The stage of adolescence, fertile ground to develop entrepreneurship

(Part II – The humble beginnings of successful entrepreneurs)

The Go Negosyo media campaign tends to emphasize the success of just a few particular fields in business like food service instead of analyzing the wider field of human needs that have to be met.  Our material needs for food, clothing, shelter, communication, defense and health should not also overlook the spiritual needs in religion, education, entertainment and art.

Parents tend to dictate their adult children’s choice of career path, so many college graduates shift to other interests quite different from their college education.  We should understand and respect the adolescent years when the high school students’ aspiration is to serve the country or one’s fellowmen with the prospect of earning a good income.  This article narrates two life episodes of people who pursued their God-given talent by shifting away from their college training.

A naturally-gifted Filipino landscaper admired beyond Philippine shores

A prestigious Garden Center in Jakarta, Widjaya Garden, invited the Philippines’ top landscape designer Yuyung La’O to do the Center’s main show window.  The landscape was done in five days and wowed many Indonesians.

One of the biggest construction contractor in Jakarta invited Yuyung to a 1 hour breakfast cum landscaping session in his house and was so overwhelmed by the re-landscaping done by Yuyung in so short a time, that he insist that Mr. La’O should come back to Indonesia and do his new house.  He was an instant fan.  The next day, he brought a three star general to the ongoing landscaping work at the Garden Center and the general exclaimed he wanted a similar landscape in his house after he saw the still unfinished work.

Philippines has so many talented landscape designers and landscapers that are fielded out all over the world.  A Kuwaiti Landscape contractor approached Ray Ong, the well-known Botany Man and friend of Yuyung La’O in the Garden Center after seeing the landscape done by Mr. La’O in Jakarta on January 2009, he wanted help to organize a team of landscapers (Landscape Architect, Landscape designer, Maintenance Gardeners and Landscape Gardeners) for employment in Kuwait.

The Kuwaiti prefers Filipinos over other nationalities for their professionalism, cheerful disposition, communication skills and “rolling” landscape designs.  He added that Thai and Indonesian landscapers always do flat designs. 

No other landscaped garden in the Philippines has captured the hearts of many with its unique but natural design like that of Yuyung La’O.  We thought that flowers make a garden, but Yuyung has educated and elevated the public taste by using just foliage or green plants which are plentiful in Asia like a variety of ferns (from tree ferns, staghorn or bird’s nest),. colocasia, seloum, bromeliads related to the orchid family, anthuriums. He has collected rare member of these species from Africa and Asian countries which he has propagated. To enhance them he makes use of the natural uneven topography of land and fiber glass rocks cascading with water.

Mr. La’O recalls his childhood:  “In my younger years I was a lost kid, with no direction.  Papa would tell us his children to fill up our hours with work.  I am the only one in the family involved in plants, although I took up engineering and had no interest in Botany.  I found Mother Nature is the best professor.

“In the province, I worked in an island mining coal.  I had not much to do but was with nature, the beauty of the mountains and the ocean was inspiring.  One day I was invited to do an exhibit for a garden show. When I won first place people took notice of me.  Since then I got into the landscaping business.

“I started the trade with the feeling that all plants with flowers can earn money.  That kept me going.  Yes, I can be proud to say that becoming a “plant addict” I let Mother Nature lead the way.  Keep your name clean and excel in what you do.”

A woman excelling in a man’s field of business

My first impression of Ms. Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, president and CEO of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) is of a petite attractive young lady, who couldn’t possibly be an international company president in car dealership – a field usually relating to men’s interest.  But as soon as she spoke during the interview portion of Go Negosyo Women Awardees, she revealed a strong masculine vision and philosophy, disguised by simplicity and quiet charm.

I interviewed her on three perspectives…

Were you a teenager when you started to be interested in business?  Who influenced and taught you the skills?  Is it in the genes?

FP-A:  I would say that I learned from my family and school background the basic virtues that make an entrepreneur.  I learned resilience and steadfastness from my mother, Fidela, who didn’t finish high school and dedicated herself to raising us. I acquired wisdom and maturity from my father, Emilio, who started out as a textile mechanic of an American sewing machine firm, and wound up the only high school graduate in the company to rise up the ranks to become a sales manager.  With his salary, he put all of us 10 siblings to school.

Did you encounter any grave obstacle?  Were you able to hurdle it?

FP-A:  I had to overcome three major challenges to start the official distributorship of Hyundai in the Philippines:  a) The market 10 years ago was dominated by the Japanese brands, and people tended to look down on Korean-made cars; b) My background was real estate.  I knew nothing about the motor vehicle industry.  I learned the ropes of the industry by bringing together a team of experts who can advise me about it.  I told them, “I am a manager, you are the experts.  Let’s work as a team to get this business going.” They are with HARI to this day; c) I was to compete with highly-seasoned male executives in a male-dominated industry.  This was compounded by a bias against women.  My experience in Korea, when I was first introduced to the president of Hyundai Motor Company is worth retelling.  I was asked, “Ms. Fe, what do you know about the car industry?”  My answer: “Please give me a minute to address you as an equal.” Then I said, “What do you know about the Philippine market?” That encounter did not discourage me.  I think the only way to be successful is to choose to be so.  It’s a choice to never settle for lesser goals, to be bold in vision, fierce in innovation…”

Do you believe in “giving back” with your success?

FP-A:  Definitely.  It is most fulfilling for me to leave a legacy that contributes to creating a new generation of leaders.  Social involvement for us in HARI began in February 2006, when HARI has moved up to the fifth in slot in industry ranking when we were able to share our blessings.   

From the Leyte mudslide tragedy HARI established two Hyundai Sibol Schools in partnership with Gawad Kalinga, one in Liloan, Southern Leyte and another in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya.  In addition, today HARI Foundation, Inc. (HFI) has over 15 partners in national building, including Gawad Kalinga, HARIBON Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and St. Scholastica’s Priory.   

Why we fail to create a professionally certified career and technical education (CTE)

Let’s take a lesson from Arizona State Education superintendent John Huppenthal who went to high school on voc-ed track.  “It was considered the path for losers but I didn’t know any better,” says Huppenthal, a Republican who was elected to the state-wide post.  “I came from a family of machinists.  I didn’t know anybody who’d gone to college.  He happened to be a state champion wrestler with pretty good test scores that his coach encouraged him to study engineering at Northern Arizona University.  “I really believe most students respond to a three dimensional learning process.  It’s easier to learn engineering by actually building a house – which my family did when I was a kid, by the way – than sitting in a classroom figuring out the process in the abstract.”  Our Department of Labor has stated that job openings are numerous in construction, transportation and engineering

Still Huppenthal finds vocational school a tough sell to the state’s education establishment.  “It doesn’t have the prestige of a college-prep course and it costs a lot more than two dimensional education to do it right.  McBride and Downey, the superintendents at East Valley are constantly working with the business community in Phoenix to help start training programs.  There are 38 programs on their campus:  firefighter, police and EMT programs, a state of the art kitchen for culinary services training; and welding (pays $38 per hour), aeronautics, radio station, marketing and massage-therapy instruction.  “With lots of resorts around here,” Downey explains, “our students often work part time as masseurs to earn money for college.  Almost all of these lead to professional certificates in addition to high school diplomas.”  None of their 3,200 students are full time.

Orange County is the second largest county in California and the fifth largest in the United States.  There are 93 Regional Occupation Program (ROP) courses offered within 12 career pathways, which include Building Trades, Health Sciences and Medical Technology, Manufacturing and Product Development, Hospitality, Tourism and Recreation, Public Service, Education and Family Services.

So why have we failed?  a) The technical courses do not follow the global standard or internationally accepted standard in curriculum content; b) We lack complete and functional equipment and certified technical faculty; c) We have not passed the internationally accredited qualification exam.

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