Small Business Entrepreneur Blog

After writing a while ago about SME Insight Magazine from Philippine and later about 7 steps to start a business – advices from the Philippines – I’ve became interested in finding out more on entrepreneurship in “far away places” – well if you live in Europe, Philippines is exactly on the other side of the Earth.

While I’m not prepared yet to write a full review about doing business in Philippines (maybe I’ll do that later), there are a couple of articles that got my attention in the last week or so. The first one, Starting them young on entrepreneurship by By Kenneth del Rosario (Philippine Daily Inquirer) is about the educational efforts that take place in Philippines to teach youngsters about entrepreneurship: “In this program, students are challenged to look into social problems that plague the country and develop solutions where they themselves can be part of.”

I’m not sure if this is against one of my older articles – Born or taught to be entrepreneur but teaching entrepreneurship in a country which I assume doesn’t have great entrepreneurship roots make sense. “Part of the mentorship program of the school is to partner each group with an entrepreneur who would give advice on how the students can successfully run their businesses. The mentors, some of them entrepreneurs, were chosen based on their experiences and willingness to help.”

And if you wonder what kind of entrepreneurs can be found in Philippines, the second article (which I’m very proud I found in this context) is Filipino social entrepreneur honored in Davos, Switzerland . “A Filipino young social entrepreneur and alumnus of Ateneo de Manila University, Illac Diaz, is one of 28 nominees from all over the world to be declared Young Global Leader 2008 in Davos, Switzerland.”

“He was nominated for his “professional accomplishments, commitment to society, and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world through inspiring leadership.”

He has been awarded the 2007 DHL Young Entrepreneurs for Sustainability Award in Singapore; 2006 People of the Year Award from People Asia Magazine, and The Outstanding Young Persons of the World 2006 award from Junior Chamber International, and the 2005 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines award also from JCI.

He founded the Pier One Seafarer’s Dorm and is the executive director of MyShelter Foundation, a non-profit organization which addresses the housing and educational concerns of the rural areas.”

I don’t know about you, but it’s really great to see how entrepreneurship creates values no matter where you are coming from. So next time when you are thinking about entrepreneurship in USA, Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa, just remember this one thing: entrepreneurship makes us all equal, both in terms of opportunities and results.

There are plenty of resources out there with advices about what you are supposed to do if you want to start a business. I’ve selected 7 Must-Do Tasks Before You Start Up from the Pinoy Web Startup (a venue to find like-minded entrepreneurs and build exposure for Philippine startups in the web technology ecosystem.) because is well documented and has plenty of references to external resources.

They say: “I just want to share with you issues I dealt with starting out — and consequences of some I still have to deal with today. This is written with a Metro Manila, Philippines setting in mind but should be easily replicated elsewhere.”

Here are the 7 tasks in the article (with my comments of course)

• Unleash the Entrepreneur within

While they give plenty of external resources on this one, I think it’s missing a point. Money! The only reason entrepreneurs want to start a business is to make money. Of course, money can have different names like work for yourself, being your own boss, pride and recognition, or whatever reason an entrepreneur might have, but the real framework for anything you would like to accomplish is making money.

• Save at least 3 months worth of living expenses…

Even if they are talking about web start-ups which might require little or no initial investment, planing to earn a living from the newly started business in 3 months might be fullish. Unless there are some special conditions which allow you to get customers, deliver and cash money in very short sales cycle, chances are that it will take about a year to get the financial security you need (and that if you are lucky). But yes, you should save money, make a budget and be prepared to say what they say: “I used to buy nice clothes or shoes at least once a month or whenever I eye a sale; since starting our company, I’d buy a nice dress every quarter or so — and no new shoes!”

• Find 1 or 2 partners

I have started the same, with 2 partners. And while I know it was the only way I could start a company at that time, you should think very well about picking up your partners. Most likely is not very important who your partners are if things don’t work, but it makes all the difference in the world if it works and there are money to burn. Once again, an impressive list of external resources on this subject on the blog.

• Register your company

Interesting to see what it takes to start a business in Philippines.

• Have a common conducive workplace

(I had to look in the dictionary to find out what conducive means ). Basically the workplace should be a good enough environment to start a business and to sustain whatever you are doing. Of course I agree with that, but chances are that you might need a year or so to be able to rent a nice place to work. Usually if you start small, an office at home is quite ok, especially if you start an online business like they did.

• Raise funds from your own pocket and from family and friends

Unless you are in USA, is quite hard to find investors ready to burn money for just an idea. Everywhere else, be prepared to have a 7 figures turnover to get the investors attention. Once again, relevant articles are linked on the paragraph there.

• Focus your efforts

While they have a funny explanation about focusing on the business “I gave up my car and comfortable living at my parents’ to stay in a cheap condo so I can be near our office.”, most likely one of the early days issues is that because you have bills to pay, you can’t say no to customers or business lines that simply aren’t good enough to make you grow. You know that for this customer you will work more than you should, you know that on the long run, doing X or Y is going to slow you down, but you are simply too hungry not to take the job!

I would add an extra step:

• Make a business plan!

While some will not agree with this one, is absolutely fundamental to see what it takes to pay the bills. What are your expenses, how you are going to cover them and how long till you break even.Well, enough ramblings, you better have a look at the “7 Must-Do Tasks Before You Start Up” – there are plenty of resources there which you might find interesting.

Oh, and good luck to the people behind the blog and their venture!