Pala-isip

Amazing success story from humble beginnings.

(First of three parts) “It was just too much to bear,” said Edna Roxas, a 45-year-old mother of two, upon hearing the bad news that Prudentialife Plans Inc. (PPI) had collapsed. Roxas, who worked as a midwife in Libya from 1991 to 2001 so she could send her daughter and son to college, said she had spent nearly P400,000 over a five-year period during her overseas employment to pay premiums for two educational plans she had bought for them. “I did not mind going to the Middle East and working in long-hour shifts because I wanted to support my children and make sure they go to college,” Roxas told the Inquirer. Her job, she recalled, would often require her to work 24 hours. What she thought was a valuable investment proved to be good in helping pay the tuition of her daughter only for the first year in college. Her son, who would be in college next year, will never benefit from the educational plan. Minerva Lubong, 61, who owns an eatery in Nueva Vizcaya province, expressed sho...

As the Eurozone crisis continues, many Europeans are now looking for opportunities in emerging economies like the Philippines.

The Philippine Islands is located in Southeast Asia. There are over 7,100 islands that make up the Philippine Islands. They cover roughly 496,500 square miles. The total land area is approximately 117,000 square miles. Only about a thousand of its islands are populated, and less than half of these are larger than one square mile. Eleven islands make up 34 percent cent of the Philippine land mass. Two of these, Luzon and Mindanao, measure 41,000 and 37,000 square miles respectively. The Philippines has more than 500 species of flowering plants. The climate is tropical, and it is generally hot and humid all of the year round. About 60% of the Philippines receives between 70 and 100 inches of rainfall annually. Population is estimated at over 95 million in 2011. Business in Manila English, Filipino (Tagalog), and Spanish are the official languages, Filipino or Tagalog is the national language. It is spoken by over 55% of the people. Additionally Over 90% of the population is Christia...

From Lifestyle Philippines . "Before I begin, I want to say please bear with me, an 81-year-old man who just flew in from San Francisco 36 hours ago and is still suffering from jet lag. However, I hope I will be able to say what you want to hear… Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Thank you very much for having me here tonight to open the Ad Congress. I know how important this event is for our marketing and advertising colleagues. My people get very excited and go into a panic, every other year, at this time. I would like to talk about my life, entrepreneurship, and globalization. I would like to talk about how we can become a great nation. You may wonder how one is connected to the other, but I promise that, as there is truth in advertising, the connection will come. Let me begin with a story I have told many times. My own. I was born to a rich Chinese-Filipino family. I spent my childhood in Cebu where my father owned a chain of movie houses, including the first ai...

The Bekiry (not bakery) is a business started by a couple of friends who needed money to go to Boracay. The cupcake names are inspired by "becky" or gay as the Filipino gay linggo goes. They have a cupcake called the "Red Velveloosh" with a tag line "That time of the month" and others called iREESEStable (Reese's) and "Chenes and cream" for cookies and cream. The bakers are called "bekers" and the customers are called "chostomers". Here's a sample of their menu. Here's their site on Facebook . Here's a video of them when they were featured on TV5.

By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes, The Philippine Star No in-laws. This is the first of 10 unwritten commandments which John Gokongwei, founder of the Gokongwei group of companies, followed in running the family business “the Gokongwei way.” Lance Gokongwei, president of JG Summit Group, shared his and his father’s secrets in running a successful conglomerate and in effectively transitioning from a company that is basically family-owned to one publicly-owned and listed. At an Ateneo forum yesterday, the younger Gokongwei said that during his father’s generation, his aunts (married to his dad’s brothers) and his mother were involved in the business, but the elder Gokongwei soon discovered that this was not always ideal. “There were situations where some of the marriages did not work. Loyalties change. Sometimes relationships between the different in-laws from the second generation become strained. Feelings get hurt. It is tricky deciding which in-law is more deserving, which is smarter, w...

From the Inquirer . The Philippines is experiencing a surge in portfolio investments from abroad on the back of renewed confidence among fund managers in the country’s economic prospects, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) chairman Jose Pardo said Tuesday. Pardo pointed out that some P24.3 billion worth of net foreign buying in local shares had so far been recorded this year, reversing the net foreign outflow in the same period last year. “The continued strengthening of our macroeconomic fundamentals, positive outlook on the growth of our listed companies and confidence in your administration’s good governance drive, among others, have been catching the attention of investors locally and globally,” Pardo said in a speech before President Benigno Aquino III took to the PSE trading floor to celebrate the stock index’s rise on Monday above the 5,000 mark. “This historic rise of the index is a strong testament to the growing investor interest in the Philippines,” Pardo added. Climb ...

Forbes put out a feature on Teresita Sy-Coson. The daughter of retail magnate Henry Sy of SM Group of companies. It's a very interesting piece showing the life of one of the most powerful woman in Asia. Here's an excerpt. By Sunshine Lichauco de Leon When Teresita Sy-Coson was 5 years old her maternal grandfather, who owned a small shoe store in downtown Manila, would take her to the bank as part of his daily business routine. Recalling the air-conditioned Equitable Bank, she says, “It made me feel good just to be there, waiting for his transaction to be done.” He would also take her to his store, where she spent hours watching people buy shoes. At age 8 Tessie, as she is still widely known, decided to sell shoes herself. She recalls, “I learned by example. … As a kid you think you are just the same as other adults.” But that first job also came with a feeling she would never forget. She remembers, “I would, of course, choose the kids to put shoes on, and the...

From GMA News Online . (Updated 9:53 p.m.) The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday ordered the closure of Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank and placed it under the receivership of state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), saying its liabilities topped its assets by P8.4 billion. In a press conference late Thursday, BSP Deputy Gov. Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the central bank's seven-man Monetary Board decided to place Banco Filipino under the receivership of PDIC since it was no longer paying its liabilities in the ordinary course of business. "Banco Filipino cannot continue in business without involving probable losses to its depositors and creditors," Espenilla told reporters at the central bank. The policy setting Monetary Board also took note that Banco Filipino’s management and board of directors failed to restore its financial health and viability after having been given more than ample time to address its problems. Banco Filipino has insuf...

Yahoo is in trouble. This infographic from focus.com explains the play by play history of Yahoo!

The iPhone is such a wonderful device that I can't imagine how I was able to live without it for the longest time. The new iPhone 4 is the first iPhone I ever owned and all I can say is...wow! I'm in the consulting business and before the iPhone came out, I used to to carry a ton of stuff. A laptop, a cellphone and a PDA. For the cellphone, I've always used a Nokia but I never used a high end Nokia phone. I went from the Nokia 3360 to the 8860, Sony Ericsson and then the Nokia 3500. They all worked great as cellphones, but lacking in terms of internet connectivity or use as a PDA. On the PDA side, I went from carrying a paper based calendar to the Palm Pilot, to the Palm V and then finally to the HP iPAQ. The best of the bunch was always the Palm Pilot or the Palm V until Palm pretty much failed with the development of the Palm OS. I went to the HP iPAQ on the feature that it included a web browser and WiFi connectivity. Sad to say, it was all just a promise. It worked grea...

Interesting way of improving business.