The Techpreneur - Eric Yu

CEO, Cellprime Distribution Corp.

- Pat Calica

Cellprime Distribution Corp. CEO Eric Yu started doing business at a young age. When he was in high school, he would peddle jackets and concert tickets, among other things. In college, he would fly to Hong Kong to buy music records and then sell them to local DJs here in the country.

Yu credits his childhood environment for his entrepreneurial spirit. Growing up in a family where everyone is an entrepreneur shaped his prospects for his future career.

Nowadays, Yu is on top of Cellprime, his 14 year-old technology company. Cellprime is the maker of Cloudfone, which recently made headlines when it broke into the Top 5 smartphone brands in the Philippines in the second quarter of 2017.

What’s a typical day like for you as CEO of Cellprime?

Well, the working environment nowadays has evolved. When I was younger, what’s indispensable to me was my Filofax. But today, obviously, the work norm has changed. I’m sure for everybody the first thing they do is [check their] emails. I get a bunch of emails every day. It takes me a while to go through all of them. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is I have my coffee while [checking] my email. Then all through the day, I have meetings internally and externally. I do travel a lot to meet and build relationships with our partners domestically and internationally—which is nice. Getting out of the office [once in a while is nice].

How do you stay on top of things while you’re away? What gadgets do you use?