pageantry. Jenny was one of the first women to embody not just beauty but intelligence as well.
Born in Mabalacat, Pampanga, Jenny graduated with honors from the University of the East with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management. While being a scholar in college, she was also a vice president of her University’s Student College Government and an active SK Councilor and a Barangay Corporate Secretary in one of the districts of Manila where she grew up.
Her stint in the world of modeling and pageantry started when she was discovered by an ad agency when she was 17 years old at her lolo’s canteen in their apartment in Manila. This soon led to print ads for big companies such as Avon, Jag Jeans, and Johnson & Johnson to name a few.
But Jenny was never content and soon pursued a corporate career.
“After college, my first goal was to enter the corporate world no matter how good the perks were and the seemingly easy income I made from modeling and pageantry. I wanted to be different from the others and I aimed to face a new challenge which was to become a woman in the corporate world,” she shared.
Jenny’s first job was at the Philippine Stock Exchange where she was soon recommended to work for one of the telecom paging giants of the late 1990s — Infocom, the maker of Motorola, Infopage, and Nextel. With her determination and eagerness to learn, Jenny rose through the ranks – from Customer Service Associate to Marketing and then Sales.
Her stint with the Sales team opened the doors for her to be at the executive office of the company where fate led her to meet the company owner, chairman and CEO Canadian-Chinese businessman William Ngai who eventually became her husband.
“We have been married for nearly 20 years and we have three boys named after him — Wilson who is 14, Williard who is 6, and our youngest, Willman, 4 years old. My husband molded me and made me the strongest version of myself,” she informed.
Today, Jenny continues to be an entrepreneur and has recently ventured into the solar business.
“I never imagined I will be in the solar business. It all started when my husband took a small solar-powered device from his solar company from China to the Philippines when he visited a mining site. My husband saw the conditions of those in the country who still do not have electricity. I was impressed by one of his solar devices which was a small device that produced electricity and can be charged by solar energy. The small device can simultaneously power up lights, fans, charge mobile phones, and even play music via FM radio, USB and Bluetooth,” she continued.
Jenny immediately saw the many possibilities that the device would bring to her fellow Filipinos.
“I told my husband how helpful the device would be for Filipinos, especially those in the provinces. I asked his factory in China to send over a few units of the small solar devices and at first, I sold them to raise funds for a chapel I was putting up in a province.”
The results were incredible, she said.
“It was well received. My key selling points were: portable solar, free clean electricity and no more brownout.”
Since its initial success, Jenny and her husband enhanced the device to make it even better.
“At that time, my husband and I were already in the solar business but we were more focused on doing the big solar farms where additional investment was required to have land space to install the big solar PV panels. I told him that we can change the trend by having just one solar device for each house to resolve the power problems of every Filipino, particularly those living in the rural or off-grid areas where electricity is not just expensive but also scarce,” she explained.
This is the story behind SunSmart solar devices – inspired by the Philippines and the Filipino’s way of life.
This soon became Jenny’s mission.
“For me, it is more than just making profits but my goal of making a positive corporate impact by contributing solutions to problems our fellow Filipinos face while taking care of our planet. As a solar entrepreneur, it is essential to further develop innovative solar technology and solutions that will not just be capable in the moment but also useful and sustainable in the long term,” the enterprising beauty queen asserted.
“My ultimate goal for the company is to be able to implement more of its Vision – To Do, To Go and To Create a 100-percent all-renewable-powered development – which is possible with the right technology such as SunSmart. We hope to stabilize the cost of electricity, resolve efficiently and effectively power problems of the country, overarch the goal of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions that harms the environment and contribute on the long term global climate change adaptation programs,” she stressed.
As an inspiring woman, Jenny was asked what she wished to impart to other women.
“As a woman like me who works in the same field as my husband, my forever partner in almost everything. I would say that the same lessons I’ve learned from my children applies for every relationship. And that is also the virtue of patience, understanding and forgiveness which is the supreme totality of love. May every woman be reminded of these virtues of love whenever we face a battle in our relationship with our men. After all, we are more capable of doing and being more than the woman in us,” she ended.
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