Category Archives: Entrepreneurship

Martial principles and tactics have been repeatedly applied in business and entrepreneurship, in law practice or in other aspects of life, as we can see from the countless business books revolving on Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Allow me to pick some “lessons” on the unfortunate hostage-taking by Rolando Mendoza on 23 August 2010, in front of the Quirino Grandstand (feel free to jot them down in the comment section). Read more »

It’s never easy to be an entrepreneur. Many individuals who tried their hands on the entrepreneurial game must have realized this a few months into the business. One of the challenges facing an entrepreneur is the fact that he/she must perform a number of distinct roles. Read more »

There are problems with this title. First, it might be interpreted to refer to a particular person. While we have a category on (and some lists of) successful and inspiring Pinoy Entrepreneurs, the thrust of this article is not to identify any particular Pinoy Entrepreneur, but to characterize an entrepreneur. Having a characterization would make it much easier to identify specific Pinoy Entrepreneurs. This may be of particular interest considering that an overwhelming majority are not cowed with the current recession in other countries and would still try business in 2009. Read more »

There’s an estimated 700,000 sari-sari stores throughout the Philippines. That’s roughly 1 sari-sari store for every 130 Filipinos. Along a 50-meter stretch of road in a squatter area somewhere in Malabon, there are around 45 sari-sari stores. I’m interested to know if there’s a study correlating the number of sari-sari stores with the economic condition of the surrounding area – the more sari-sari stores in an area, the poorer the population. Read more »

The entrepreneurial movement in the Philippines gained steam, I’d say, only in the past 3 or so years (or maybe I was too busy with other things that I didn’t notice it). These days, you hear about entrepreneur groups and entrepreneur movements. There’s a school for entrepreneurs and an entrepreneur caravan. In other words, there’s an awakened movement towards entrepreneurship. Read more »

The combined effects of the strong peso and a weakened US dollar had resulted to a “loss” of income of overseas Filipinos (OFs), which includes Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).  The “lost” income is 24 Billion Pesos, as compared to 2006 figures, which amount would have gone up to 26 Billion Pesos had not other currencies appreciated against the US dollar as well. Read more »

The entrepreneurial myth is the “myth that most people who start small business are entrepreneurs” or “the fatal assumption that an individual who understands the technical work of a business can successfully run a business that does that technical work.” (Michael E. Gerber, “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It”). Understanding the “technical work of a business” is totally different from understanding the “business that does that technical work.” Doing business involves capitalization, cash flow, marketing and a host of other factors. A technician-employee is concerned more of doing his job, leaving the problem of looking for clients and marketing to the manager. Read more »