Three successful businessmen gave tips that centered on positive values such as honesty and integrity, hard work, perseverance, and sharing one’s blessings to local and micro, small and medium enterprise owners in Pampanga.
Rommel Juan of Binalot, Marcos Jose de Villa of GIGA Ventures and Prudencio Garcia of Mekeni Food Corporation shared the stories of their successful ventures and urged the members of various MSMEs and cooperatives in Pampanga to take a similar road to victory.
The three gentlemen were the guest resource persons invited to the business conference jointly conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office, the Provincial Cooperative and Entrepreneurial Development Office (PCEDO) and the Pampanga Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council (SMEDC) as part of the 440th Pampanga Day celebration.
Juan recalled that the concept of Binalot – of food wrapped in banana leaves at affordable prices – came out of childhood picnics that evolved into the 40 stores that it has today.
“Our vision is to be the preferred, truly Filipino food store,” declared Juan whose ingeniousness is reflected in various aspects of the business.
Wit and humor show in their menu which includes “you bet pinakbet”, toguether again, along came talong with bagoong. Juan also disclosed that they were the first fastfood chain to use electric bikes to deliver their orders.
This concern for the environment extended to its use of washable cloth bags and banana leaves to wrap the food. Juan revealed that they have adopted a community in Nagcarlan, Laguna as source of their banana leaves which now supports 30 families.
“We also have a similar community in Zambales and in Albay which supply banana leaves to other foodstores and with more families depending on it for their livelihood.”
The story of the Mekeni Food Corporation was shared by its president, Garcia, who claimed that the secret of their success lies in having “ordinary people performing extra ordinarily” and in “working not only for profit or for ourselves, but for our community also”.
Garcia said that they also had to overcome stumbling blocks but instead of closing down, they cut down on their work days because “we thought of the people who depended on the business for their livelihood”. He added that compassion and concern for others are part of the values instilled in them by their parents, both public school teachers.
Their company’s tagline, “A vision made real” aptly describes the growth of their company which has evolved into becoming the Best Meat Processing Plant in the Philippines and Asia, and second best in the world, proof of which are its many awards, including the first ISO certified processing plant in the Philippines and Asia.
Now they are preparing to enter the “halal” market and to export their products to Japan and Hongkong. This is another realization of Garcia’s aim to come up with quality local products, exporting them, instead of importing, because this way, “we save up on dollars”.
He stressed that “instead of sending Filipinos abroad, we should aim to produce products of international standard and easily sell them to foreign countries”.
De Villa of GIGA Ventures, like Juan and Garcia, started out small in business. He started in garments and ended up in selling soap, albeit, high end soap sold in upscale markets.
Also like the other two enterprises, GIGA has its share of awards. De Villa attributes the success of their business to the joint efforts from their end and that of such government agencies as the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI), Science and Technology (DOST), Technology and Resource Center (TRC), the local government, and the power of the internet.
“We have responded very well to the challenges posed by the need for good packaging, efficient operations, marketing, and the internet.”
From a P30,000 initial capital, GIGA Ventures has now become a P60 million company, de Villa claimed. He added that they now have 19 outlets in Metro Manila and four in Singapore. They have also since branched into producing products for skin care, aroma therapy and pet care.
All three entrepreneurs started small and overcame crises at some point and they all claimed to practice integrity in business, not focusing solely on the money, ensuring a satisfied clientele, and sharing their blessings with their workers and their communities.
The officials of the province, led by Governor Lilia G. Pineda, Vice Governor Joseller Guiao, Board Member Monina Laus, chair of the Trade and Industry Committee, and Teresa Carlos, chair of SMEDC,expressed their appreciation for the sharing done by the resource persons and presented them with plaques of appreciation. (Pampanga PIO)
