Always looking for challenges

For Abner Venus, life is a series of challenges only waiting to be overcome.

From moving to Saipan, to finding out what real life was during his college years in Manila, to taking up odd jobs to scratch a living back on his home island, to always proving himself in his dream company, Venus has always persevered.

Venus landed on Saipan in 1975 as an 11-year-old transplant from Iloilo City in the Central Visayas province of the same name in the Philippines.

Outgoing and friendly, the second son of Vic and Aida Venus’ three children quickly made friends and was soon “one of the boys” at Garapan Elementary School.

A year later, the chubby little boy transferred to Mount Carmel, where he became a true blue Knight having spent the rest of his elementary and high school years at the Chalan Kanoa school, graduating in 1983.

During his seven-year stint at Mount Carmel, Venus made fast friends with everyone and was active in sports and the school band.

He starred for the Knights’ basketball team under the tutelage of legendary coach George Taylor.

Venus also played the trumpet, and together with the rest of the Mount Carmel School Band, was invited to go to Guam the last time Pope John Paul II visited the U.S. territory.

Unfortunately, Venus’ passion for extra-curricular activity didn’t always translate to excellence in the classroom, where he was an above-average student with a penchant for mischief.

He now freely admits that more than half of his batch-mates at Mount Carmel was surprised he got his diploma.

After he missed matriculating at the conservatory of music of the Philippines’ University of Santos Tomas, Venus settled for the nearby University of the East.

Battling homesickness, culture shock, and Manila’s trademark traffic, pollution, and noise, Venus tried to adapt as best he can and even tried out for the school’s varsity team.

UE head coach Jimmy Mariano marveled at Venus’ work ethic and knowledge of the game but was turned off by his short stature. Venus would eventually be one of the last cuts of a team that won the last two championship of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

Venus did get something from his brief flirtation with college hoops, as he came out of it befriending 6’6” future Philippine Basketball Association star Jerry Codiñera, who recommended him to the weightlifting coach.

What he failed to do in basketball, he was able to do in weightlifting, as he donned the school’s colors in the sport for the next three or so years. Venus went on to specialize in the dead-weight competition, recording 500 lbs as his heaviest lift.

After graduating with a B.S. Management degree from UE, Venus immediately flew back home to Saipan and tried to enter the island’s work force, with “tried” being the operative word.

He applied at Hyatt Regency Saipan and Grand Hotel Saipan but after weeks of waiting, only got a call from Meitetsu Mart.

With his tail between his legs, Venus accepted a job as a do-it-all clerk that called for manning the scales at the fresh produce section, sweeping floors, and sticking price tags.

He got a mouthful from his dad, who complained, “I didn’t pay for a four-year college education to see my son working in a grocery.”

But Venus vowed he was there to learn and learn he did. With guidance from Mang Puring, he got his first initiation to retail business, one that proved quite handy in his future success.

After Meitetsu, the go-getter moved on to work for Grand Hotel (finally), his alma mater (Physical Education teacher), Nikko Hotel (where he worked as a bartender at the L.A. Pool Bar), and Hukobotan (Warehouse)—with every job serving as an added opportunity to grow as an employee and as a person.

It was while working at Hukobotan that Venus got noticed by Microl big wigs, who offered him a job at its newly opened Wine & Spirits division.

He went on board in 1989 as an administrative assistant doing all the legwork. A year later he was promoted to assistant manager and then to manager in 1991, a position he held until Wine & Spirits was sold in 1995.

Abner revealed that during the boom years in the early 1990s he was able to sell $50,000 worth of merchandise a day.

When Wine & Spirits was bought by Pacific Trading Co. Venus almost went along with it, but Microl president George Schwartz would have nothing of it and assigned him to the company’s rent-a-car division.

Heading that outfit wasn’t much of an adjustment for Venus but when Microl moved him to the service department a couple of years later, he was forced to learn the automotive business almost overnight.

After making the service department profitable for the first time in its history, Venus was moved to revive another struggling division, when he was made manager of the body shop department.

He again wove his magic—with plenty of help from the likes of Absalon Wacky, Jr., inspiring words from general manager Douglas Brennan, and a money-saving move to mix paint in-house—and went on to secure a commitment from AON Insurance.

In 2002, Schwartz stepped down and the new president, Robert Fernandez, put Venus in charge of both rent-a-car and body shop departments following recommendations from Microl comptroller Diana Kelly.

After a banner year in 2003, Venus was given back the service department, but as a consequence he had to give up rent-a-car. Now, he serves as manager for both service and body shop departments of Microl.

He said he has grown to love the Inchcape-owned company in his 15 years working for them.

“Microl gives you an opportunity to learn and gives you all the tools to succeed. It’s always been my dream company and I couldn’t think of myself working for anyone else.”

As a testament to this, Venus has attended seminars in Japan (2003) and in Hong Kong (2004) sponsored by the United Kingdom-based company, whose counterpart in Guam is called Atkins Kroll, Inc.

Venus lives in a Puerto Rico compound he shares with his parents and brother. His sister lives in Chicago.

He said he owes all his success to God, his wife, kids, family, and friends.

Venus is married to the former Maria Christie Artellaga and they have two kids, Jule Cristener (9 years old) and Mark Christian (6). His oldest daughter, 14-year-old Ruby Ann, was born from a previous marriage.

Venus is also active in the Basketball Association of the Northern Mariana Islands and lists cockfighting as his favorite pastime.