The Other Dennis Uy: Who is Dennis Anthony Uy, CEO of Converge?

There’s another Dennis Uy in town, and his broadband operator Converge ICT Solutions is making the rounds. We’re not talking about Davao-born neophyte tycoon Dennis Uy, a common mistake for those unfamiliar with the two businessmen that share the same name. We’re talking about Dennis Anthony Uy, a rising star in the telco scene with his barely five-year-old brainchild Converge.

The millionaire is on his way to be a billionaire now that Converge has filed its $726 million initial public offering, which could become the largest IPO in the local stock exchange’s history. Here’s everything we know about Dennis Anthony Uy, the other Dennis Uy making waves in the business scene.

He’s From Pampanga
Like the other Dennis who hails from Davao, Dennis Anthony Uy was raised in the province. A Pampanga native, Uy moved to the province when he was 11 years old after immigrating from China, and learned to assimilate into his new host country despite not speaking a single word of English or Tagalog.

After building his business, Uy sought to give back to his hometown, partnering with Angeles City to provide 90,000 students free internet connection at a time when education has turned to online classes.

“As an Angeleño myself, l am committing to fiber-powering the education of the city. This is a way of giving back to our community,” said Uy.

As a kid, Uy worked for his uncle as a maintenance boy, fixing and cleaning refrigerators and freezers. According to Manila Bulletin, in college, he started his first business at Holy Angel University, selling Betamax and VHS tapes.

As an adult, Uy ventured into broadband and fiber optics, starting ComClark Network and Technology Corp. in 1996 in his backyard—Pampanga. It later evolved into Converge, the fiber optics provider that steadily expanded until its success skyrocketed in 2019 when one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, Warburg Pincus, took an interest in the local cable operator and invested $250 million in what turned out to be the little telco that could.

Converge prides itself as the “first pure end-to-end fiber internet network in the country.” Fiber optics offer greater speed and bandwidth, and now that the new normal is encouraging working from home, the demand for faster internet is greater than ever.

He’s Not Related to the Other Dennis Uy
The probability of having two people, CEOs and business founders no less, in the same industry with the same name is slim. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not related, with one being Davao-born and bred and the other hailing from Pampanga after immigrating from China.

Both are in the telecom industry, with Converge being a former telco challenger before backing out of the telco race, making way for his namesake's Dito Telecommunity to bid for and eventually win the third telco slot in the country.

Oddly enough, the two also share the same middle initial: Dennis Anthony Uy vs. Dennis Ang Uy. By ANRI ICHIMURA|ESQUIRE.PH

Source: Peso Economics