Dr. Dan C. Lachica was in his mid-20s when he was sent by his employer to undergo further training in the United States on April 15, 1980. It was there when he first laid eyes on Silicon Valley, an area in the southern San Francisco Bay Area in northern California, often been dubbed as the global center for innovative technology.

In his own words, he recalls feeling like the proverbial “kid left in a candy store.” He was in total awe, and right then and there, he knew where he wanted to be. He called up his boss, saying: “I am not going back to the Philippines.”