Seizing their moment: Founders of Moment Group Abba Napa and Eliza Antonino welcome Monocle to Manila

In this episode of The Entrepreneurs, host Tom Edwards speaks with James Chambers reporting from Manila about two major hospitality stories in the Philippines. The first segment features an in-depth interview with Abba Napa and Eliza Antonino, co-founders of Moment Group, a Filipino hospitality company that has experienced remarkable expansion. They recount how the company began in 2012 when they pivoted from retail into food and restaurant ventures, starting with a barbecue restaurant called Q, followed six months later by Manam, their flagship Filipino comfort food restaurant. Manam features dishes inspired by the founders' family recipes, including the popular sinigang (sour soup with short rib and watermelon) based on Eliza's mother's recipe. The menu is divided into classic and twist sections, allowing customers to choose between nostalgic familiar dishes and experimental new creations. Over the past decade, Moment Group has grown to 85 restaurants across multiple brands and expanded internationally, opening in Cebu and Singapore (where their restaurant Hiop received Michelin recognition). The founders discuss their growth strategy, explaining that they reject scaling for scale's sake and instead focus on productivity and same-shop sales trajectory improvements year-on-year. They funded initial expansion through bank relationships built over years, but now generate capital internally. The founders emphasize their long-term vision of building an institution that outlasts them and serves generations of Filipinos, and they discuss their ambition to bring Filipino flavors to international audiences beyond diaspora communities seeking comfort food. They address infrastructure challenges in the Philippines, particularly limited international flight connectivity to beach destinations, which constrains tourism growth. The second segment features James Chambers' interview with Frank Droian, the French General Manager of the newly reopening Mandarin Oriental Manila, which closed 12 years ago and is anticipated to reopen at the end of 2026. Droian discusses his approach to blending Mandarin Oriental's legendary global service standards with authentic Filipino local heritage and hospitality culture. He explains the hotel's strategy to attract both corporate business travelers and international leisure tourists, positioning the Philippines as a world-class service destination. The helipad on the hotel's roof enables guests to quickly access island destinations like Palawan. The broader context involves the Philippines' underdeveloped tourism industry—the country receives only 4 million visitors annually despite having 117 million people, compared to Hong Kong's 36 million visitors—and the strategic importance of major hotel openings and international brand presence in developing the sector.