PINOY BUSINESS COACH

Pinoy gaming enthusiast finds place in mobile app space

2012-01-15T00:08:00.001+08:00

Who says you can't dream big? This article proves that you can win with a big mind and limited resources. There is an Entrepreneur in each of us but first, we must develop the potential within us, click HERE for ideas on developing the entrepreneur within. This is the source of the following article. Pinoy Business Coach believes in Filipino ingenuity!

MANILA, Philippines - To say that it’s in the blood of Pinoys to be gamers is an understatement. Pinoys are simply crazy about games — board games, street games, PC and video games and the latest, mobile phone games. Whether on their own or with opponents, physical or virtual, gaming is simply a part of the Pinoy culture.

So for Gener Gabasa, a 29-year old programmer from Sta. Ana, Manila, it’s still all too unbelievable for him to stumble upon a lucrative career on something that just comes naturally to him.

From a simple gaming enthusiast, Gabasa is now one of the top local mobile game application developers of the Nokia Store (formerly known as Ovi Store), the site where Nokia phone users can download and enjoy applications, games, videos, ringtones, wallpapers, themes and more.

Gabasa’s is a classic Filipino success story. Like most people of his generation, the exciting possibilities that computers and mobile technology hold attracted him to pursue programming in college.

He was already into developing game apps for mobile phones even before he graduated from his course in 2005. Even then, he knew that what he wanted was to explore the extent of gaming in mobile phones.
“Unlike creating games for PCs which is complicated and needs close to a hundred people to create, developing mobile phone game apps was easier because the games can be completed with a few people.

Plus, I was attracted by the opportunity that mobile technology presents for app developers like me,” he explains.

After he graduated, Gabasa went to Manila from his hometown of Iloilo to pursue his goal of becoming a games developer. After working at AninoGames where he was one of the company’s game developers creating for smartphone and mobile platforms and for companies like Facebook and Nintendo, he decided to strike it on his own. As luck would have it, his first try as a freelancer was with the very same company where he now enjoys success.

“I joined Nokia’s contest last year, inviting amateur developers to develop apps for the Nokia Store. I developed a few game apps for my entries but unfortunately I didn’t win. But the exposure that my game apps got was enough to inspire me to do more,” he shares.

Gabasa’s game apps that he developed for the contest — MyTicTacToe, the mobile version of the popular board game; and MyCheckers, which is also based on the real checkers game — quickly gained hits among frequent visitors of the Nokia Store. Since then, Gabasa has been working with Nokia to develop more games for the Nokia Store.

A year later, Gabasa’s game apps have become among the most downloaded in Nokia Store. Aside from MyTicTacToe and MyCheckers, he also developed Pharaoh’s Tomb, a magical maze game, and The Tallest Ice Cream, a fun and addicting game of building the tallest ice cream. He also dabbled in paint apps called Sketch Pad+, which allows users to paint on their mobile phones and take snapshots, and edit and save their images directly on their phones.

To date, Gabasa’s game apps have reached over one million downloads worldwide, with majority of downloaders coming from the United Kingdom and Russia. MyCheckers and Sketch Pad+ have each reached 300,000 hits in just a year. To date, he’s in the process of developing three more game apps which would be out by next year.

Aside from receiving significant download numbers, Gabasa continues to reap success as an app developer with the numerous wins and recognitions he has received. His Pharaoh’s Tomb game app has just been named Best S40 Java Game in the local category of the Create For Millions contest, a competition for consumers and developers on creating applications for Nokia’s S40 phones. He won P50,000 for winning in the local category and has the chance to compete in the global category of the competition, where one million euros is at stake.

Gabasa was also recognized in the recently concluded Nokia Store Awards, which acknowledges local developers’ contributions to Nokia’s ecosystem. His Sketch Pad+ app was named Best Smartphone App and Best Feature Phone App, while MyCheckers clinched the Best Feature Phone Game award. He was also named Hall of Fame Achiever for garnering at least one million in downloads globally.

Gabasa simply attributes his success to his love of gaming and the fun and entertainment it gives to mobile users like him. He describes himself as a “casual gaming” developer: for him, mobile games should be fun and entertaining, and enticing the competitive spirit of the user without being hardcore.

“Ever since I started, I focused on making the mechanics of my games very easy to understand, and with graphics that are very visually appealing. As a gamer myself, what I look for in a mobile game is simple: it should just be fun to play and should get me out of boredom when I’m whiling away time,” he explains.

His success is not solely attributable to his natural penchant for gaming, creativity and skill. Gabasa believes that without the right tools, the right knowledge and the right venue to showcase one’s app creations, success can be hard to reach. That’s why being a developer for Nokia Store for him is probably the best decision he’s ever made for his career.

“It’s easy to develop for Nokia because it gives the best tools for developers. Nokia also conducts workshops so developers are always updated. More importantly, Nokia also comes out with new devices so developers have a wider range of developing for new phones and reaching out to more mobile users — from low-end to high-end users,” he says.

It indeed pays to do something that you love. In Gabasa’s case, being a gaming aficionado allowed him to discover his passion for developing games for mobile users and getting the place he deserves in the mobile app space.

Pharaoh’s Tomb, Sketch Pad+, MyCheckers, MyTicTacToe, and The Tallest Ice Cream are free to download and are available on select Nokia feature phones.

Visit http://store.nokia.com/publisher/octacore (from your PC) or http://store.nokia.mobi/publisher/octacore (from your mobile) to download these games.

Interested developers may go to www.developer.nokia.com/ or join the Philippine Nokia Developers Group on Facebook.

Pinoy Internet Guru teaches Online marketing business

2011-12-18T00:11:00.000+08:00

Filipino Personal Outsourcers Trump Indian Counterparts in World Market

December 16, 2011

by Jomar Hilario

Big Companies like outsourcing because it saves on staffing and other costs. But do you know that best selling authors like Tim Ferris' of the Four Hour Workweek Fame have personally outsourced their business and lives to Filipinos based in the Philippines?
The concept, originally made popular in Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat" used to be a totally Indian business. You email someone in India to write your book, create a poem, order pizza, create a report, create websites, create an apology letter to your wife for forgetting your anniversary - then order flowers for her.

Now it's the Filipino Personal Outsourcer who's very very popular in the world market as leading suppliers of intelligent personal / virtual assistants (VA) to the world's top business people. We're especially popular to the American business man as we actually understand things like "under the weather" and "barking up the wrong tree" - idioms that other cultures have a hard time understanding.

Witness American sites like Replacemyself.com which is devoted to evangelizing to top leaders in business that Filipino Virtual Assistants are the only option for them if they want to outsource personal and business matters. There was even an under-the-radar meeting in Boracay earlier this year featuring 80 international business people : the topic: Hiring Filipino VAs.

So how does one tap into this lucrative market and become a VA? To get into this business early, you can personally learn from a Filipino who's dealt with Virtual Assistants since 2006: Jomar Hilario.

**This is highly recommended for those who want to earn passive income working online:

Work from home and learn to become a Virtual Assistant without the technical linggo, presented in simple and understandable language. Here are the details

I have been a part of Jomar's original online marketing club and I am as computer dumb as the rest of the population, he has closed that membership site to beef it up, let Jomar be your personal coach. Click NOW.

But if you are ready for the big leagues and are nearby, Jomar seldom gives out his secrets. Join this seminar and begin to EARN.

Many of you have asked me on what business to start with, why don't you start on yourself and decide now, this might be it!

A welcome comment

2011-12-13T23:16:00.001+08:00

One of our readers, Alex made a comment in one of the articles in this site about their concern about making a business plan and (I think) finding that experienced business person to which they could discuss the plan with. A mentor is a person who has enough successes and failures to be able to know what to do and more importantly what NOT to do and who can guide others through the process of business success.

It is quite strange in our country to have a sort of mentorship to the younger generation. While I am a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, they seem to be more concerned with policies, laws and other things that they forget that the true wisdom of Entrepreneurship is in nurturing others so that they would possess the needed skills, 'business eye' and attributes to become successful business people.

We all talk about the crab mentality- a rampant attitude among the Filipinos. This attitude is learned and it is not imprinted in the genetic code of each Filipino being born every second of the day. The crab mentality states that "if anybody progresses in life then it is time to pull him down." What a way to build a country!

If we as a people are to rise to our greatness, it has to start from within the soul of each person after which ,naturally extends to helping his neighbor. For the laws of God are indeed true to the laws of man. Only when we love our neighbors as ourselves, then shall we attain true freedom as a people. The process of giving up this attitude of being 'makasarili', 'tuso' or 'manloloko', in my opinion are stems and leaves of the crab mentality.

What on earth does this have to do with mentoring? Well, if our successful business people would only reach out to those who are starting micro-enterprises, to those who are willing to learn how to manage risks and guide them in the path towards success then that would slowly dispel the crab mentality attitude. It is one to be successful in his own right, it is another to rejoice in the success of the other.

Entrepreneurship does not have to be a lonely journey. I am sure that there are also others who are willing to share and teach. Being a student of business, I am also willing to impart what little I know for the benefit of those who would want to pursue opportunities. We can all do it together as a nation. In the world of mentoring, there is no "I" in "We".

Tonight, I had an opportunity to walk around a shop in one of the malls of the city, searching through "Angry Bird" products and items which my son is an avid fan of. While conversing with the sales clerks, the owner/manager came in to check on the store. Knowing a little Fookienese, I could tell by her heavy accent that she had a hard time conversing in Cebuano and was engaging her sales clerks in the little Cebuano words she knew, mixed with sign language. And then, it totally hit me... This Chinese woman had decided to leave her country in China and venture into free enterprise because she knew the rewards that would come from it. Not knowing the language was not a hindrance for her to engage in business and to see profits come in while many of our kababayan's are mindlessly shrugging off the possibility of creating that one business entity that would see their lives through. That should give us something to think about.

I am glad there are movements like GO NEGOSYO, which is aimed to elevate the mindset of the Filipinos to a different level of thinking. Others are catching the vision, the question is: ARE YOU?

Baby foods: a promising venture for Entreps

2011-11-29T02:42:00.000+08:00

Saturday, 15 October 2011 17:22 Framelia V. Anonas/S&T Media Service Click HERE for orig article

FOR entrepreneurs looking for opportunities to earn profit and help raise a generation of healthy kids, baby foods production may be the best venture to go into. Baby foods, particularly complementary foods, have a steady market and consumers’ continuous demand.

Complementary foods, according to the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) are food or liquids other than breast milk that are fed to young children.

These foods address mothers’ concerns on how to feed their babies six months old and onward when their nutritional needs are rapidly increasing. It is at this stage when malnutrition sets in and may have abject effects to children.

DOST-FNRI developed complementary foods mainly to address the malnutrition problem in the country, particularly among babies 6 to 35 months old.

“The first two years of life are very crucial to children,” said DOST-FNRI Director Mario Capanzana. “Any damage caused by malnutrition may be irreversible.”

Using simple technology and locally available raw materials, the FNRI developed baby foods as part of its corporate social responsibility. Several towns from four provinces—Antique, Occidental Mindoro, Leyte and Iloilo—have so far benefited from the FNRI-developed baby foods.

FNRI’s ‘Bigmo’

FNRI has developed a wide variety of complementary food blends and snack foods, which it named “Bigmo” for bigas (rice) and mung bean.

For infants 6 to 12 months old, Bigmo Rice-Mongo Instant Blend and ready-to-cook Rice-Mongo-Sesame Blend are most appropriate, the institute said.

For older children, the Bigmo Rice Mongo Curls has proven to be a hit. This crispy, ready-to-eat snack is rich in protein (2.4 g per serving of 20 g) and energy (94 g per serving of 20 g).

Compared with commercial baby foods, the FNRI-developed Bigmo products have much higher protein and energy content, an FNRI study shows.

All Bigmo products are produced by extrusion cooking. The extruder machine shapes and cuts the mixed ingredients into the desired size, and cooks the product using pressure.

The Bigmo Curls have a shelf life of four months, while the Rice-Mongo Instant Blend and the Ready-to-eat Rice-Mongo-Sesame Blend can stand one year at room temperature.

Production requirements

INTERESTED entrepreneurs, DOST-FNRI’s Joyce Tobias says, have to invest in several equipment, such as weighing scale, mixer, extruder, moisture analyzer, electric dryer, octagonal mixer, impulse sealer and auto pack machine.

For a monthly production capacity of 250,000 packs of Bigmo curls at 20 grams per pack, Tobias says that required raw materials include 133,000 kilograms (kg) of rice; 84,000 kg of mung bean; 2,170 kg of flavoring; and 2,170 kg of cooking oil.

A baby foods production business does not entail a large cost, Tobias said.

“All the equipment are fairly cheap and readily available. The only one with cost is the extruder.”

For a fully automated production, entrepreneurs need P5 million for an imported twin screw extruder that can produce curls of different shapes at a speed of 80 kg per hour, says Tobias.

However, a cheaper, a locally fabricated extruder costs P1.5 million in which produces one shape of curls and automatically packs the products in singles.

FNRI’s technology interventions

ADOPTION of FNRI’s baby foods production technology entitles entrepreneurs of the Institute’s technical support, such as layout of the production area, hands-on training on the processing technology, technology-transfer document to include quality control assurance from raw materials to the finish product, and basics on

Good Manufacturing Practices implementation.

To make it more convenient to adaptors and to maintain FNRI’s strict quality control, the institute has already prepared a recommended layout for Bigmo curls processing plant, plus a process flow.

There is a big potential market for baby foods, assures Tobias, who heads the Technology Transfer unit at FNRI.

“There is an estimated 3.35 million underweight children under five years of age,” she says. “Thus, the market is big.”

“Moreover, Bigmo curls would appeal to schoolchildren and adults looking for healthy foods. There are also many busy parents and teenagers looking for convenient and nutritious foods,” she adds.

According to Tobias, FNRI is developing many other baby food combinations, such as cowpea-banana, mung bean-kamote (sweet potato)-sesame, germinated rice-mung bean, germinated rice-cowpea and other new and exciting flavor combinations.

(Framelia V. Anonas/S&T Media Service)

* A unique business opportunity indeed!

PAL prioritizes Cebu in int'l tourism promo efforts

2011-11-26T21:22:00.000+08:00

(The Philippine Star) Updated November 26, 2011 12:00 AM Original article HERE.

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Airlines (PAL) said that Cebu remains on top of its list of local destinations that the flag carrier is prioritizing in its international roadshows to boost tourist arrivals in the country.

In a press briefing, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the airline is “100-percent committed” to sell Cebu in its 26 international destinations including selected points in its domestic network.

To jumpstart its intensified tourist promotion campaign, PAL flew in eight candidates of the Miss Earth Pageant to visit and document some of Cebu’s best tourist attractions. The group’s photos and videos will be featured in PAL’s promo materials for distribution abroad, particularly the United States, Canada and Asia.

PAL flies eight times a day between Manila and Cebu using mostly wide-body jets like the Boeing 777ER, B747-400 and the Airbus A330. The flag carrier also flies directly from Cebu to Narita, Japan six times weekly and thrice a week to Incheon, South Korea. Effective Dec. 2, flights to Incheon will double to six times weekly.

“Cebu continues to enjoy positive load factors despite the recent tsunami in Japan and other natural calamities. In fact, even during the height of PAL’s spin off/outsourcing program, flights to Cebu were largely unaffected with load factors of more than 80 percent,” said Glenn Vallecera, PAL AVP-Visayas sales.

In coordination with the Department of Tourism, PAL’s intensified tourism promotion campaign comes on the heels of PAL’s restoration of flights and frequencies to pre-outsourcing levels.
Starting today, all PAL flights depart from and arrive at its exclusive hub at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2. Prior to Oct. 1, the effectivity date of PAL’s outsourcing program, some flights were temporarily housed at NAIA Terminal 3 to decongest the Centennial Terminal.

Two days ago, PAL also resumed full in-flight meal service after a brief interruption caused by the transition to third party service providers and the protest camp of former PAL workers at the airline’s Inflight Center in Pasay City.

PAL’s cargo operations on both domestic and international flights also returned to former levels.

PAL used to mount 45-50 domestic and 80 international flights daily. Starting today, daily domestic flights will average 50 to 60 while international will remain at 80, for average daily flights of 140.

Following its outsourcing program on Oct. 1 that led to the separation of more than 2,300 workers, PAL had to reduce domestic flights by 30 percent, while international flights were down 12 percent.

*More business for Cebu based companies!

Your emotions and the 10T business you want to start

2011-11-03T22:30:00.000+08:00

One author suggested that starting and running a business is 90% emotions and 10% skill. I have thought about idea for years and as I have started, bought and am running my own companies, I have realized that this is absolutely and curiously true.

In the many different sectors of my life, I have met people who had the money but were too scared to start their own ventures, I have met people who had very scare resources and big ideas, I have met people who had no resources and no ideas as well (you might not want to belong to this group), I have met people who were absolutely clueless and yes I have met OFWs who used to have a lot of resources but because of misconceptions about business, could not get them off the ground.

Is it the 10,000 pesos capital in your hands that has the capacity to lift your business up or is it the thing behind your ears which can help in regulating the emotions that would go drooling at the sight of tons of cash ? Money in itself is ONLY inert matter and does not possess of itself any inherent powers that you give. So the alibi that "Wala akong pang-capital" or "Hindi kasi ako pinanganak na mayaman eh" just won't fly in the school of the streets. The under-capitalized but persistent vendor who even has to go through the avenues of our Indian friends or the 5/6 method has even broken barriers in their micro-ventures and are thriving in our economy. You just have to stop blaming your circumstance, your savings account (if you have any) or the government for that matter. You might as well stop the blaming now since if you don't, you will still be blaming 20 years after.

A start-up business when planned really well and when guided by experienced coaches and real-life entrepreneurs has lots of potential. It is the ability to persist to implement the simple business plan and the asking of the personal inquiry "Who do you have to be to succeed?" It is the Being part that is often difficult and that has a lot bearing with your emotional make-up.

Are your attitudes like this: Do you have tendencies to wane down in your excitement? Do you go and start and when sales does not come, give up easily? Are you easily swayed by the financial position of others being better than yours?

Or is it like this

Can you practice Delayed Gratification? Can you tell the difference between the numbers and keep your salary as a set % at the beginning of the business? Can you learn to manage your cash flow?

As you can see, those questions have little to do with how much money you have at the initial salvo of your business. The emotions you manage within yourself will be the showcase of the force behind the business that you are building. The business may be a Network Marketing, a start-up micro-venture or a franchise, it does not really matter as long as you can handle the ups and downs of it, they your success rate raises exponentially.

So it is vital that one start his training early to be in business, taking a sales course or starting out as a sales person will exponentially lift the emotional intelligence of a person seeking to be an ardent student of Entrepreneurship. Serving in your Church or in civic activities will develop leaderships skills that have a great impact on one's emotional health.

In the end, the 10T pesos in your hands matters minutely in the grand scheme of things.

One Man's Trash

2011-10-28T14:37:00.000+08:00

Click HERE for original article

As the country generates 35,000 tons of solid waste a day, stopping trash at the source is beginning to make good business sense.

Doorstop/bookends by Ti & Me Co.

In the 2011 book Green Growth, Green Profit, by Roland Berger Strategy Consultations, recycling waste was ranked as one of the six leading markets in the green business sector, whose global market was valued at 40 billion as of last year.

Market segmentation is a necessity in this line of business; the cost of added materials must be proportionate to one’s target demographic, in order to set reasonable prices.

“[Foreign clients] make a big portion of the A market,” said Carmela C. Rosales, manager of the Sto. Rosario Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SRMPC), which is known for their paper bead accessories.

“There is heightened awareness and aspiration for things that are green, organic and eco-friendly. People are not just aware, but are adopting these into their daily lives,” Tita Boluso-Rimando, co-founder of reclaimed handicrafts business What If? By Ti & Me Co., said in an e-mail.

As for the government, Ofelia Panganiban of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Steering Committee has been urging both national and local officials to invest more heavily in the recycling industry in order to create market demand.

Besides the materials’ affordability and abundance, Ms. Rimando said: “Another reason [to go into business] is because of the many, many possibilities that we see in them.”

The unique handmade quality of their second life is also a large part of the new product’s charm. “A product coming out of upcycling, repurposing, or recycling has been given special attention and care by the maker.

[There are] no shortcuts, and no two are exactly alike. Overall, this is what you pay for,” Ms. Rimando said.

Trash Becomes Treasure

Unlike with virgin resources, the discards used for recycled or repurposed merchandise may have to undergo additional steps to clean and process them. For the Sto. Rosario cooperative, their product staples are dependent on weather, as the beads need to be soaked in clear gloss before being dried in the sun.

Similarly, Ti & Me Co.’s best-sellers, like their Travel Blankys, Game Cubes, and WooHoo doorstops, are made out of scrap fabric and old clothes that call for a lot of ripping, washing and ironing before they can be used.

However, before production can get started, prototyping—from forming ideas down to fine-tuning the product’s final details—is also a lengthy process that could take weeks.

All these plus the cost of labor explain why recyclable-content merchandise are typically more expensive. “It’s a labor of love and attention to detail that really accounts for its premium price,” Ms. Rimando said.

For products by cooperatives or their sourced labor, recyclable-content products provide the members a sustainable livelihood, or at least help augment their incomes. The skills that they pick up on the job can also create opportunities for self-employment later on.

And in developing nations like the Philippines, recycling waste processes—including collecting, sorting, grading, and converting them into new items—has supplied productive jobs for around 1% of the urban population, according to the World Bank.

However, reliable production partners who share the same vision and passion for a green storefront aren’t exactly in abundance, as Ms. Rimando shared, “It’s difficult to find people with the same interest or enthusiasm about repurposing old materials and recreating something else by hand.”

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the cost-efficiency of recyclable-content products is largely at the mercy of supply and demand forces, so purchasing them will not only “close the recycling loop” but eventually bring prices down.

Also, while the recyclables market has always been cyclical, slow demand from China, one of the world’s biggest importers of waste, has effected a recent dip in prices for reusable discards.

- Victoria T. Vizcarra

*What a unique business idea!

Nothing new under the sun

2011-10-17T00:42:00.003+08:00

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 20:40 John Mangun / Outside the Box

WE seem to think that the global financial problems and, more specifically, the upheaval in the US, is something new. It’s not. Change the time from the 2000s to the 1980s, the name of the Asian country from “China” to “Japan” and “The Banks” to the “The Savings and Loans.”

China is the monster that destroyed American manufacturing. China funded America’s buying addiction and now owns all if its government debt. China is not playing fair with trade.

The Banks created a housing bubble. The Banks used taxpayer money to cover their losses. The Banks only cared about profit.

As the Old Testament says, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

And you can always depend on the government never to take responsibility for its own mistakes as it repeats bad history.

In the 1960s and 1970s, if an American wanted to buy a house, they borrowed the money, not from a bank, but from a savings and loan (SL) company. SLs lent money at a lower rate than the banks. There were also “interest rate wars” between the SLs and the banks to attract depositors.

The government stepped in to regulate the industry by setting limits on how much interest could be paid to depositors. The economy was in trouble with very slow growth, high inflation and rising interest rates. The SLs were squeezed so they came up with some creative financing methods for house buyers who could not otherwise qualify for a loan. Sounds familiar?

The US Congress deregulated the SLs in much the same fashion as banks were deregulated in 1999 with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that allowed banks to use depositor money for investments.

This led to a housing boom because mortgages were more available to underqualified buyers.

To encourage post-war housing, the tax laws allowed the formation of limited partnerships that gave generous tax deductions for investing in housing. A taxpayer would, in effect, use money that would have gone for taxes to be invested in real-estate developments.

In 1986 those tax breaks were eliminated, creating a bursting of a housing price bubble. Previously, these limited partnerships were buying old units at any price to renovate them and sell for a profit. Buyers were able to pay higher prices because of lower lending standards. Then, house prices dropped and the SLs were sitting on underwater mortgages. Still sounds familiar?

The government spent nearly $1 billion (at today’s value) to bail out the SLs.

Japan’s trade surplus with the US was $380 million in 1970. By 1980, that trade surplus was $48 billion, then to $60 billion in 1987.

The US officially became a “debtor nation” in 1988 when two things occurred. The US had already become a net borrower, from being a net lender, in the 1970s, but in 1988 began being running a net trade deficit. Japan was exporting every imaginable durable good from cars to televisions to blenders for the US, all previously US manufactured.

During that period, the US bitterly complained that Japan would not allow US imports. Another cause for concern was that the yen was about 300 to one US dollar. The US charged currency manipulation and unfair trade barriers by Japan.

And who do you think was the US’s largest creditor that loaned money for the US to buy all these imported goods? Japan.

In 1974 Japan held $475 million of US government debt. By 1989, that amount had jumped to $180 billion, tracking closely Japan’s increasing trade surplus.

History repeats itself primarily because leaders do not learn from the past.

The Aquino administration announced a P72-billion economic package. Some will go for infrastructure, some to local governments and some for poverty alleviation. It is welcomed, when and if it comes.

However, after almost 18 months, it seems a little late, particularly since the Public-Private Partnership Program is so far behind schedule.

The parallels between the first and second Aquino administrations are becoming too close. All of the former President’s projects were stopped in 1988 in order to clean house. Solutions to the insurgency problem were not very successful and peace and order became an issue. There was a greater distaste for “Imperial Manila.” There were jokes that the only infrastructure project built before the 1992 elections was the Edsa/Ortigas flyover.

History will repeat itself only when we do not learn from the past, both the mistakes and the accomplishments.

The incumbent President took offense when questioned whether he was playing video games during the hostage-taking in Luneta Park. President Cory Aquino was questioned if she hid under her bed during the 1989 coup attempt.

*What a great point!

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

2011-10-15T00:41:00.000+08:00

Saturday, 08 October 2011 17:53 Jim Aley / Bloomberg News

STEVE JOBS built the world’s most valuable technology company by creating devices that changed how people use electronics and revolutionized the computer, music and mobile-phone industries.

Jobs, who resigned as Apple Inc. chief executive officer on August 24, passed away on Wednesday, the Cupertino, California-based company said. He was diagnosed in 2003 with a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare form of pancreatic cancer, and had a liver transplant in 2009.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away,” Apple said. “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

Jobs embodied the Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He was a long-haired counterculture technophile who dropped out of college and started a computer company in his parents’ garage on April Fools’ Day, 1976. He had no formal technical training and no real business experience.

What he had instead was an appreciation of technology’s elegance and a notion that computers could be more than a hobbyist’s toy or a corporation’s workhorse. These machines could be indispensable tools. A computer could be, he often said, “a bicycle for our minds.” He was right—owing largely to a revolution he started.

Jobs’s passing was met with grief from consumers who laid flowers and posted tributes on the walls of Apple stores and technology executives who had partnered and competed with Jobs over the years. Flags flew at half-staff at Apple’s headquarters. Apple plans a celebration for staff. It doesn’t intend to hold a public ceremony, a person familiar with the matter said.

Even US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama lamented the loss.

“Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs,” Obama said. “Steve was among the greatest of American innovators—brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.”

On his watch, Apple came to dominate the digital age, first through the creation of the Macintosh computer and later through the iPod digital music player, the iPhone and the iPad tablet.

With each product, Jobs confronted new adversaries—from International Business Machines Corp. in computers to Microsoft Corp. in operating systems, to Sony Corp. in music players and Google Inc. in mobile software.

And Jobs would prove himself not just a techie visionary, but the virtuoso executive who built the world’s second-most valuable company after Exxon Mobil Corp.

THE opening act of Jobs’s professional ascent stretched from 1976 to 1984. He scored his first hit with the Apple II computer, a device that resonated with schools and some consumers and small businesses, and made Apple an alluring alternative to IBM, then the world’s largest computer maker. Apple had its initial public offering in 1980 and the graphical Macintosh was born just over three years later.

During his second act, from 1984 to 1997, Jobs’s star dimmed. In 1985, he was fired after a power struggle with Apple’s board. He started another computer company, NeXT Computer Inc., and bought a digital animation studio from filmmaker George Lucas. The firm later took the name Pixar.

Apple’s purchase of NeXT in 1997 brought Jobs back to the computer maker he helped found and commenced his career’s third act. The company was foundering. He ignited a flurry of innovation and growth—and achieved what may be the greatest comeback in business history.

Whether he was working on the Mac or the iPhone or backing the computer animation that yielded an unbroken string of Pixar hits, Jobs proved that complex technologies could be designed into simple, beautiful products that people would find irresistible.

His meticulous attention to product detail carried over to his public image, which grew inseparable from the Apple brand. In public he wore beltless jeans and a black mock-turtleneck.

On the few occasions he granted interviews—appearing on the covers of Time, Fortune or BusinessWeek, for instance—he fretted over such minutiae as which photographer would take his picture. The reclusiveness only added to his mystique.

“The mystery is actually wonderful,” said Regis McKenna, a computer-industry marketing consultant who first worked with Apple in the 1980s. “You want to know more about this company the more mysterious it is.”

Another way Jobs manufactured his aura was with product unveilings. He obsessively prepared for the choreographed occasions, often at Apple’s Cupertino campus or San Francisco’s Moscone Center, rehearsing his delivery many times over. He would scrap presentations wholesale, even at the last minute, if they weren’t up to snuff.

He captivated audiences, and the gadgets he introduced resonated with consumers the world over, adding billions of dollars in revenue. Sales surged 82 percent to a record $28.6 billion in the June 2011 period, the last full quarter before Jobs resigned, and the stock closed at $376.18 on August 24, before the move was announced. That gave Apple a market value of $348.8 billion.

All that success came with an ego to match. Jobs was a notorious control-freak with authority issues, associates and former employees say. He came close to breaking securities laws by backdating employee stock options. Even his worsening health—or his non-disclosure of his illness to shareholders—drew scrutiny from authorities.

In Apple’s parking lot, people often noticed Jobs’s silver Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG parked in the handicapped spaces. His cars were easy to spot because he refused to put license plates on them. “It’s a little game I play,” he told Fortune in 2001. Employees stuck notes under the car’s windshield wipers, encouraging Jobs to “Park Different,” a play on the “Think Different” Apple advertising slogan.

Jobs was known to praise people one minute and belittle them the next. According to The Second Coming of Steve Jobs‚ by Alan Deutschman, this management style was known at Apple as the “hero-shithead roller coaster.” No one was immune from Jobs’s tirades, and he had strained relationships with colleagues, friends and family throughout his life.

“Steve Jobs is a bit like a campfire,” Neil Sims, a headhunter who helped recruit executives for Jobs, said in an interview in October 2008. “Everyone wants to be close enough to stay warm. No one wants to get close enough to get burned.”

STEVEN PAUL JOBS was born February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, to unwed college graduate students Joanne Carole Schieble and Syrian emigrant Abdulfattah “John” Jandali. He was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs, who raised Steve in the middle-class enclaves of Mountain View and Los Altos in California.

“That was right in the heart of Silicon Valley, so there were engineers all around,” Jobs said in a 1995 interview conducted by the Smithsonian Institution. “It was really the most wonderful place in the world to grow up.”

Jobs took advantage of the local technological ferment. His father had a workshop in the garage, and created a space for his son to tinker. A neighbor, who was a ham radio operator and Hewlett-Packard employee, taught him about electronics. Young Steve loved figuring out how things worked.

“It gave a tremendous level of self-confidence,” Jobs said in the Smithsonian interview. “Through exploration and learning one could understand seemingly very complex things.”

That self-confidence was on full display before he hit high school. As Jobs once told BusinessWeek, at age 12 he called William Hewlett, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Co., about some parts for a frequency counter he was trying to build. Hewlett stayed on the phone 20 minutes; Jobs got the parts he needed—and eventually, a summer gig at Hewlett-Packard.

Catherine Lawler Jacobs, who lived around the block from the Jobs family, said she remembers Steve as a teen. Jobs appeared in her driveway one day, asking for her help setting up an office in his parents’ house. She’d been earning money selling turquoise jewelry and a neighbor recommended her as someone who knew a little about business. Jobs had no money to pay her but offered her shares in his new company.

“I said, and I remember this exactly, ‘I don’t want any phony shares. I want to get paid‚’” Jacobs recalled in an interview. “You see, I wasn’t going to be burned by some nerd who was always hanging out in his garage.”

In 1972 Jobs graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, also the alma mater of his future business partner, Steve Wozniak, Class of 1968. He then headed north to attend Reed College, a liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon, famous for its Bohemian atmosphere. He dropped out after six months.

He didn’t leave right away, though. He stuck around campus for another year and a half, sleeping on friends’ floors and living off the money he raised by collecting bottles for 5-cent deposits. He listened in on classes, too, including one that would inspire a lifelong mission of elegant design—a course on calligraphy.

“It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating,” Jobs said in a 2005 commencement address at Stanford University.

As Jobs told those Stanford grads, he “connected the dots” between this developing aesthetic sense and his technical understanding. He realized that technology and artistry could be complementary. More than that, the new world of computers offered a new medium for creativity.

BY late 1974, Jobs was back in California, immersed in the technology-tinged counterculture of Silicon Valley. He traveled to India, became a Buddhist, experimented with LSD. He also hung out with his friend Wozniak—they’d met a few years earlier through a fellow electronics enthusiast—at the Homebrew Computer Club, a group of engineers and hobbyists who would meet to swap parts and ideas.

“He was one of those cool guys,” Wozniak said in an interview with Bloomberg TV after Jobs’s death. “He knew technology, he understood it. We talked about the philosophies of the day, the hippy movement, words in songs and went to concerts together. It was a strong friendship.”

The two started working together on projects, with Woz the tech genius and Jobs the brash idea man. An early effort was a “blue box”—a hacker’s term for a device that taps into the phone system to make free long-distance calls. It worked.

“What we learned was that we could build something ourselves that could control billions of dollars worth of infrastructure in the world,” Jobs said in the 1996 PBS documentary Triumph of the Nerds. “That was an incredible lesson. I don’t think there would ever have been an Apple computer had there not been blue boxes.”

Wozniak began putting together a contraption he and Jobs could show off to their Homebrew buddies. The Apple I was little more than a motherboard, the main circuit board in a personal computer. Whoever bought one—Woz and Jobs sold 50 to a local hobby store—had to supply their own case to hold the circuitry, not to mention a keyboard and monitor. It may have been primitive, but it was the proof of concept they needed. They knew they could build a better computer, and Jobs knew people would buy it.

The pair officially began Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. Twelve months later the company introduced the Apple II. It was a hit and became the first widely used home computer. The company’s sales reached $117 million in fiscal 1980, the year the company went public.

The Apple II was hardly a technological great leap forward. Yet unlike its predecessor, it did come with a keyboard and was housed in a plastic case. Nor was it alone in the marketplace. Commodore and RadioShack Corp. also came out with early home-computer models around the same time; the Altair 8800 had been introduced in 1975.

IBM entered the market in 1981 with its own PC, using software from a tiny startup called Microsoft Corp. rather than building its own operating system. Jobs professed to be unconcerned, even running a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, saying “Welcome, IBM. Seriously.”

The Mac’s slow start gave IBM and other machines running Microsoft software and Intel Corp. chips a chance to win adherents and build an ecosystem.

What set Apple apart was its charismatic frontman, Jobs, who was rapidly turning into a business superstar. He hyped. He dated Joan Baez and Diane Keaton. He saw himself and his company as an anti-establishment force, waging a noble campaign to battle the faceless power of IBM.

“You always need to have bad guys and good guys in America,” said McKenna, the technology marketing expert. “Apple was thumbing its nose at this big world of monolithic standards. It became a rebel. It became a symbol of fast growth, youth.”

Us-versus-IBM was the guiding worldview behind the famous TV commercial that introduced Apple’s next major product, the Macintosh. The 60-second spot, directed by Ridley Scott, ran only once, during the 1984 Super Bowl. It depicted an Orwellian world of grim conformity. A lone woman wearing a tank top sprints through the grayness and throws a hammer through a giant screen, shattering the droning visage of Big Brother.

The Mac, with its mouse and graphics, demonstrated Jobs’s ability to see the potential of new technologies and package them in a way that would appeal to the most demanding aesthete he could imagine: himself.

Jobs had first seen a graphical user interface prototype a few years earlier on a visit to Xerox Corp.’s Palo Alto Research Center, and immediately knew it was the future of computing. He had no compunction about copying the idea.

“Ultimately it comes down to taste,” Jobs said in Triumph of the Nerds. “It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then trying to bring those things in to what you’re doing. I mean, Picasso had a saying. He said, ‘Good artists copy. Great artists steal.’”

THE Mac project showed another side of Jobs: the inscrutable autocrat. He could be charming and rude almost in the same sentence, leaving underlings scared or dazzled or both. People who worked for Jobs called his powers of persuasion the “reality distortion field.”

Andy Hertzfeld, an early Apple engineer, described the phenomenon in Revolution in the Valley, his 2005 book about the development of the Macintosh computer.

“The reality distortion field was a confounding melange of a charismatic rhetorical style, an indomitable will and an eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand,” Hertzfeld wrote. “If one line of argument failed to persuade, he would deftly switch to another.”

Andrea Cunningham, who worked with McKenna on marketing the Mac in the 1980s, said that Jobs’s intolerance of aesthetic infractions never let up. Cunningham was with Jobs in his room at The Carlyle hotel in New York City for a magazine cover shoot. Jobs, who Cunningham said “always had to have the environment exactly right,” began yelling about a particular flower he wanted—a calla lily.

“He was being such a pill,” said Cunningham, who is now head of marketing of Rearden Commerce in Foster City, California. “Where do you get a calla lily in New York in December at 11 at night? I found a florist. I found the calla lilies. And the next thing was a bowl of strawberries on the piano. And a separate bowl of whipped cream. We spent three or four hours doing this.”

Jobs could bewitch too, as he did when he hired PepsiCo Inc. executive John Sculley to be Apple’s CEO in 1983. Jobs famously asked him, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

“He looked up at me and just stared at me with the stare that only Steve Jobs has,” Sculley recalled in Triumph of the Nerds. “I just gulped because I knew I would wonder for the rest of my life what I would have missed.”

Not long after the launch of the Mac, Jobs’s relationship with Sculley and Apple’s board soured. Arthur Rock, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist and early Apple board member, said Jobs’s obsessions and unyielding personality got the best of him.

“Back then he was uncontrollable,” Rock said in a 2007 interview with Institutional Investor. “He got ideas in his head, and the hell with what anybody else wanted to do. Being a founder of the company, he went off and did them regardless of whether it ended up being good for the company.”

The Mac didn’t sell well during the 1984 holiday shopping season, and Sculley demanded in April 1985 that Jobs be relieved of day-to-day duties and serve as a non-executive chairman, playing the role of outside spokesman. Jobs hated the idea and tried to get the backing of Apple’s directors. The board sided with Sculley and Jobs was out.

JOBS was 30 years old and devastated, but not for long.

“I didn’t see it then,” Jobs said in his 2005 Stanford speech, “but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again.”

In 1985 he founded NeXT, which developed a powerful computer based on the Unix operating system. The sleek, black machines earned a reputation for elegant design and high performance; Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web on a NeXT workstation.

NeXT was hardly a success. The computers were too expensive to gain a wide following. Still, the software developed at NeXT would later provide the technological underpinnings for Apple machines.

The following year, Jobs bought George Lucas’s computer-graphics shop for $10 million and renamed it Pixar. The studio’s first feature film, Toy Story, was the top-grossing film of 1995, and kicked off an unbroken string of hits. Walt Disney Co. bought Pixar in 2006 for $8.06 billion and gave Jobs a seat on the company’s board. He became Disney’s largest shareholder.

In his personal life, Jobs settled down. He married Laurene Powell in 1991 in a Buddhist ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, according to biographer Deutschman. The couple have three children.

He also reconciled with his daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, who was born in 1978 to his then girlfriend Chrisann Brennan. Chrisann raised Lisa mainly on her own. By the time Lisa was a teenager and before she attended Harvard University, she moved into her father’s home.

“In California, my mother had raised me mostly alone,” Lisa wrote in an article for Vogue in 2008. “We didn’t have many things, but she is warm and we were happy. We moved a lot. We rented. My father was rich and renowned, and later, as I got to know him, went on vacations with him, and then lived with him for a few years, I saw another, more glamorous world.”

Neither Lisa Brennan-Jobs nor Chrisann Brennan, now a painter in San Francisco, would comment when contacted recently.

Jobs didn’t get in touch with his biological father, John Jandali, a onetime academic who went on to run beverage services at the Boomtown Casino in Reno, Nevada. Jandali and Schieble had another child after putting Steve up for adoption, a daughter named Mona Simpson, now a novelist. Jandali left the mother of his child. Schieble raised the girl alone.

“I’m proud of the fact that he’s my biological son, even though I cannot take credit for anything he’s done,” Jandali said in an interview at the Boomtown Casino in April 2009. He said he had never spoken to Steve.

Jobs’s absence from Apple coincided with the ascendance of Bill Gates and Microsoft Corp., developer of a graphics-driven operating system of its own called Windows. Apple filed, and eventually lost, a lawsuit against Microsoft, arguing that Windows was a Mac knockoff.

When Jobs got wind of Microsoft’s plans for what would become Windows, he screamed at Gates about ripping Apple off, according to a 1983 essay by Andy Hertzfeld, the Mac’s chief software designer.

Gates coolly replied, “It’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox, and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it,” wrote Hertzfeld, who witnessed the interchange.

MEANWHILE, Apple was dying. By late 1997, it had racked up two years of losses and the Mac’s share of the PC market was in the single digits and falling. On stage at a conference that year, Michael Dell was asked how he would revive Apple if he were CEO.

“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,” he said. Jobs would later say the company was 90 days from bankruptcy.

In desperation, Apple agreed to buy NeXT for $400 million in late 1996, and Jobs accepted a role as adviser to then-CEO Gil Amelio. Within seven months, Amelio was gone and Jobs was once again running the company.

One of the first things Jobs did upon retaking the reins was fire all but two of Apple’s board members. His handpicked replacements were Bill Campbell, a former Apple executive and then-CEO of Intuit; Jerome York, former IBM CFO and onetime adviser to Tracinda Corp. CEO Kirk Kerkorian; and Jobs’s longtime friend, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Ellison left the board in 2002; York died in 2010. Campbell is still a director.

Jobs also rebuilt the executive team, installing key technical managers from NeXT who would help him guide Apple’s strategy over the next decade. They included Jon Rubinstein, who had run NeXT’s hardware engineering, and Avie Tevanian, the young software engineer who helped create NeXT’s operating system.

Rubinstein went on to lead Apple’s iPod division before departing for smartphone maker Palm Inc., while Tevanian served as chief software technology officer. Jobs also found talent within Apple, singling out a British-born designer named Jonathan Ive to lead industrial design.

As a show of Jobs’s not-in-it-for-the-money drive to fix Apple, he insisted on getting paid $1 a year, a salary package that continued for the remainder of his career.

Jobs’s remuneration instead came mainly from stock options, restricted stock and an $84-million Gulfstream V jet, given to him by the board in 2000.

Jobs’s net worth was at least $6.7 billion as of September 6, according to Bloomberg estimates. His 7.4-percent Disney stake was worth $4.4 billion, and his 5.5 million shares of Apple were worth $2.1 billion. Jobs’s 138 million shares of Disney had paid him at least $242 million in dividends before taxes since 2006, according to Bloomberg data.

Stock options let holders buy shares later, usually at the trading price on the day the options were granted. Like other Silicon Valley executives, Jobs viewed the securities as a necessary incentive to keep valuable employees.

“That’s the key asset Apple has —its talent,” Jobs would later say in a March 2008 deposition with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “I was very concerned that Apple could really suffer some big losses on its executive team with the business environment we were in, and the competitors coming after our people.”

And like hundreds of other technology companies, Apple engaged in “backdating” or retroactively changing grant dates to those with lower stock prices. The practice could artificially boost employee compensation and ran the risk of shielding compensation costs from investors. It came under scrutiny by the SEC.

Jobs admitted in 2006 to recommending some favorable dates on options other than his own. A special committee of Apple’s board exonerated him of any misconduct, and the SEC said in April 2007 that Apple wouldn’t be sanctioned.

“Jobs was one of these CEOs who ran the company like he wanted to—he believed he knew more about it than anyone else, and he probably did,” Arthur Levitt, a former chairman of the SEC, said in a February 2009 interview.

Levitt said that around the time of the two grants that got Apple in trouble, Jobs invited him to join the company’s board—then disinvited him because his views on corporate governance were “too independent, too doctrinaire” for Jobs.

“He’s among the best CEOs I’ve ever known, in spite of his irreverence, irascibility and ego,” Levitt said.

When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he was still an exacting connoisseur of design. Only now, he demonstrated an understanding that he needed to place his bets carefully. He culled the company’s product line, killing money-losing projects such as the Newton personal digital assistant. He ended the Mac “clone” program that let other computer makers install Apple’s operating system on their machines; he called the welcoming of clones an “ill-conceived” move that undercut Apple’s own Mac hardware sales.

“We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter,” Jobs told BusinessWeek magazine in 2004. “But it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”

“How he looked at things from a product perspective is very rare,” said Ed Zander, a CEO of Motorola Inc. before it split into two companies. “You don’t find many CEOs who have the attention to detail from the product experience point of view—and understand the business side of the house.”

The first tangible result of Jobs’s return was the iMac, which he introduced at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California, in 1998. The iMac looked like no other computer: It was a bulbous, sci-fi looking number encased in translucent plastic. The unveiling that day had all the usual language of a Jobs keynote—the iMac was “beautiful,” “cool,” and “a really big deal.”

The iMac would become Apple’s best-selling desktop ever, according to the company. The decision to offer the computer in five colors flew in the face of the then-common industry practice of packaging machines in easy-to-manufacture—if dull—beige boxes.

“I remember scratching my head at the time, when Apple first came out with those first little colored desktop Macs, the iMacs,” said Blake Johnson, an assistant professor in engineering at Stanford University. “But the message and splash of five different colors was a conscious decision—okay, we have some supply chain inefficiencies, but those are more than offset by the positive impact on customers.”

Apple was profitable again by 1998, and over the next decade released a series of blockbusters that went beyond traditional computing. The iPod media player and the iPhone were beautiful objects that ignited consumer lust in Apple’s sparsely elegant—and typically crowded—retail stores. Jobs dropped “Computer” from the company name in 2007 at the time he unveiled the iPhone.

Beneath the contours of Ive’s designs were two less obvious achievements. The first was the software that made all those devices work together.

All of it was rooted in a single operating system, OS X, which had its beginnings in Tevanian’s work at NeXT. Apple’s great strength, Jobs would say repeatedly, was that it was a software company.

“An iPod is really just software,” Jobs said at the All Things D technology conference in 2007. “It’s in a beautiful box—but it’s software. If you look at what a Mac is, it’s OS X. It’s in a beautiful box, but it’s OS X. And if you look at what an iPhone will hopefully be, it’s software.”

The other big achievement was Jobs’s ability to create hits by getting industry partners to do his bidding. For the iTunes music store, he not only demanded that the major music labels sell their product over the Internet, but do so at a single price, 99 US cents a song.

He convinced AT&T Inc. to modify its network to handle the iPhone’s many features in exchange for exclusive rights to sell the iPhone to US buyers. Verizon Communications Inc.’s wireless division started selling the iPhone in February 2011.

“The AT&Ts and Verizons of the world want to control the software, product, the brand, the colors, where the keyboard goes, the pricing, the distribution,” said Zander, the former Motorola CEO, who partnered with Jobs on an early music-playing phone. “Here comes Steve and he says to AT&T, you get the product but I get the brand, I get the colors, I get the software, I get the distribution pretty much, I get the pricing.”

Apple’s iPhone became the world’s best-selling smartphone in the second quarter of 2011.

IN 2004 Jobs said that he had been diagnosed and treated for a neuroendocrine tumor in his pancreas. After surgery to remove an islet cell tumor, he took a month off to recuperate and declared himself healthy and cancer-free.

For a few years he looked that way. He was thinner, which was no surprise after what he’d been through. One person who knew him well said that the cancer scare didn’t slow him down, convince him to spend more time with family or reconnect with friends. If anything, Jobs seemed to get even more engaged with work, said this person, who wished to remain anonymous because the matter was private.

During the 2005 Stanford commencement address, Jobs described how the inevitability of death was a motivating force in his life.

“Remembering you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked; there is no reason not to follow your heart,” he said.

Jobs’s appearance changed noticeably by early 2008. He started looking gaunt. Tech blogs bubbled with discussion about what was going on. Typical headlines: “The Incredible Shrinking Apple CEO” and “Why Does Steve Jobs Look So Thin?”

When he took the stage at Apple events, Jobs joked about his health. In August of that year, Bloomberg News erroneously published an obituary; at a product launch a month later he recited the Mark Twain line that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. At another event that year, he projected a slide of his blood pressure.

In January 2009, Jobs said that his weight loss was caused by a “hormone imbalance”; nine days later, he began a five-month medical leave, handing control of the company to his COO, Tim Cook. Later that year, he underwent a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis.

Apple’s disclosures—or lack thereof—around Jobs’s health became a matter of debate among investors and corporate governance experts. Some said that because his health was critical to the company’s success, Apple should have said more, sooner. The counterargument: privacy laws trump investors’ right to know the details of his health.

US Securities and Exchange Commission officials examined in 2009 whether the company violated disclosure rules regarding Jobs’s medical status, a person familiar with the matter said at the time. No legal action was taken.

WHILE Jobs was on leave that year, Apple came under competitive pressure from an unexpected source: Google Inc. The search giant, whose then-CEO Eric Schmidt was an Apple board member, had gotten into the smartphone business with its Android operating system.

Unlike the iPhone, Android phones were made by multiple manufacturers. The budding rivalry evoked the Mac vs. PC showdowns of the 1980s. It pitted a company—Apple— that made one kind of device against an array of manufacturers orbiting around a software operating system—in this case, Google’s Android.

By the time Jobs returned to work in June, several Android devices were on the market. Google’s Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board in August, acknowledging the escalating tension between the two companies.

“The economic engine that Steve built is an amazing one in terms of cash generation, global footprint distribution,” Schmidt said in an interview with Charlie Rose after Jobs’s death. “It is just one of the great American success stories.”

Jobs the following year introduced his next epoch-making product: the iPad. The run-up was full of the buzz that greeted past products. What would it look like? What would it do? Only a select handful of developers and media companies got access to pre-release versions of the iPad, and then only under strict conditions. Recipients had to agree to keep the devices tethered to a fixed object in rooms that blacked-out windows.

At the product unveiling, Jobs said that the tablet computer would go on sale later that year, calling it “magical.” The public agreed: Apple sold more than 300,000 iPads on day one, and within a few months the device had a near monopoly share of the tablet market that companies led by Microsoft had failed to crack for a decade.

Another momentous product was in store for 2010. The iPhone 4 boasted a glass front and back and a brushed-steel band around the edge. It also came with a front-facing camera that would allow mobile videoconferencing.

While the iPhone 4 was destined for success, this time there was a glitch. Customers who held the phone a certain way experienced dropped phone calls—the “death grip” it was called.

At first, Apple denied anything was wrong and suggested that customers were holding the phone incorrectly. The flaw snowballed into a public-relations crisis that came to be known as “Antennagate,” stoked by longtime grumbling over service quality on the network of AT&T, then the only US iPhone carrier.

By July, Jobs had changed his tune. He apologized to customers and offered free “bumpers,” rubber cases that fit around the metal edge of the phone, so that fingertips wouldn’t cause any antenna interference.

The imbroglio had little impact on iPhone demand. Apple sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 units during the first three days it was on sale; by the end of the year, the iPhone would represent nearly 40 percent of revenue.

DURING the introduction of a new MacBook Air in October 2010, Jobs appeared thinner than ever. Three months later, Jobs said he would be taking a new leave of absence to “focus on my health.”

“I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can,” he said.

For the third time since 2004, Cook took over day-to-day operations. He oversaw the introduction of the second version of the iPad and introduced a music-storage service called iCloud. He traveled to China to discuss the iPhone with China Mobile Ltd., the country’s largest mobile-phone carrier.

Jobs announced his resignation on August 24. “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Jobs said in a statement. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

In the weeks preceding his resignation, Jobs was largely housebound, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“Under Steve’s leadership Apple has not only revolutionized the computer industry but also transformed how the world communicates, plays, shops and works,” Frank Quattrone, CEO of Qatalyst Partners Llp., a Silicon Valley investment bank, said at the time. “In the entrepreneur hall of fame, he is the charter member. He is, and will remain, an inspiration to the world.”

Cook became CEO for good. While Cook had mastered an expanding list of operational roles, including manufacturing, distribution, sales and customer service, he hadn’t demonstrated Jobs’s penchant for product vision.

In the post-Jobs era, that role would lie more squarely with head product designer Ive, who oversaw the development of devices including the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Rounding out the executive team are Scott Forstall, who is in charge of the iOS software that powers the iPhone and iPad; Philip Schiller, who leads product marketing; Bob Mansfield, who heads Mac hardware engineering; and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, who is tasked with overseeing Apple’s more than $75 billion in cash and long-term holdings.

Jobs left a company with a market value larger than that of Microsoft and Dell combined. Apple’s revenue reached a record $65 billion in fiscal 2010, with analysts predicting that they will exceed $100 billion in 2011.

Besides relying on surging demand for the iPhone and iPad, Apple is also counting on growth in China. “We’re just scratching the surface right now,” Cook said of the region in July. The company is also due to sell a new service called iCloud that will let users access photos, videos and other content across an array of Apple products.

The Apple Jobs left behind was well suited to confront the challenges it then faced, including the Google threat, largely because of a product lineup Jobs set in motion, analysts and investors said at the time of his resignation. The concern is whether the company can produce industry-disrupting devices long after Jobs’s influence recedes.

“The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come,” Bill Gates said after his passing. “Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.”

At the AllThingsD conference in 2007, Gates had said, “I’d give a lot to have Steve’s taste. The way he does things is just different and, you know, I think it’s magical.”

*The world just lost a great genius!

Responsibility to children

2011-10-12T21:47:00.000+08:00

Let's face it. Our school system is just not adequate to prepare our children to accumulate wealth and riches. The wealth of information in our schools are not able to place kids on the road to prosperity. They are given redundant assignments that border between the silly and the naive.

As Jim Rohn observed "If school offered WEALTH 1 AND WEALTH 2, I would have taken both classes!" We are heavily going to oblivion in a country of degrading values plus building a mindset that has a tendency to create a foundation for poverty. The seed thus starts in the mind and if we are to dream of more prosperous Philippines then the seeds of success must be planted early, kids need to be trained in the "lessons of the street", disciplined to work and be responsible to look after their own.

Our culture is nourishing a sense of dependency and that really cultivates an ugly scenario. We find kids in their early 20s not knowing what they want to do with their lives. I remember being 11 years old when my mother sent me on a boat to Mindanao so as to accompany a shipment of eggs and dried fish for my aunt, where I was paid a commission.

This mediocrity might not be true to all families but in my observation, is a real dilemma in today's society. We must not sell our kids short of a brighter future. Academic schooling will enable our children to earn a LIVING, while Self-education will enable them to earn a Fortune.

Buko’ vendors see brisk business ahead

2011-09-28T22:42:00.000+08:00

By: Delfin Mallari Jr. Click here for original article.

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Fresh coconut vendors here predict brisk business in the coming days due to renewed media interest in the health benefits of coconut water or “buko” juice.

“We hope the news would bring us more customers,” Roberto Belen, 63, a vendor of young coconuts and buko juice, told the Inquirer in an interview Saturday morning.
Belen and his wife have been tending a coconut stall at the corner of Cabana and Merchan Streets here for the past 20 years. It is the favorite pit stop of early morning joggers and health buffs.

“Buko juice after a morning exercise is best for the body,” said jogger Rod Ravina, 43.

He sips the coco water from a newly opened nut with a plastic straw after which he gets to bring home the scraped tender coconut meat.

Regular buko juice drinkers attest to its health benefits.

“Buko juice is a natural and safe diuretic. Urinating is easy and refreshing if one is a regular drinker,” says Alfredo Manalo, 39, an employee, who regularly consumes three glasses of fresh buko juice from his favorite vendor.

After his US trip, President Benigno Aquino announced that two US companies planned to make fresh investments in the country’s coconut industry to meet the international demand for coco water.

Coconut water is a hundred-million-dollar industry in the United States where it is being promoted as an alternative natural sports drink because it has the essential electrolytes and minerals needed for rehydration.

Coconut vendors, however, are not very enthusiastic about the reported interest of US investors to feed the new craze for buko juice.

“Several years ago, some businessmen once asked us if we could deliver a minimum of one million coconuts per order. At first, the prospect was tempting but we soon realized that gathering one million coconuts would not be that easy,” Belen recalls.

He fears the renewed interest of foreign businessmen in coconuts will lead to a shortage in the local market.

“All of our coconuts will be shipped to the US and other countries. Where will we get coconuts for our local needs, for our salads during fiesta and special occasions?” he says.

Belen says they now buy their coconuts mostly from farms in far away coastal areas, as their previous sources have been converted into subdivisions while the other areas are now barren because of the rampant coco lumber trade.

He says they sell an average of 100 coconuts a day, mostly to early morning joggers, but during the holiday season they can sell more than 500 young coconuts a day.

Fresh young coconuts sell for P20; grated coconut meat for buko salad–P120 per kilo; a glass of ice cold buko juice—P5; and a pitcher-full of fresh coco water-P15.

Now, that's a business opportunity!

DOs and DONTs when starting a biz

2011-09-26T22:09:00.000+08:00

One of the great things about starting a business is the unlimited possibilities that abound. With limited capital and a lot of imagination, education and experience, one can be able to start small, work hard and finish strong. There is no scientific and proven method that would pave the path to growing a business but there are "hints" and clues that successful entrepreneurs have left behind for us to follow.

When you are just starting out, the most basic advice we can give you is to : START SMALL. Practice with a little and continue until you are more confident and your psychological wallet continues to grow together with your experience as an Entrepreneur. Here is a practical list of some DOs and DONTs when starting a business.

1. DON'T LET THE AMOUNT IN YOUR HANDS DETERMINE YOUR DESTINY
It is not the size of the capital that matters but it is what you do with it. Others wait until they have grand capital before starting a business only to lose it all tomorrow. See all those winning boxers before Manny Pacquiao, they all made "puto" after hanging the gloves. Let the truth be told, CAPITAL is USELESS without CASHFLOW MANAGEMENT. And this valuable skill is only attained through time and experience.

2. DON'T QUIT YOUR JOB YET..
Many tempted with the mere fact that they would no longer have bosses to hound them think of quitting their jobs too soon. Do consider working at your day job which does help pay the bills and put food on the table while starting a part-time business. It is what you do in your spare time that will determine your business success.

3. DON'T LET THE BUSINESS SUPPORT YOUR LIFESTYLE
This is also a recipe for "puto." Not having enough financial literacy will place you in an awkward situation where you will not know the difference between GROSS INCOME and NET INCOME or the difference between GROSS SALES and NET INCOME (fatay ka). Thinking that sales is income, the inexperienced business person sets out to buy unnecessary things and will draw funds from the business to support a lifestyle which in turn eats up the revolving capital of the business.

4. DO TAKE OUT A SALARY- if the business can afford it
Rather than letting the business support your lifestyle, it is best to rather take out a modest salary, if and only if the business can afford it. Chances are if you are still starting out then you might have to work for free. After-all it is your business and you will learn the fundamentals of cash flow management by working for free and progressing to taking out a modest salary when the business is able to increase its bottom line.

5. DO LEARN TO PROJECT CASH NEEDS
The primary skill here is to learn how to raise cash. If you can borrow money before you need it then do it. Learn to project payables and expenses and know your cash position on a regular basis. This vital skill alone when practiced will ensure the high probability of success of any business. This is out of the box capital raising and with these ideas, a business can gain the confidence to grow and expand.

6. DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEGALIZE
While being at business school, I encountered a cotton-candy maker on the streets while trying to interview small business people and he described that he was doing this for the past 15 years or so. Staying small is also a problem and part of growing as a business person involves legalizing your business.

7. DON'T LET THE MONEY GET TO YOUR HEAD
When through time and experience, you eventually make it big. Don't let the money get to your head. Money is just a score board and the basic element of your financial mind. Again, it all boils down to your emotional intelligence.

Again, these are just suggestions and no person should treat this as professional advice, ok? See you next issue.

OFWs and the 10,000 peso business

2011-09-21T23:37:00.000+08:00

The Rich Dad, Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki discusses the 3 E's of Investing which is summarized as : Experience + Education= Excessive Cash. In the previous article, we talked about creating a business plan, now we will delve into the scenes why starting and running a business needs patience, a 'Manny Pacquiao" winning attitude and much learning through both actual experience and study.

If you are an OFW, the best solid advice we can give you is START SMALL. Many OFWs think that just because they have tons of savings in the bank or cash in their hands, that they would be able to start a really huge business undertaking, as if the money would do the thinking for them. The reason why I use "10,000 peso capital" business as a slogan in my articles is to evoke sense that you can start a business with just a little capital and a lot of imagination and slowly build that up to staggering amounts.

Business success can be equated using the 3 E's Kiyosaki has been teaching. Small Experience + Small Education= Short Cash also known as SSS (never bank on this entity for your retirement). With 10,000 peso capital, you can learn, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. This cycle continues until you will have learned the education necessary to produce excessive cash. When you start small, you limit the biggest risk ever- yourself.

As an OFW, never be enticed by get rich quick schemes or other methods that promise something along those lines. If you do not understand the business, then walk away from it!

Your 10,000 capital and a business plan

2011-09-10T21:26:00.000+08:00

The most avid question I get is "if I had 10,000 pesos as capital", what business should I get into? It sounds like a 10 Million dollar question to me, but in reality even if you had more than that amount, all will go down the drain if you don't have a PLAN.

Invest TIME to spot opportunities and LEARN to make a basic business plan. There are varied sources even on the internet that will teach you how to do this. But in a nutshell, your plan should include your Marketing, Financial data and a plan on how to execute a prototype so as to limit risks. Take time to think through your plan since this will help convince YOURSELF and others if the idea is really viable.

9 out of 10 start-up businesses fail because the business idea was not carefully planned out and the newbie business person does not seek advice from other more experienced business people to critique the plan. Many of us do not like to hear constructive criticism, but if you want to be ahead in the business world then you should be open to learn from credible individuals. More experienced business people can distinguish faults in your plan and can quickly spot areas where you cannot because they have been through the nuts and bolts of building a business. This advice alone will help save you from perils later on.

Never assume that the capital in your hands is sufficient to drive income into your business or will automatically mean that you will have "luck" in your new venture. Capital is capital, no more, no less. Of itself it provides no power, especially in assuring business success. Business is not risky if you know what you are doing, it is the business person that is risky.

In making up a specific plan and learning the process you will provide yourself with your own L.U.C.K., which by definitions means L-aboring U-nder C-orrect K-nowledge.

Boosting the 'Buy Pinoy Movement'

2011-08-23T09:19:00.000+08:00

August 21, 2011, 9:57pm (Click HERE for original article)

MANILA, Philippines — Locally made goods account for some of the most exquisite products of the Philippines. There is magic in the way Filiipino craftsmen fashion raw materials into items that are admired not only locally but abroad.

The Buy Pinoy Movement Foundation, Inc. plays a pivotal role in showcasing Philippine-made products and promoting the welfare of Filipino entrepreneurs.

Since 2011, the organization has held the Buy Pinoy Exposition twice a year where Filipino manufacturers and entrepreneurs exhibit their products to generate more business and employment. It has been invited to held expositions abroad – in Jilin, People’s Republic of China, and in Hawaii and California in the United States.

This year, the movement is holding two shows – the 21st Buy Pinoy Exporters Fair on August 18-21, 2011, and the 22nd Buy Pinoy Exporters Fair on November 24-27, 2011.

The advocacy to expose the best, newest and most innovative products of the Philippines is gaining ground as a growing number of visitors from here and abroad troop to the fairs not only to make their personal purchases but also to place orders for their businesses.

The Buy Pinoy Movement Foundation, Inc., is now composed of trustees from various industry associations such as Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc., the Christmas Décor Producers & Exporters Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Chamber of Handicraft Industries, Inc., the Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization, Inc., the Home Accents Group of the Philippines, and the Meycauayan Jewelry Industry Association, Inc.

It partners with the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry Inc., the Hospitality & Wellness Industries Furnishers & Services Providers Association, Inc., and the Chamber of Furniture of the Philippines.

The Buy Pinoy Movement Foundation, Inc., needs the support of all sectors – the business community, civil society, the church, academe and the media – to boost the economy, get some stimulus for local trade, open more factories and shops, provide jobs for more Filipinos, and help conserve the country’s dollar reserves.

We congratulate the participants and organizers of the Buy Pinoy Movement Foundation, Inc., and wish them all the best and success in all their endeavors. Mabuhay!

*This article needs the support of every Filipino!

About Franchises

2011-08-19T15:16:00.001+08:00

By: Pinoy Business Coach

It is a great development to see that even banks like Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has opened a loan facility for individuals to go into Franchising. Even other lending institutions are beginning to see that a Franchise is a more structured way of gaining business success.

What is a Franchise? In a casual way of defining, a Franchise is a "business out of a box", a business developed and sold by others in such a way that all one has to do is follow the operational handbook, set-up and profits can be realized (ideally). Majority of people know that Jollibee, McDonalds, 711 are all franchises, these are all the big franchises but only a few realize that there are also small, medium franchises which are equally good and are profitable.

While I do not claim to be a guru about this subject, I have observed and learned many things from books and friends who committed blunders in franchising. These are just some tips that can help one go through the thought process in preparing one to become a great franchise owner:

1. Learn to select franchises- there are tons of books written about the subject. When you are seriously considering buying a franchise, the best thing to do is to read what other people have gone through in selecting a Franchise.

2. Go to Franchise Association for help- there are Groups that are wholly devoted to Franchising, examples include RK Franchise Consultancy,Philippine Franchise Authority, Franchise Philippines and many others. They can provide valuable tips and aid you in the decision in Franchising.

3. Shop wisely- as with any endeavor, go through a long list of franchises that match your needs. Do not be swayed by promos or the glitters of the signage and all the fancy gimmicks that the potential franchise has to offer. Instead, go for operational history, the financial statements of the company and the success of the brand.

4. Understand that Not all Franchises are created equal- many would like to make a quick peso by just creating franchises "kuno" and will leave you hanging afterward. What sets apart a great franchise from a good one is in my opinion-- Product/Operational Support.

5. Define your attitude- your attitudes and behavior will make or break the franchise outlet. By this I mean that you need to look inside of yourself if you are really meant for franchising. Taking on a franchise requires that you be ready to follow the step by step procedures outlined in the operational handbook. If you do not have this skill set and would rather do things on your own then alas, you are not meant to become a franchisee but are better oft starting your own thing.

The benefits of franchising are great if they are done right.

Malacañang pushes ‘sin tax’ changes

2011-08-18T17:23:00.000+08:00

By: Norman Bordadora, Philippine Daily Inquirer

The government aims to generate P60 billion from a proposed bill restructuring the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products.

President Aquino said the revenues from the modified excise tax would be earmarked for universal healthcare. He added that its ultimate goal was to reduce the consumption of alcohol and tobacco.

The restructuring of the sin taxes was one of the 13 measures that President Aquino presented to congressional leaders as his administration’s priority pieces of legislation.

“If I remember correctly, and please don’t hold me to this, vaguely, it should be about P60 billion,” President Aquino said when asked how much the administration expects to generate if Congress passes the restructuring of the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco.

“Of course, sin products are elastic. Price determines volumes, volumes determine revenues, so there are certain assumptions that we validate, various figures to be presented depending on the assumptions,” Aquino explained in a news conference following the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting in Malacañang.

According to Malacañang, the bill aims to unify excise tax rates over three years.

It allows the automatic adjustment of the tax rates using the relevant NSO-established tobacco and alcohol indexes, which will track inflation and, thus, maintain the buoyancy of the revenues from this source since the authority to increase the rates expired on Jan. 1, 2011.

The proposed law directs specified portions of the incremental revenues to be earned from the excise tax toward programs for promoting economically viable alternatives for tobacco farmers and workers and augment the funds for the universal health care program of the government.

“Any increase in revenue does help our situation,” the President said.

Asked if he would rather that Congress pass the tax measure soon because of the expected effects of the economic developments in the United States and in Europe, President Aquino indicated it would be up to Congress.

“We proposed all of these measures because we really believe that they are needed to run this country better. I’m sure that in the conscientious fulfillment of their duties and obligations, they will expedite the passage of measures that they already agree with,” President Aquino said. “With the sin taxes, there’s no question about our ultimate aim, to decrease the consumption of sin products.”

*This is a trend that is worthwhile to consider when starting or running a business!

Kumon Philippines lauded as ‘best foreign franchise’

2011-08-17T20:47:00.000+08:00

Entrepreneur magazine recently acknowledged Kumon Philippines as Best Foreign Franchise in its July 2011 Franchising special edition, a press release from the school said.
It has been the publication’s annual tradition to give honor to local and foreign franchise businesses that have attained paramount accomplishments while benefitting the community and empowering the enterprising Pinoy.

This award is also given to franchise entities giving the most effective business modules to their franchisee with continuous support to their evolving needs and business requirements, the press release said.

From its beginnings in Japan, Kumon found its way to the Philippines in the 80’s. Because of Filipino parents’ high regard for their children’s education, gradually Kumon was recognized for how it has been benefitting students and the communities alike.

Developed more than 50 years ago, its founder, Toru Kumon, aimed to help his son do better in school. He came up with exercises that his son, Takeshi, learned step by step, from arithmetic to advanced math lessons. From then on, Takeshi made a significant progress after only a year, the press release said.

Millions of students worldwide in 47 countries and regions across the globe are now benefitting from this unique method.

In the Philippines alone, there are over 45,000 students whose potentials are being maximized in 223 centers, the press release said.

To own a Kumon center requires time and commitment to nurture and instruct children and all kinds of learners.

More than learning the business know-how, Kumon franchisees should have a genuine love and care for children and the community, the press release said.

“Every child is an achiever” is the ideology that has inspired the Kumon Method of Learning and the Kumon franchisees who give each child an opportunity and the right environment where they can continue to maximize their potential.

With subjects that are fundamental in all other areas of learning, students develop their skills in math and reading, helping them to conquer their fear of math and develop advanced reading comprehension skills and an innate love for reading.

More than these, Kumon aims for students develop their confidence and independence, allowing them to experience self-learning that it becomes natural to them, the press release said.

To know more about Kumon, interested parties may log on to ph.kumonglobal.com or call (02) 885 0226, it added.*

*Franchising is a great way to start a business.

Using OFW money to beget more money

2011-08-15T07:47:00.001+08:00

By: Serenidad F. Lavador (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
(Click HERE for original article)

Can the role of our overseas workers in the economy be enhanced to make them true-blue “mga bagong bayani?” Besides spending their hard-earned money on food, appliances, real estate and other nonproductive or dormant assets, can OFWs be enticed to go into business or other productive activities that generate continuing income for them, their families and their communities?

A brief look at the OFW phenomenon may perhaps help in answering these questions.
With an estimated 1,420,000 Filipinos working abroad as migrant workers and 3,900 more leaving each day, their remittances not only continue fueling the economy by generating much-needed dollars for the national treasury, but also assure the sustained improvement of the living conditions of many of the workers and their families.

Wealth creation
In 2010, the Philippines recorded $18.76 B in OFW remittances.

Money, it is often said, begets money. Apparently, however, OFW money has not resulted in the creation of more wealth.

Paradoxically, even as more and more Filipinos leave the country to work abroad, the poverty incidence in the Philippines has not subsided. Despite bigger amounts being remitted by our migrant workers, there is little evidence to show that the economic benefits have trickled down to the poor communities where the workers originate.

Moreover, even immediate families of migrant workers are not being guaranteed an improved economic condition over the long haul.

According to the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, 60 per cent of the families of OFWs remain poor. This is especially true among domestic helpers and other workers in the unskilled-labor category, who mostly return home broke because they have not saved for the future or do not know how to make productive use of the little funds they may have managed to set aside.

Harnessing remittances

Thus the concern among policymakers now is no longer how to increase the amount of OFW remittances but rather how to harness the remittances for wider-scale socio-economic development and longer-term growth that could only come from investments in business and agri-business, self-employment, and other job and income-generating activities.

A study completed this year by the Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation (SERDEF) and the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP ISSI) sought to address this concern by analyzing how migrant workers’ remittances can be channeled to productive use.

Commissioned by the International Organization for Migration under the Spanish-funded MDG-F Program on Youth Employment and Migration being implemented by the ILO, IOM, UNFPA and UNICEF, the study identified ways to make use of OFW remittances for the development of the migrant workers and their families and communities.

The study, titled “Channeling Remittances for Development: A study toward Creating Model Mechanisms,” produced blueprints for appropriate interventions that can be pilot-tested in four Philippine provinces targeted by the UN Joint Program: Agusan del Sur, Antique, Maguindanao, and Masbate.

From the literature review, focus group discussions and value chain analysis carried out under the study, it was recommended that migrant workers’ remittance flows be channeled to enterprise creation through market-oriented interventions in the target provinces.

Pro-poor and market-oriented approach

In consultation with stakeholders from government, business enterprises, business support institutions and OFW families, the study identified four industries to support with a package of interventions, one for every target province.

These are rubber intercropped with abaca for Agusan del Sur, muscovado for Antique, rice for Maguindanao, and backyard livestock production for Masbate.

Interventions to be used for promoting the industries should have the following attributes: market-oriented, job-creating, pro-poor, permanent-capacity building, quick-winning, transparent, and sustainable.

The one-province one-industry approach is prescribed not so much to pursue specialization in production as to ensure market competitiveness, through a concentrated effort of meeting only one industry’s market requirements for quality, quantity, cost and delivery efficiency. The sectoral strategy would help industry players build capacities to address common constraints while sharing costs as well as benefits.

Such a strategy would likewise gather otherwise diluted resources into a bigger pool that would allow economies of scale in purchasing, marketing, distribution and, generally, bargaining vis-à-vis clients, suppliers, banks, government assistance agencies and other business service providers.

At the same time that it is market-oriented, the model mechanism is also biased for the poor, that is, designed to generate employment, self-employment, micro-enterprise, and other opportunities for them to break away from poverty and improve their lives. The best pro-poor strategy, if it can be found, combines hard economic goals with soft social objectives. In other words, it is ideally one that takes immediate enterprise creation measures that result in sustained alleviation of poverty in the society.

Needless to say, the OFWs themselves are expected not only to provide capital but also to participate in enterprise development in a hands-on manner. With their major financial stakes and their extensive experience in their respective fields—whether technical, managerial, administrative, etc.—many migrant workers are likely to do well as managers, entrepreneurs, mentors, suppliers, promoters or selling agents.

For their part, it is always incumbent upon local governments to provide the policy, fiscal and infrastructural environment conducive to enterprise development and growth. They pass the enabling laws and ordinances, build the support infrastructures and services and allot budget for these, and have it in their power to reduce red tape when business registers and otherwise transacts with government. Other enabling parties in the local community are banks, cooperatives, money transfer agencies, and government and nongovernment providers of services, including training, technology, information and business development services.

Core strategy: value chain promotion

Most importantly, the model mechanism suggested by the study uses value chain promotion as the core strategy for harnessing OFW remittances for enterprise development.

A value chain, at industry level, refers to all the processes involved in producing goods (and services), starting with raw materials and ending with the delivered products (also known as the supply chain). It is based on the notion of value added at every stage or link of the chain. The sum total of link-level value-added yields total value. The chain includes primary activities—inbound logistics, operations or production, marketing and sales, and maintenance services—and support activities—administrative infrastructure management, human resource management, technology and procurement. The costs and value drivers are identified in each value activity.

With the participation of migrant workers and their families, local enterprises, local governments, support institutions, and other players and stakeholders, the model mechanism will identify interventions that will maximize value added at each link of the value chain.

Value chain analysis helps a business gain competitive advantage over other firms. Thus it is chosen as the core approach because, being market-oriented, it has proven to be an effective tool for identifying profitable business enterprises. It is also easily understood by the concerned players. Whether employed or unemployed, productive or unproductive, poor people are familiar with the market; it is where they produce, sell or buy goods.

According to SERDEF president Paterno V. Viloria, the results of the study have been the basis for the design of four pilot projects that will benefit the migrant workers, their families and their communities in Agusan del Sur, Antique, Maguindanao and Masbate.

The projects will be implemented later this year with continued support from the IOM.

(The author, a former UP ISSI training specialist and for many years a chief technical adviser of several technical cooperation projects of the International Labor Organization, is now technical adviser and member, board of trustees, of the SERDEF, a resource hub for micro, small and medium enterprises in the Philippines. Visit the SERDEF website at http://www.serdef.org for more features, case stories and how-to’s on starting and growing in business. )

The story of our heroes are indeed noteworthy and tragic at the same time. Let us touch the lives of OFWs and see to it that their wealth is preserved by the proper financial plan.

Businesses for OFWs

2011-08-05T23:12:00.000+08:00

Most OFWs who end their contracts from abroad are often faced with a dilemma on how to sustain personal income after years of labor in foreign lands. There is a recent program administered by the OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) in which returning OFWs who would want to start a small business may be able to get a loan (300T- 2 Million Pesos) with 7.5% interest rate per annum. Based on the OWWA website, there is no other information if this is collateralized or non-collateralized.

My intent is to give a "thought process" to those OFWs who intend to start their own micro to small businesses. Many of our kababayans who have worked abroad have no or minimal business training therefore the odds are really against them if they opt to start their own businesses. Statistics show that 1 out of 10 start-up businesses fail in the first 3 years of life simply because they did not think the business through and did not plan it enough so as to muster the strength to grow.

Here are some suggestions for Overseas Filipino Workers to consider before plunging into a business:

1. Get trained in business- when I say get training in business, I mean training in business. Other people have a tendency to think that training means enrolling in a skills course in baking if one is entering into a bakeshop business. By getting trained in business, I do not mean getting technical skills like carpentry, cooking, welding etc.,surely these can help but the skills in starting, running and building a business are simply a different set. Business training depends on the kind of business that you are considering and includes but is not limited to Basic Accounting, Inventory Management, Cash flow Management, Basic People Management, Systems creation, Basic Legal/Business frameworks, Tax Management and Product Management.

According to Micheal Gerber (Author of the E-Myth), the false assumption is often the most fatal and that is the assumption that knowing that you have mastered the skill set to Cook automatically qualifies you to open a restaurant.

2. Choose a business that you know really well- you might want to get into a business that you are familiar with and know fairly well. If you do not know enough about the business that you want to engage in, I suggest that you take on a job in a company that is engaged in the business that you want to start and learn the ropes really quick. Success increases if the Entrepreneur knows the ins and outs of the business that he is handling. This is where the technical skills get handy.

3. Consider the nature of business- Are you going into retail? wholesale? service? There are advantages and disadvantages for these different types of models and I firmly believe that the longevity of the Entrepreneur in his chosen business field depends on which is akin or close to his kind of personality. For example, I know of people who are really good in Retail, these kinds of people are really detailed, organized and nifty. Wholesalers are often people who often have short temperaments and want quicker returns on their cash. Service-oriented persons often want the assurance of a steady inflow without the details of retailing and wholesaling. Catch the drift?

4. Consider a franchise- Franchises are turn-key businesses that have been systematized on the assumption that if the Franchisee follows the Operations Manual closely, he will be able to generate a return as fast as its model. You need to be aware that not all Franchises are created equal, there are also bogus franchises all over the Philippines and you need to be educated on how to select a good franchise. But the good news is that if you are able to tell the good ones, you will be able to shorten your learning curve and entry point to the world of business and will be able to enjoy the fruits faster.

5. Eliminate False Assumption #2- I define false assumption #2 as the delusion that adequate capital will automatically spell success. Even if you invest your hard earned substantial cash in a business, the presence of which will not automatically guarantee success. It is the person or group of persons handling the business that will make or break the business.

6. Get a Trusted mentor/expert- as always, the presence of a trusted mentor or expert in the field of business that you will be engaging in will always place you ahead of failure If you really want to be safe and be lucrative in your business, hire trusted experts to help you run your business. Experts who have track records and not "word records." Let a business mentor guide you.

This guide is meant to be a thought process only and does not constitute legal, financial or business advice. Please form your own group of advisers that can give you the same.

3M passengers took Cebu Pacific in Q2

2011-07-19T21:43:00.000+08:00

By: Paolo G. Montecillo (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The number of travelers Cebu Pacific transported in the second quarter of the year grew by 15 percent, keeping the airline on track of its goal to fly 12 million passengers by the end of the year.

The Gokongwei-led budget carrier on Monday said growth was supported by its international business, which grew faster than its domestic operations. This reflected the company’s focus on making it easier and more affordable for Filipinos to travel within the Asia-Pacific region.

The airline flew 3.1 million passengers in the second quarter of 2011. Of the total, over 683,000 passengers took international flights while 2,428,000 accounted for domestic travel. This year’s total was higher than the 2.7 million reported in the same period in 2010.

“The second quarter figures keep the airline on track in achieving its 12 million-passenger target in 2011,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution.

Cebu Pacific said it also attained a load factor of 89 percent in the three-month period, higher than the 87 percent in the first quarter of the year and 88 percent in the second quarter of 2010.

An airline’s load factor pertains to the average number of seats filled on each flight relative to the number of those available.

“Cebu Pacific posted strong growth figures in the second quarter of 2011, given its trademark low fares, extensive route network and innovative travel services,” Iyog said. “April and May are seasonally the strongest in domestic travel, and we will remain consistent in growing the market so every ‘Juan’ gets the chance to fly.”

The airline said international destinations were its strongest routes during the period. Passengers to and from Singapore increased by 22 percent year on year. Also, passengers to and from North Asia grew by 13 percent: Travel to and from Taiwan was up by 66 percent; South Korea by 42 percent; and China by 38 percent.

“We will continue to expand internationally, consistent with our goal to bring more tourists to and from the Philippines. Cebu Pacific’s international passengers increased in the second quarter, owing to our increased flight frequencies and direct flights from international destinations to Manila, Cebu and Clark,” Iyog said

*With new and more affordable access to destinations, business cannot help but grow!

Travel agency seminar

2011-07-04T15:08:00.002+08:00

MANILA, Philippines - A comprehensive seminar on “How to start and manage a home or commercial-based travel agency business profitably without risk,” will be held on July 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Del Pilar Campus, Magsaysay Blvd. in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

The seminar is designed for would be-retirees, graduating tourism students, OFWs and those who wish to have an alternative business by setting up a licensed travel agency with an affordable start-up capital. It will be conducted by a tourism professor with many years of experience in travel and tour industry.

Topics to be taken up are registration and licensing requirements, minimum financial requirements, sources of income, product development and strategic marketing, reservation and ticketing concerns, packaging local and foreign tours, factors to determine location, positioning the agency in local and international tourism industry, overcoming the low and high travel season myth, among others. For information, call/text 09173600070 or visit our Facebook account on Business/Academic Multi-seminars.

*Invest in your education first before starting your business

Local billionaires rise to a record eleven -- Forbes

2011-06-26T00:12:00.000+08:00

fr. www.bworldonline.com (Click HERE for original article)

A BOOMING stock market has expanded the Philippines’ billionaires’ list to a record 11, with the combined wealth of the 40 richest also hitting an all-time high, Forbes.com said yesterday.

Top three richest, from left to right: Henry Sy, Lucio Tan and John Gokongwei.

Shopping mall king Henry Sy, 86, saw his assets surge by 44% to $7.2 billion over the past year and remains the Philippines’ richest man, the Web site said in an annual update.

Lucio Tan, 77, tobacco tycoon and former crony of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, kept his spot at number-two with $2.8 billion, while budget airline king John Gokongwei, 83, remained third-richest with $2.4 billion.

Six Filipinos became billionaires for the first time as the paper value of their shares in listed companies soared, boosting their select group’s numbers to a record 11.

"The Philippines’ economy grew only 4.9% in the first quarter of the year ... off from 8.4% in 2010, but the country’s stock market is booming,"Forbes said, explaining the surge.

"The stock exchange’s composite index is up 27% since last year, surpassing its 2007 benchmark."

This also lifted the combined fortunes of the country’s 40 richest to an all-time high $34 billion, up from last year’s $22.8 billion, the Web site reported.

Among the six new billionaires are construction magnate David Consunji, 90, and port operator Enrique Razon, at 51 the youngest Filipino with 10-figure assets.

The others are San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo Cojuangco, 76, former finance minister Roberto Ongpin, 74, banker George Ty, 78, and Tony Tan Caktiong, 58, of the Jollibee restaurant chain.

Mr. Ongpin, a key San Miguel shareholder, was the biggest gainer as his wealth increased more than four-fold to become ninth-richest at $1.3 billion, owing mostly to his other investments in a listed gold mining firm.

Jaime Zobel de Ayala, 77, former head of top conglomerate Ayala Corp., slid two rungs to sixth-richest but his fortune still grew 35.71% to $1.9 billion.

Property developer Andrew Tan, 58, became the country’s fourth-wealthiest man with $2 billion.

The youngest on this year’s Filipino richest list was Edgar Sia, a 34-year-old college dropout now worth $85 million after selling his chicken-barbecue restaurant chain to Jollibee.

Forbes said the Filipino rich were also among Asia’s most magnanimous.

Lucio Tan sent 700,000 bottles of water to tsunami-hit Japan, and his charity foundation has been a big backer of teacher training, medical missions and housing for the poor, it added. -- AFP

*See any employees here? It is through free enterprise and businesses that one can shoot for the stars and reach them.

Filipinos spending longer hours at work, says gov’t

2011-06-23T23:57:00.002+08:00

http:www.bworldonline.com (click HERE for original article)

FILIPINOS HAVE been working longer hours on average, indicating a greater need for overtime pay and an increase in the amount of work that needs to be done.

Workers ARE spending more than an hour in excess of the standard 40-hour workweek, data from the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics showed. The Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) placed the mean number of working hours at 41.2 a week, based on 2009 figures.

This is longer than the standard 40 hours of work in a week.

The data also showed that 39% of the 35.06 million working Filipinos that year (13.66 million in absolute terms) logged 40 to 48 hours of work in a week, while 22.5% or more than 7.88 million exceeded 48 hours.

“Overtime pay and the volume of work are the two main reasons why most Filipinos extend their average working hours,” said Juan Paolo R. Rivera, economist at De La Salle University.

“Most do overtime work to augment their current salaries, while others simply go over the allotted time due to the amount of work that needs to be finished,” he added.

He added that some firms require employees to extend their working hours to accommodate specific clients.

It is also possible that the Filipino tendency to extend lunch breaks or take afternoon naps is creating a false need to work for more than eight hours a day, Mr. Rivera said.

Official figures from 2006 to 2008 showed that more than 60% of Filipinos with jobs had worked for 40 hours or more in a week.

Still, there were 12.95 million Filipinos working part-time or less than 40 hours a week in 2009. Nearly a quarter of them logged 20 to 29 work hours per week, while 8.8% spent 10 to 19 hours at work.

A total of 30,000 worked for only an hour per week. More than half of them were self-employed, while 35.1% were in managerial and supervisory positions. -- MJMV

*This is indeed a good indicator that Filipinos are levelling with their work habits as well.

MANNY PACQUIAO BUSINESS Acumen

2011-06-20T23:29:00.001+08:00

One site describes Manny Pacquiao's business acumen as it is quoted with the following:

"Manny Pacquiao and his wife, Jinkee Pacquiao, have become a business duo here in General Santos City, Philippines.

I was with MP last night when he was negotiating an MP Hotel, a Manny Pacquiao Museum, and an entire building across the street from the museum. The three buildings will be that of a U shape with the hotel being at the bottom of the U and the other two buildings being the side of the U. This will take up an entire street and it will be something exciting to watch take form!"

Another site has this to say about MANNY PACQUIAOs BUSINESS ACUMEN:

"Jinkee owns a franchise of Davao's BluGre Coffee in the family's JMP Building in General Santos City and her very own fashion store, Jinkee's Fashion World which carries imported items like clothes, bags and perfumes that Jinkee personally handpicked in her shopping sprees in the US. The store also sells Manny Pacquiao shirts and souvenirs . Jinkee also stands as the manager of 10 amateur boxers aspiring to be like Pacman."

Good thing his wife is placing their vast resources into several businesses so that the wealth is put into good use and does not lose value.

The best pound for pound fighter is engaging in business. While not all of us can be great boxers like Manny or be a famous actor with great looks, business acumen can be developed by starting right NOW.