From Fishmonger to Corporate Leader - Sofronio Go is The Real Deal Success

Sofronio A. Go, Vice President Global Technology Support Services, Entrepreneurs’ Organization

Sof is a well-loved and respected boss and colleague.

His laughter can be heard meters away. Sofronio (Sof) Go had a perpetual smile that made everyone feel at ease around him. I met Sof as a fresh product engineer at Intel Manila who had graduated from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and I was then a new college graduate joining the company’s dynamic training department.  

Sof’s jovial disposition and great sense of humor had been his trademark reputation to many of us who had worked with him. Little did we know these endearing traits belied Sof’s difficult childhood and heavy responsibility within his family. No one really knew he came from a childhood of deprivation, bordering poverty, because his father, Antonio C. Go, came from a very poor family. Mr Go was an odd jobs worker due to his lack of education - a deep-seated consequence of very polarized life status in the Philippines where the rich are super rich and the poor, below subsistence level. Sof never shared his background to any of his closest friends until recently when I had a chat with him on how successful he had become since our first jobs. As we spoke, we both realized his story could inspire many who despair about life. Sof also felt it’s high time he shared his story to others.

As a young boy, Sof worked as a fishmonger at NEPA-Q mart, his nearby public market. He woke up at 3AM to sell fish by 5AM so he can contribute to his family’s basic expenses. As if that stint had not been enough, Sof also plied through the streets to sell newspapers - yelling and selling around his block every morning. With seven siblings in the family, Sof’s life had been tough. He went to study in public schools but his academic excellence won him scholarships that allowed him to complete a degree in Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering.

This boy who had worked so hard at such a young age had gone a long way and is now Vice President for Global Technology Support Services at Entrepreneurs’ Organization - a US based non-profit organization helping entrepreneurs worldwide become successful. Sof’s progressive climb in his career (Intel, IBM, Caltex, Watson Wyatt to name a few) had been an extraordinary story of drive, persistence, hard work and beating the odds. Let his story inspire us. 

FMAG: What tough childhood memory brought you to where you are now?

SAG: As a child, I grew up happily with my seven other siblings despite the difficult and poor conditions we had. That is because I have supportive brothers and sisters and very hardworking parents. There were times we had no food to eat, no ‘baon’ (pocket money) for school. We wear only slippers and tattered clothes. But that was okay; I did not complain. Instead, I tried some odd jobs like waking up at 3AM to sell fish in the market and later on, sold newspapers along the streets of Manila during my years in primary school. These experiences gave me the determination to study hard, dream of reaching at least second year in college, become a working student and help my family. I did not expect to pass the state scholarship which became my ticket to finish college. And the rest was destiny.  

FMAG: What was your biggest learning at your first job at Intel and now at Entrepreneurs’ Organization? 

SAG: There were so many lessons I learned from my first job at Intel and the biggest learning I had were the discipline and ethics I now practice. I had been molded by people at Intel who shared with me my first sweet successes and my first painful failures as a budding engineer.  

Sof at home.

With EO, I learned two things. One, your kindness and professionalism will go a long way. In a corporate world, you will face all types of personalities. But regardless of how they treat you, be kind. Do not let them belittle you. And this brings me to the second learning: be the most hardworking person in the room but don’t compare the amount of work you do with the others. People will notice your hard work and you will be rightfully rewarded. 

FMAG: Do you consider your life a tale of ‘rags to riches’? 

SAG: Not probably from ‘rags to riches’ but from ‘rags to I can’t ask for more’ because of the immense blessings God had showered me with. I am more than thankful and content with what I have - just enough to appreciate and enjoy life with my family. Looking back to where I came from, I was given more than what I had prayed for.    

FMAG: You graduated from university in similar conditions of the economy we are facing. Your time was the crisis of Ninoy Aquino’s death and this time, it is the unprecedented pandemic of COVID19. If there is one advice you can give to fresh graduates, what would that be?

SAG: My advice would be for them to just keep on searching and applying for jobs they think they would enjoy doing. Don’t give up because COVID19 is not permanent. It does not matter how many positions fresh grads would apply for. What they need is just one good break. And that chance could be their 100th or 200th application.  

FMAG: Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has valuable lessons to learn. What was yours? 

SAG: No matter how many times I fell because of mistakes I had done or because of wrong decisions I had made, I always pick myself up. I can no longer count how many times I had failed and fallen and how many times I had been rebuked and mocked. But as my parents taught us, I will not allow other people’s opinions to define who I am.  

FMAG: What is your greatest wish for your six kids?

SAG: No matter what happens and how difficult their situation will be, family will always be beside them, supporting and cheering. I wish each of them can build their own families with the men and women of their dreams and to grow old with them happily, with Christ as the center of their lives. It is not just money that will make them happy, but the relationships they will build with each other as they go through life’s ups and downs.  

The Go Family is a picture of love and contentment (L-R): Sof with supportive wife Ghie and their grown-ups Simone, Stoffel, Ghiannine, Razel, Sigfrid and Steffan.

FMAG: What would you advise your 12 year old self?

SAG: See the bright side of life no matter how difficult it is. Savor the joys of childhood and continue sharing (whatever I have) with my family. Move on and never give up.