TIPS on branding a real, genuine, and value-laden business, how communication has the power to make business work in a wider range, and adapting to work efficiently on e-commerce activities in today’s digital age were the topics of a breakout session of this year’s Innovation Summit last Wednesday in the Waterfront Cebu Hotel and Casino.
Speakers were the founder and director of Appstone, Brian Mueller, and Kai Jimenez, associate director and head of corporate development of the EON Group.
Company owners in the breakout session shared their experiences in engaging more on logistics and other innovative processes in managing a business.
Michael Aliman, general manager of Mountain View Nature’s Park in Busay, said that he has learned new ideas to help the business flourish, apart from merely focusing on competition.
“It’s one way for me to find out what the trends are because you have to constantly innovate. If you don’t innovate, the business will die,” he said.
He added that group sessions helped them approach others for solutions to problems and get ideas.
“Di kay mag sige ra tag sunod sunod sa competition kay lisud kaayo sa atong generation karon nga mag sige ka ug startup without innovating (Don’t just follow what the competition is doing. It’s difficult if we just keep starting a business without innovating),” he added.
Through the experiences they have encountered as startups, innovation really has had a big impact.
It gave them new creative ideas on how to respond to the trends in the market.
“Right now, any market has a very fast turnover. Like what we could do before in one year, we have to do right now in one month. Forums like this are very good for us...because right now, we want to evolve. We want to evolve for the market, and we want to involve the younger generations because we cannot teach what we do not have,” Lyn Martinez, who handles research and marketing in Cebu-based Curtain Factory, said.
For Roy Cardenas, managing director of Wow Travel and More, the sessions also helped them get more ideas and catch up on trends.
“Unya ang imong original sad na principles, na affirm sad (Your original principles are also affirmed),” he said.
Despite increasing competition, what drives them to take the risks are their passion and interest to serve the people. (Louise Sigrid de Dios, CNU Intern)