In 1997, Wilson Ledesma faced a devastating financial crisis. His trucking business folded as three of his four major clients shut down, leaving him struggling to cover loan payments and keep the company afloat.
“I was already having doubts about the trucking business,” Ledesma recalls. “I couldn’t cope with the amortization, and collections stretched from 30 days to 60, then 120.”
To survive, he borrowed money just to keep operations running, but the debt kept piling up. That’s when his father-in-law stepped in with an incredible offer—his own land title as collateral for a bank loan.
“He really trusted me so much that he told me, ‘Here, Wilson, take this TCT if you need money for your trucking business,’” Ledesma says.
Despite the lifeline, he knew trucking wasn’t sustainable anymore. He had a gut feeling it was time for a drastic shift. Instead of trying to save a failing business, he took a gamble on something entirely different—starting a restaurant.
“When I decided to open a restaurant, it was a gamble that I took. Of course, we didn’t know if it was going to click or not, but thankfully, it turned out the other way,” he shares.
That decision led to the birth of Mann Hann, a now-popular restaurant known for its authentic Filipino-Chinese cuisine.
It wasn’t easy. Stress levels were high, finances were tight, and the risk of failure loomed large. But his wife and sister-in-law stepped in, helping him navigate the new industry and turn the restaurant into a success.
“The best move I’ve done was to diversify,” Ledesma says. “And my wife and my sister-in-law saved the day.”
Looking back, he credits faith, family, and the willingness to pivot for turning a business failure into a thriving restaurant empire—one that might never have existed if he had stuck to trucking.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong.
