CAGAYAN DE ORO City tycoon Lorenzo U. Limketkai passed away at age 72 and he will be laid to rest Monday, May 6, in his hometown.
Mindanao Business Council Chair Vicente T. Lao described Mr. Limketkai as a pioneering entrepreneur who helped in the growth of the southern island.
“He was a good Mindanao businessman and a visionary,” Mr. Lao said in a mobile text message to BusinessWorld.
Mr. Limketkai was considered a driving force in the growth of the family enterprise, which was started by his parents in 1927 as a rice and corn mill and later grew into the large-scale manufacture of corn oil and other food products under Limketkai Manufacturing Corp.
The Limketkai name is also well-known in Cagayan de Oro City for their over 40-hectare mixed-use complex, considered one of the first and biggest leisure centers in Mindanao, that houses retail shops and supermarkets, the Limketkai Luxe Hotel, other entertainment facilities, and a 4,500-capacity convention hall.
“We mourn the untimely demise of another great economic pillar of Mindanao. I had the opportunity to have met him when I was chair of the Mindanao Business Council. He shared his vision of transforming Cagayan to become one of the top economic hubs of Mindanao. So with courage and his vision. The biggest and 1st shopping mall of CDO was born,” said Davao City-based business leader Joji Ilagan-Bian, also currently the honorary consul general of Bangladesh.
The Limketkai Center was developed and managed by Limketkai Sons, Inc.
“He will always be remembered by the younger business leaders as a person with sharp vision and tenacity to make things move at great speed,” Ms. Bian said. — with a report from Carmelito Q. Francisco
