The Filipino Entrepreneur

While I was reading the Entrepreneur magazine, two Filipino Chinese entrepreneurs caught my attention. One is Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro the toothpaste magnate and the other Mr. Alfredo M. Yao the self made fruit drink magnate. The reason is because of their decisions that turned disappointments into an opportunity. The first one I want to discuss is Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro. He is the President and CEO of Lamoiyan Corp. which is the first Filipino company who penetrated the Philippine Toothpaste market.

That market was dominated by big foreign companies ( those that produce Colgate and Close-up). Now Happee toothpaste ranks no 3 in the toothpaste brand. Because of that success he was able to diversify his products into dish washing soaps, liquid detergents, fabric enhancers and other gum formula tooth paste.

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Are you Web-Savvy? then I think there is a business opportunity waiting for you as an internet trainer. Being web savvy is not just the average internet surfer who uses the internet. Its a kind of skill and knowledge of various web technologies. Today there are lots of young people who have an above average skill when it comes to the realm of the internet. That is why many have made their fortunes doing things online and their creativity is their vehicle to reach that status. But not every one will become a super millionaire and not everybody is lucky enough to follow their foot steps. But still, being web-savvy will give you extra income helping those who are not very familiar in the world wide web technologies. People like in retirement homes or those who are scared with technology who wish to learn some basic things like making a free blog or a free website. Some may wish to learn more than just pointing a mouse and clicking. You can guide them with regards to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), blog publishing software, HTML/CSS, RSS/syndication, feed aggregators, pings, trackbacks, full vs. partial feeds,blog carnivals (for kick-starting your blog’s traffic), search engines, page rank, social bookmarking, tagging, contextual advertising, affiliate programs, traffic statistics, email

How about having a Computer Cleaning Service business? sounds not a very promising since not everyone is aware that a dusty internal computer parts contributes to wear and tear of a computer. I have an incident once where my old computers’ power supply just blew up because all those dust particles inside the power supply have accumulated with moisture so the internal components were short circuited. Besides, the dusty CPU heat sink, in my observation slows PC performance too because the airflow inside cannot circulate due to dusts sticking on the heat sink that acts as an insulating blanket. The cooling fan also accumulates dusts which in turn makes it ineffective to circulate the air, blowing cool air inside your system and expelling heated air outside (for the power supply). It’s not easy to promote it but you just need a little creativity to convince your prospect on the importance of cleaning your computer just like the one I mentioned (the reasons why cleaning is needed). Regarding the tools needed, just a set of screw drivers to open the casing and a compressor to blow off the dust. In my experience with my previous employment, when I have a task cleaning the computers, I used compressed air which is more effective compared to a vacuum cleaner. Wearing a filter mask is a must whenever you dust a computer with compresses air.

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Just like to say a Happy Valentine’s day to all!

To send your greeting cards to your love ones, click here!

I’m sure every Filipino know the brand name Mama Sita. If I’m not mistaken they are the pioneer of ready-made sauces and mixes of Filipino dishes like kare-kare mix, sinigang mix, kaldereta mix, barbecue marinades, palabok mix and many others. It started when Mrs. Teresita “Mama Sita” Reyes’ desire to give her grandchildren living in the United States to eat Filipino dishes because all her grandchildren wants to eat are hamburgers and hotdogs. Maybe she wanted also to cultivate some Filipino culture on her grandchildren because there are many kinds of food for them to choose in the U.S. besides hamburgers and hotdogs. Anyway that desire motivates her and her children which gave them an idea to make ingredients which they can easily bring outside the country so those Filipinos living there can have a chance to eat Pinoy dishes with convenience. They then setup a company named “Mama Sita” and the first product they made is the “Biglang Sinigang”. For those who were not familiar with sinigang, its a Filipino dish of boiled pork in sour broth using tamarind juice as the main ingredient for it’s unique taste and added with spices and vegetables. There are also variation aside from pork which is beef, prawns, milk fish or bangus and other marine fishes.

The “Biglang Siningang” is made from tamarind and formed into a paste. It’s not easy to find tamarind in the states back then so those who wish to make ’sinigang’ used lemon to make it sour. Maybe today you will find tamarind coming from other parts of Asia like for example in Thailand. Even in our local supermarkets you can see tamarind from Thailand and is more expensive than the local ones. So with the help of Mama Sita’s son-in-law which she called by the name “Henyo”(’genius’ in english) they created the formula to make the ‘Biglang Sinigang’ which started the long and tasty success story of Mama Sita.

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Candle making is not new and also scented candle was already in the market for so long. Since candle business is seasonal, for example here in the Philippines there is a large demand during All Saints Day and I think scented candle also have a peak season during holidays or maybe Valentine’s Day for a romantic dinner or whatever gig you might have in mind. Anyway scented candle can also be a good business whole year round since just buying a candle to light in your home don’t need to have an occasion to do it. It will depend entirely on the customer if he or she likes to make his ambiance full of aroma of those scented candles.

So if you wanted to go into this business, it is advisable to attend seminars and trainings because you will not only learn how to make those candles, you will also learn other things like tips and tricks, how to maximize your investments or other opportunities. But you can also start by your own by searching for instructions or “how-to-make” on the internet like the one I have for you (see below with pictures). If you are interested to make or start one, or just wanted to see if you can do the steps, then proceed reading the steps below: Read the rest of this entry »