About a week ago, I got a call from Ambassador Albert del Rosario. He requested to meet me in a short notice. I had to make sure he wanted to meet me and not my father, as many people would often interchange our names.
Anyway, I had that meeting with Ambassador Del Rosario. To my pleasant surprise, he asked me if I would consider being nominated by him as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. I was quite flattered, especially coming from an ambassador who is also well respected in the business community. He served in many of the First Pacific-owned companies as director. He also owns his own insurance brokerage. Ambassador Del Rosario is an excellent choice by PNoy as incoming Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
I told Ambassador Del Rosario to give me time to think about it as it is quite a difficult choice for me to make. It is definitely a very good offer to pass. I already mentioned the difficulty, as I have my commitment to the Go Negosyo advocacy. From the time we started it five years ago, we were able to reach out, inspire and educate thousands of Filipinos through our various programs. But, we definitely still have a very long way to go. There are also more and more companies and organizations coming in to support the advocacy. They partner with us, as they see the benefit of helping Filipinos, especially the micro and small entrepreneurs. This has led me to have difficulty in accepting an offer of a lifetime.
As I consulted friends and family, 90 percent obviously told me to accept it. But, let me share with you a letter from my daughter Monica. After all, family is our greatest motivation in life.
Dear Papa,
As your proud daughter, I want to write you a letter of how grateful I am. I want to say sorry for the times that I have hurt, annoyed, or been bad to you. Even for the times when I didn’t hug you, or treat you well. I am truly sorry.
I want to thank you for giving us a great home. Thank you for being such a great dad, also to mom, for giving me such a great life, many options in life and an AWESOME family. Thanks for giving me love and care, teaching me the right things to do, and making me who I am today. THANK YOU! :)
I would also like to say to you how proud I am to be your daughter. You have such a great and very successful business and also your “GO NEGOSYO”. I am proud of you for what you have done in life. I love who you are as my father, with your unique personality. I am proud of you and your many accomplishments. I always knew how great you are, but it just struck me after the opportunity of becoming ambassador of London. That is one great opportunity. I always wanted to try to live somewhere new, where culture is different. I think they chose right, because a person like you deserves something as big or high as that. Truthfully, I really want you to accept it. We all do because it’s so GREAT.
I was very sad when you said “no”, but I know you have your reasons. I get your point that what about family, friends, our house, and your business. I get the many true points you have, like “Go Negosyo” being too young. I get it because it’s like your baby. You love doing what you do there. I respect you in all ways. Living in LONDON would be so great. But, I respect and get your point. I know that if you say no or yes we would all still be proud of what a great person you are.
I want to congratulate you for a super very great job well done! You are a true inspiration to me, my greatest Hero – well, both you and Mom. I must say Mom is a great person, but we ALL already know that. She is always there for you. She super 100 percent understands you. I just wanted to say that. She was so happy for you even with this London thing, and she is still happy whatever you chose. We may bug her to tell or convince you to say “yes”. Haha! But, we are just so shocked and happy for this opportunity. She understands you and we all know who you are. Like “when a lot of opportunities come along it doesn’t mean you should accept all.” I just want to say thank you for everything, sorry, and I am proud of you. I love you. No one in the whole wide world could ask for a better father than you. Thank you for being such a great dad, giving us this great life, and being an inspiration to all.
Lastly, I just want to say whatever choice you choose with this opportunity and also with the more choices you make in the future, I want you to know we are ALL 100 percent behind your back! Like you always are for us!
Love you Papa. Thank you so much for every single thing.
Joyful
Outstanding
Excellent
Young always (Haha!)
Creative
Open-minded
Never gives up
Caring
Extraordinary
Passionate
Confident
Incredible
Obedient
Nice
P.S. I know you don’t like us studying abroad. But, it’s always been a dream of mine to move or study there for a while. So I’ll try my best to get a chance to do that of course with your permission. I’ll prove to you that I really want to study there. I’m happy here, but I just want to try something different.
Love,
Monica O. Concepcion
“A daughter who is very proud of her father”
After reading her letter, I told her: “This is the best Christmas gift you can ever give me. While you are fascinated with the stories of royalty and the upcoming royal wedding (as she loves buying these Hollywood tsismis magazines), I hope you understand that Papa has started Go Negosyo. I am able to help many small entrepreneurs become big one day. We need to help more Filipinos achieve their dreams. In life, we are given many opportunities to change the course of our lives. There are tempting opportunities, but in the end, we need to choose where we can have the greatest impact in the lives of people. Monica, Papa loves you for understanding.”
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Contact me: feedback@gonegosyo.net or Joey Concepcion Facebook account. Visit www.gonegosyo.net. Watch the top rating entrep show GO NEGOSYO: Kaya Mo! In QTV, Saturday and Sunday 8 to 8:30 a.m., with replays in NBN every Tuesday 8 to 9 p.m. Get daily Go Negosyo Text Tips in your mobile phone by sending GONEGO to 2910.