Marilyn Bantilo Martinico-Siervo is the owner of MSM International Cargo in Dubai. JONATHAN YBERA/EXPAT MEDIA

MSM Cargo’s lady boss was avid box sender

In business, it can be difficult to attain success, let alone maintain it. But this isn’t the case with Marilyn Bantilo Martinico-Siervo, owner of long-running Dubai-based MSM International Cargo. Siervo has cracked the code to business success in the UAE since arriving here in 2004. Her secret? “Honesty and trust when doing business,” Siervo told Expatmedia.net. An astute business person, Siervo runs several real estate properties for rent in Dubai, advertising firm Al Jawareh Advertising, and Beauty Attraction Ladies Salon. Her thriving cargo delivery company, MSM International Cargo, has been running for more than 10 years in Dubai to help Filipinos get their precious care boxes delivered safely to their families back home. The down-to-earth Filipina is also the owner of MSM Philippines Freight Forwarding and the luxury Royale Palm Resort Hotel in her home province of Pambujan in Northern Samar, Philippines. She is soon to open a jewellery shop in Dubai. “There’s still more projects I want to do. I feel blessed to be able to share my blessings in the form of jobs,” she said. She currently employs more than 300 people in the UAE and the Philippines.

How Siervo started in the UAE

It was her sense of adventure and responsibility to help her family that drew Siervo to Dubai in 2004. With her optimistic personality, “it was as if everything fell into place.” “I quickly found a job, and I was fortunate to have bosses who mentored me about marketing and running a business,” she said. Her only struggle? “Dealing with a bed space. It was my number one struggle when I started here. The bed was tiny and sometimes there were bed bugs. I would sometimes just sit in my bed and think, ‘How will I survive this?’” She not only survived it, but she also made a business out of it. With her acute sense of providing a solution to consumer demand, she quit her job to go into the real estate business. She ran as many as 35 real estate properties for rent in Dubai during pre-pandemic times. “I was privileged to have many Arab homeowners trust me with their property,” she said. The business continues to this day.

Starting MSM International Cargo

An avid balikbayan box sender, Siervo loved sending gifts for her family back home. “There were a lot of things that were cheap here but expensive in the Philippines. For example, one dirham to ten dirham cookies or coffee, packets of lotion or shampoo. I would buy those in bulk and ship them home. My mother was always happy to receive them, and then she’d distribute the goods to relatives,” she recalls with a smile. But then she realized that not all cargo companies were reliable enough to entrust with her packages. “Some of the companies closed. The people who sent cargo spent their money and time to send those home, and it’s not right if the boxes would just go missing if a company shuts down. So I thought, this is a challenge I want to take. I’ll fix this,” Siervo said, which inspired her to open MSM International Cargo. In the last ten years, the MSM International Cargo has been operating smoothly in its five branches across the UAE. “We have not had any customer complaint of missing boxes because I personally make sure that everything is taken care of,” Siervo said. “You can imagine that many people here, before they can fill up an entire box, they spend months buying things from their hard-earned money for it. So we have to take extra care of their boxes,” she said, “I know how it feels. I have been there.” Siervo said what makes MSM International Cargo stand out is its “A to Z service”. Unlike other companies, MSM International Cargo has its own containers, accredited warehouses and delivery teams in both UAE and the Philippines, allowing it to have prompt, nationwide distribution. “We also make sure that all custom duties are paid so that there is no unnecessary delay,” she said.

Human touch and recipe for success

Siervo says a successful business needs to have a human touch, which is why she makes sure that she is always hands-on at work. “I am also an open book to my investors. They know they can trust me, that is why they want to work with me,” she said. It also needs determination, she added. “I wanted to achieve something that I could not achieve as an employee,” she said. Listening to her ex-bosses’ advices also helped. “They said if I didn’t take their advice, I’ll end up working with a mop.” Siervo believes when you have human connection in your business, money will follow. This is why she is generous with her time and her money. “I got this from my mother. She loved to give, saying it will be returned to us a hundredfold in so many ways,” she said. Siervo’s philanthropic efforts often go under the radar, but she prefers it that way. “I don’t like to boast about it on social media. It’s enough that I know I have made a difference in someone’s life,” she said. Siervo said it was her family’s love that inspired her to “be strong and earn a living in a clean way”. Her entrepreneurial spirit has helped her raise two children on her own. Her children, now grown up, help her run her businesses. She will need all hands on deck as this year she is working to expand MSM International Cargo beyond the UAE. There are talks of expansion in the US and the GCC, she revealed. “The blessings have been continuous and I am grateful.” MM/Expat Media A condensed version of this story also appears on Expat Media Special Edition magazine
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