Gemma Beranai, CEO AND PRESIDENT, LE VENTURES INC
Inside the quiet yet defiant atmosphere of Libro Espresso Ventures Inc., Philippines, the story of ambition runs deeper. It narrates the life of a mother and an architecture graduate who envisioned a space where she and her children could simply be together, engaged, and unhurried. A space where books weren’t ornamental but essential.
This is how Gemma Berania conceived ambition—not as a sprint toward milestones but as a book written with patience and intention and with the quiet certainty that what it is building will last long after the last page is turned.
Before she became the CEO and President of LE Ventures Inc., before the franchise awards followed, and before five branches opened and a hundred jobs were created, she was simply a mother who made a choice. For seven years, she stepped away from her career to raise her children—not as a retreat, but as a commitment to presence, patience, and a perspective that the most important thing she could ever build was the life she was shaping for her family.
Then life demanded something more.
A Business Born from Meaning
When her family returned to the Philippines, and her husband remained working abroad, the distance became more than geography. It became a catalyst. Entrepreneurship, she realized, was not an ambition—it was a path back to wholeness. “I wasn’t just building a business,” she says. “I was building a life that would allow us to be together.”
A lifelong lover of books, Gemma imagined a space where she could spend time with her children—not just physically present, but mentally engaged. A place where conversations stretch, where silence is thoughtful, and where time feels less transactional.
Her business partner brought a parallel passion—coffee.
Together, they fused introspection with interaction. Pages with people. Stillness with warmth.
The result: Libro Espresso, the Philippines’ first officially registered library café, was born.
Not a café with books as décor.
A café where words would light up ideas—ideas that would feel like home and strike up a conversation between strangers and between a mother and her children over dog-eared pages and warm cups.
In a nutshell, it was a concept that mirrored life.
Designing for Pause in a World That Profits from Speed
Walk into Libro Espresso, and you notice what’s missing before what’s present.
There is no urgency.
No subtle push to vacate your seat. No design was engineered for quick turnover. Instead, there is intention—curated books, thoughtfully collected objects, and a spatial rhythm that invites you to stay longer than planned.
It’s not accidental.
A graduate of architecture from Batangas State University, Gemma approaches business the way she approaches space—with structure, flow, and human behavior at the center. She further sharpened this perspective through formal business training at the Asian Institute of Management and continues to broaden it as an MBA candidate at the University of Western Australia.
The result is a business model that feels less like retail and more like design thinking in motion.
In an industry that measures success by speed, Gemma chose depth.
Growth That Feels Human
Today, Libro Espresso operates five branches under LE Ventures Inc., a group committed to building scalable, culture-rich hospitality brands. Alongside this, their portfolio has expanded to include Annatto, a modern Filipino restaurant rooted in Batangas’ culinary traditions.
Libro Espresso’s five branches, under LE Ventures Inc., have achieved an average net income of 30%, with a return on investment of 1.11 years. These results are supported by franchise frameworks developed through a partnership with Francorp Philippines, positioning the company for further scalability and financial growth.
Their growth is structured, scalable, and systemized.
On paper, the growth is structured, scalable, and systemized.
The returns are proven.
But the story doesn’t live in the numbers.
It lives in the people.
Nearly 100 jobs created. Roles opened for mothers rebuilding careers, for persons with disabilities seeking inclusion, and for students working their way through education, 15 of whom are actively supported today.
Through partnerships with Batangas State University, the business extends beyond employment to support opportunities, currently supporting three university scholars. And beyond its walls, the impact continues quietly.
The Reading Awareness Program has already reached more than 700 students across seven schools—places where books are not always within reach
For Gemma, this isn’t outreach.
It’s continuity.
The same belief, simply moving outward.
“I believe that access to books can change lives,” Gemma says. It is not a tagline. It is the founding logic of everything she has built.
Recognition That Followed Purpose
The industry began to take notice, and the awards followed suit.
From being named a Next Gen in Franchising – Luzon Winner and National Finalist by the Philippine Franchise Association to operational recognition from Foodpanda to the ACES 2026 Visionary Startups Award, milestones followed suit.
But recognition, in Gemma’s world, has never been the pursuit.
It has simply been the byproduct of building something that works—financially, culturally, and socially.
The Measure That Matters
If we look closely, the story was never about coffee.
Or books.
Or even business.
It was about something far simpler and far harder to build.
A life that holds.
And today, that life shows up in small, almost unnoticeable moments.
A mother sitting across from her child, unhurried.
A student holding onto education because of a job.
A reader leaves with a thought that lingers longer than the visit.
For Gemma Berania, success doesn’t announce itself loudly.
It settles in quietly.
Not in how far the business reaches, but in how deeply it stays.