Nelly See of Pinkbox doesnt need to enroll at ME!

Room 210 APS building, Rockwell Center, Makati City March 2013

                                    Nelly See at Anjanette birthday bash

Her not so small business is Pinkbox One of her babies

 Nelly See did not have a lecture or a presentation.  But she spoke spontaneously from the heart, and which deeply reflect her love for her business and deep personal mastery of the business.  Nelly See's story is very electrifying and inspiring to entrepreneur wanna bees especially to mom who are bored with staying in the house waiting for their husbands to come home. And "hatid sundo to her children"

She had 4 kids and was having post partum depression and her husband wanted her to do something.  She upon egging of her husband attended seminars and joined SunLife as financial advisor to sell financial instruments.  She was good at it and eventually got bored too.

Her turning point in her life came when by mistake (due to miscommunication) after her trip to China with her husband (who is an indentor) she had P762,000 worth of hair accessories  (she only wanted several pieces for her children).  Out of desperation, she had to dispose off these merchandise and even had to look for warehouse (her father who is into manufacturing) to store the containerful of hair pins and hair accessories.  All she wanted to do was to sell the stuff and then close down the business. (she later changed her mind when she heard the cash register!

Immediately she did the following:

l.  Looked for a kiosk in Ayala Mall

2.  Had a brand name:  Pinkbox

3.  Think of ways on how to dispose her hair pins and other hair accessories.

She did find a kiosk and although the rent was astronomic:  P85,000 in November l, P100,000 in Christmas and back to P85,000.00 afterwards.   Her sales girl was her maid;  she sold P81,000 on November l, 2002.

The rest is history:  she even when into franchising.  She has 30 company owned stores either at Robinson or SM or Ayala and 40 franchise.  She had gone a long way from just being a housewife.  Thus when she said that she is going to enroll at ME, I said maybe there is no need.  She has done more than enough to show that she is blue true grit entrepreneur.   The ME diploma can not fully capture what she has done.  Not many can follow her footsteps.  She did great.

Some of the insights:

l.  Some of the best people you have may not have a degree or are within the organization  Her GM before was in operations, and a second year engineering student.  But she did great as a GM

2.  You really have to think of something new for the business every day.

3.  You never ever give up.  Giving up is not an option.

4.  Attending seminars like that in CCE exposed her to many practitioners in retail. 

5.  Build leaders within your organization.  Be sure you and your people are on the same boat.

6.  Never take no for an answer.  Whenever her supplier says that her design is not possible, she says it is bad bad bad.

Others:

l.  Most sought design in PHL is butterfly, second is flower

2.  In China you have good and bad suppliers:  but the good supplier have Class A, B, C and they will provide what you want.

3.  Guandong is a retail center.  But you can buy bulk and cheap in  Yiwu.

NELLY SEE, FROM MOM TO RETAIL TYCOON! Simply Amazing.

I am sure, many moms in the class changed their outlook after her speech. All things are possible.

     The guest entrepreneur receives certificate and token from PSG:  Drs Tim, Elsie, Lanie and Apple

                        The Pink Box website flashed on the screen;  Dr. Tim listening intently

                                Dra Apple and Ms. Nellie Sy

Dr Gary Bunagan - Great Eye Practice, Great Organic Green Coffee Bean

Room 210, APS Building, Rockwell Center, Makati City

Dr. Gary Bunagan is an eye doctor who practices in Saint Luke Medical Center, friend of Dra Tamayo and acquaintance of  Dr. Apple. He studied at Ateneo de Davao.   He hails from Davao City and at the same time, a part time organic green coffee bean entrepreneur.  They have outlets at St Lukes Medical Center, H2 hotel, Bureau of Immigration and Perpetual Help Hospital (c/o Arnyt Tamayo).

His entrepreneurship activities include:   group practice in eye practice which enables him/the group to practice optha even though they are in the province or USA,  the organic coffee with spa, the development of cacao business in San Isidro, the cacao capital of Mindano Davao Oriental that led to eventual export abroad.  His interest is in CSI (Chocolate de San Isidro)  The southern Mindanao production of  5,000 metric tons (half of that coming from San Isidro) is barely enough to keep up with the domestic  demand of 40,000 metric tons.  

Coffee and cacao grow well in the PHL, they do not grow in temperate countries. 

Coffee, especially green coffee is useful in combatting high blood pressure and contains plenty of phytonutrients for long life.  Theobromine in dark chocolate is great in fat reduction and staying fit.

His theory of entrepreneurship is that of convergence of PASSION and DEMAND. (Similar to good to great:   Passion, where you are good at and economic engine: and the 3K:   KAYA BA, KATUGMA BA, KIKITA BA?

He came across the organic green coffee bean while in specialty training abroad.  He thought about this, and educating himself through books:    "52 Rules of Thumb"  "Start Up 101"
they came up with the one page plan:

l.  Save the environment;
2.  Serve the best quality coffee;
3.  Healthy diet,
4.  Coummunity employment
5.  Social responsibility

Some entrep advice:

l. "Start small, dream big"
2.  Small operating cost for selling coffee (because of small ordering size)
3.  What is next:   "What is new?, improve skills and products, stay alert and focusse"
4.  Aim high, nothing is impossible.

Green coffee bean corp 

The RASA story by Raymund Alberto - Bong's Brod at UP

Rm 210 APS building, Rockwell Ctr. Makati City, March 2013

Raymond Alberto's business in geodetic engineering and survey  RASA survey is bigtime and nationwide. It is a leader in survey and geomatics.  He spoke simply but if you analyze his speech, it was deep and insightful.  He started in just in 1994, right out of UP and after passing the board exam.

He started with the a DREAM  and PASSION.  He said he had nothing.  All he had was his degree and his dream.  His business concept was about his profession - surveying.  And he thought, why not make his initials the name of the company.

He bought a fax machine (as was the strategy of Pastor Salvador in his Magic businesses beginning with car magic) and faxed 10 messages to probable target market:  developers, land owners, contractors.   If he can fax 300 messages, and 3 becomes his client, at P15,000 each he gets something for his needs.   Simple math for market estimate.

But you also need INSTINCT AND TIMING.

Some of the lesson from Raymond Alberto:

I.   For a start up:

         l.  Knowledge of the business by heart

         2.  Financial literacy

         3.  Marketing -  Here he mentioned the example of an inlaw whose dentistry practice was not flourishing.  He was just waiting for patients to come in.  Considering that there are many dentists in the area, he suggested conducting a free prophylaxis (teeth cleaning) to draw in prospective patients.  Ingenious.  Eh....


2.  Setting up mission and vision statement

3.  Sometimes you have to fail a lot in order to succeed.

4.  Live as if it were the last day of your life

5.  Believe in your product and your service, even if at times it is inferior.

6.  Innovate always.  He goes to many international conventions abroad to get at the latest and best in surveying.  His most advanced is the low flying drone for disaster assessment and aerial survey

7.  When your business is big you need:

      l.  Systems and structure  (procedures, organization,  forms, reports)

      2.  Optimize human capital  (make the best use of talent)

      3.  Gathering data  -  having your subordinates make constant and updated reports which should include competitive activities and even chizmis.

      4   Priorities (urgent vs important.  You have a hundred things to do in a day.  Which ones are more impt;  what should take precedence over others.

       5  Predictability

        6.  Sharing and helping others.

  He wrote this in the form of a pyramid.

He has gone a long way he has 200+ employees, 40 service vehicles and customers all over the country.  From Dream to reality of being big.  

We were fortunate to have him in the class;  time was not on our side however.   There should have been more interaction between the speaker and the class.

This should be a comprehensive experiential  guide, just like that of Dr Gary and Nelly, on how to put up a business.