EMMA Imperial has always believed that with passion and determination, anything is possible.
The president and CEO of Imperial Homes Corp. (IHC) never lost sight of this guiding principle. It is what made Imperial the poster girl for sustainable and low-cost housing in the country.
IHC launched the first solar-powered mass housing community, Via Verde in Santo Tomas, Batangas, in 2015, and followed it up with the first solar net-metered community, Via Verde in Trece Martires, Cavite, in 2022.
The two groundbreaking ventures have earned international recognition for IHC, notably from the World Bank.
BEING DIFFERENT IHC President and CEO Emma Imperial
recounts her journey in real estate in an interview with The Manila Times’ Chairman
and CEO Dante ‘Klink’ Ang 2nd for SMNI’s television show ‘Business and Politics’ on
Saturday, July 30, 2022. PHOTO BY JOHN RYAN BALDEMOR
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Interviewed by The Manila Times Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dante “Klink” Ang 2nd on SMNI’s television program “Business and Politics,” she described her journey as hard but very rewarding.
“We did normal and luxury real estate before, but we were very big on mass housing. I tried to do everything that was different for the low-income group at the time, so anything that could help them, I would do it,” Imperial said.
With over 37 years of experience in real estate, she gravitated toward affordable housing communities.
“So, the company started this around 2014 and launched it in 2015,” Imperial said. “To date we have committed about 8,000 housing units to the IFC-World Bank that we are on track to become a solar-powered community with an EDGE certification.”
The Via Verde: Santo Tomas, Batangas project was recognized by the World Bank Group, the Financial Times, and International Finance Corp. (IFC), World Bank Group’s Sister company, as its housing model worthy of an EDGE certificate for Green Building — a first for a mass housing developer in the country.
“I kept trying to break the myth that solar is only for the rich and no one really believed me,” Imperial said. “I was very lucky early on, as I was able to convince Pag-IBIG Fund through Acmad Moti, who is now its president. He was the deputy COO back then, and I convinced him about making solar available to the Pag-IBIG members.”
It took Pag-IBIG two years to green-light the project. But for Imperial it was worth the wait.
Via Verde: Trece Martires’ solar power metering is the first of its kind in the country. It also exports excess electricity back to the …….