Do we like Lamoiyan Corporation?
Makes Hapee toothpaste and household and personal-care brands; based in Parañaque City, Philippines
Our score: 7 out of 10. We'd back them. They make cheap local products and have a long record of hiring deaf and disabled workers. Our searches found no fines or scandals, but there is little independent scrutiny of a private firm.
Lamoiyan began in 1988 when founder Cecilio Pedro's aluminium-tube business collapsed after the big brands switched to plastic laminated tubes. Manila Standard and Ateneo say he reopened the old plant as a toothpaste maker, and the name is his grandmother's Cantonese name. Hapee was the result.
It's a small player taking on giants. The company says it's the first Filipino firm to break into a toothpaste market dominated by multinationals. Today it has nearly 200 staff and exports over a dozen brands across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, according to the Inquirer.
The best bit is the people side. Ateneo says Lamoiyan has given jobs to deaf and other disabled workers since the start, with about 20% of the team deaf. Manila Standard says Pedro also founded a foundation that gives scholarships to deaf students.
It's still a family business. The Inquirer reported in 2022 that Pedro handed the CEO job to his son Joel Conrad. Philstar says the firm is spending around P150 million on cosmetics and whitening products. We found no scandals, but it's private, so there's less to check. That's why it gets a 7.