'Research, innovation vital for start-ups'

MANILA, Philippines - Micro, small and medium enterprises (mSME) play an important role in economic growth.

Statistics show that almost all or 99.6 percent of registered businesses belong to the mSME sector which also provide income to more than 60 percent of the country’s workforce.

With so many enterprises out there, starting a new business is a challenge for young entrepreneurs. Staying in operation is no different.

Experts say that passion is not enough in starting a business and making it a success. It is important to learn how it works before diving in.

“Research, learn if there’s information you can get,” Randell Tiongson, director of the Registered Financial Planner Institute (Philippines) said in an interview.

He said learning how to go about the trade and about finances need to be part of preparations as most businesses in the country often encounter problems related to cash flow.

Individuals intending to start their businesses will also need to have the initial capital on hand.

“You are going to have difficulty with financial institutions. They won’t lend for start-ups,” Tiongson said.

Josiah Go, chairman and chief market strategist of training and consultancy firm for marketing and sales Mansmith and Fielders, Inc. said attending trainings and having mentors need to also be part of preparations in starting a business.

“Attend trainings because a lot of times, people commit so many mistakes. It could have been avoided,” he said.

After getting all the information you can get, the next step would be to make sure the product or service you are offering works.

“You have to pre-test. You should do the pilot tests,” Go said.

By making sure the product or service works, one also has to come up with a value proposition or what would convince consumers the offering is better than others in the market.

Once the value proposition is in place and the customers start coming in, it would be time to look at how to further improve the product or service.

Go said it is important to take note of what customers want as this can help the business grow.

“Sometimes, people might ask you. Do you have this? Do you have that? Then if you don’t have (what they want), you might want to consider the demand,” he said.

Tiongson said one can also look at trends to see how it can help the business.

With so many people online almost all the time nowadays, tapping the Internet for instance, is one way that can help propel the business.

Go said one can consider having online advertisements or selling products through the Internet.

“Before, the store is the first moment of truth...But now, before you go to the store, you look at it online,” he said.

He added that reviews posted online by others that bought the product or availed of the service can lead to either gaining or losing a customer and so it might be too late to just have a physical store.

But while establishing online presence allows a business to reach to more customers, Fil-Chi Media Productions, Inc. president Alvin Kingson Tan, who is behind the lifestyle magazine show for the Chinese Filipino community ChinoyTV, said finding what sets your products or service apart is still key in growing the business.

“Innovation is still very important. Right now, we can see cut-throat competition online,” he said.

But while stiff competition may lead to failures, Go said such should not push one to quit. “It is about growing from failures so the idea is you don’t want to quit just because you fail,” he said.

Instead, failures must be learning experiences.

If you learn from your mistakes and keep on trying, tweaking and looking at what would work for you, Go said ‘’you will get it right.’’

In line with the promotion of entrepreneurship among the youth, Tan said Fil-Chi Media Productions is set to launch CHinoypreneur Challenge 2012, a business reality show which will serve as training venue for participating students from the De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, Philippine Cultural College, Chang Kai Shek College, University of the Philippines and University of Asia and the Pacific, to sharpen their entrepreneurial skills.