Entrepreneurship spurs national economy

Congratulations on the success of the recent Go Negosyo Youth Entrepreneurship Summit 2010 held at the World Trade Center. The ceremony was led by no less that Vice President Jojo Binay together with the country’s top business leaders, among them GMA top honcho Felipe Gozon who has always been supportive of the Go Negosyo advocacy.

You could see the pride in Joey’s eyes as he surveyed the entire floor of the exhibit. They had close to three hundred exhibitors for the one-day event, each booth well-planned and executed and designed to catch the eye. Their focus at the summit, according to Joey, was on teaching and developing the young entrepreneurs. Many of them, he says, came from public schools, and this summit was a one-stop shop for the exhibitors where they could learn plenty from the motivational speakers like Bo Sanchez and other successful entrepreneurs who generously shared their time to inspire and teach the young aspiring entrepreneurs.

We checked out the summit for next week’s edition of Business & Leisure, the longest-running business and lifestyle TV news and features magazine (Thursday evenings at 10 o’clock on Sky Cable Channel 13) and got to talk with some of the young participants. One of the more phenomenal success stories among these young entrepreneurs is Injap Sia’s Mang Inasal. Injap now sits as one of the trustees of Go Negosyo.

The youthful Injap says he is thoroughly province -bred and educated, hailing from Iloilo. Though his product, chicken inasal, is by no means original, many others having started their own roadside restaurants offering the grilled specialty in his native Roxas City, he says all of them were free-standing stores. He dreamed of having a fast food inasal store in a big place like a mall where foot traffic alone ensured mass patronage. But his first store in his hometown was at the back of the mall, in the parking area actually, and the place had been vacant for so long that his friends dissuaded him from putting up his eatery there. He chose to follow his gut feel and went ahead with the first Mang Inasal store. That was six years ago.

Three years after his very first store, he came to invade the big city. Manila was still a strange city to him then, having grown up all his life in charming Roxas City. Three years later, Mang Inasal has inaugurated more than 600 outlets nationwide through franchising and now employs over ten thousand Filipinos. Even small communities have gained livelihood just from supplying Mang Inasal with the bamboo sticks that come with each Mang Inasal piece. One innovative approach that he initiated is the unlimited rice one can have with any in-house order of Mang Inasal. Knowing the psyche of the ordinary Pinoy, this offer clinches the deal for any hungry Pinoy who can’t seem to decide on where to sit down for a meal on a budget.

His major motivation, he says, is to touch as many lives as he can in a positive way, and he has certainly done that in a major way. Now he gives back generously by being very active in Go Negosyo, inspiring others to be innovative and inventive, hardworking and persevering.

I was also touched by the story of the three girls who started Rags2Riches which had its roots when the three students used to go to Payatas (Smokey Mountain) as part of an outreach program. There they saw the poverty and suffering but chose to see beyond the squalor and stench and helped empower the women folks there by engaging them in the cottage-style production of bags, etc. about three years ago. Rags2Riches president, Reese Fernandez who herself looks like your average long-haired college student says they are planning to go global with their products any time soon. Reese is one of the awardees in the recent summit. They also distribute their fashion bags made by Payatas women from sustainable materials to different outlets here.

Two other young girls who had booths at the fair were Cessa Gaston, owner of Thingys Accessories, and Bea Pimentel.

Cessa’s products are fashion accessories that are so visually appealing to the very young – necklaces that had sculpted pendants of cute animals, cartoon characters, etc. She says that when she first discovered the clay material, all she actually wanted was to sculpt as a hobby, and discovered that the sculpted pieces which she simply hung on pretty chains or mounted on rings sold very fast. At first, she could only produce as many as fifteen items a week from her “student budget” of P4,000.00 (her initial capital). Now, her production runs into several hundreds a week and she now has artists and marketing people in her employ.

Bea, on the other hand, comes from the well-known family of restaurateurs, the late Rose and golf addict Bonnie Pimentel who own and run the Ilustrado chain of restaurants. She herself graduated from a culinary course and helps run the restaurants on the F & B side while her father Bonnie takes care of management. Together with two other friends, Bea recently launched the Depot Fashion magazine which interestingly has a direct selling feature, making it the country’s first such fashion magazine. This novel idea should catch on with young fashionistas who can instantly order what they see and fancy from the glossy magazine.

Bea’s advice to young entrepreneurs: “Stick to your passion and work hard to reach your goals. You have to love what you are doing in order to make a go of anything.”

Go Negosyo actually holds two summits every year – the women’s summit is held every January and the Youth Summit in September. Both are always well-attended. The consummate manager that he is, Joey Concepcion made sure Go Negosyo did not stop at inspiring and educating the Pinoy. Their website has become very popular, and their first book on success stories of Pinoy entrepreneurs from the MSMEs also became a sort of bible for aspiring businessmen/women. They recently published their sixth book, and they also have a TV show for Go Negosyo on Q TV. Likewise, they continue to open new tie-ups with trade shows, all in support of the Go Negosyo advocacy.

Go Joey!

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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