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Monday, June 26, 2006
Echaves: Stumbling on success
By Lelani P. Echaves
THE topics at last week’s “InTourPreneur 2006” were so interesting that I hopped from one track to another, be it on tourism, information and communication technology (ICT), franchising, and entrepreneurship.
At the Tourism track, Cebu’s Gov. Gwen Garcia talked about discovering and rediscovering Cebu. Admitting that “Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbu” has its own share of critics, she also said various tour operators and tourism-related business owners have reported “inexplicable” increases in tourists.
She was loudly applauded over two stands: Tourism should never mean that Filipino culture is a commodity, and Tour operators should never discriminate anyone, and especially never discriminate Filipinos in their own land.
I’m glad I saw many foreign diplomats in the audience. Hopefully, they shall bring the message home to their plush offices in Makati, and cascade these to their compatriots operating businesses here in our country.
I’m told of a foreign company whose CEO and fellow Caucasians constantly rant about the “many” holidays here in the Philippines. Filipino employees can’t enjoy Philippine holidays because these are working days in North America. Yet, on US holidays, the employees still can’t have the days off because those days are marked for training.
No amount of explaining helps that certain days are regular holidays, and that some holidays are declared by presidential proclamation. The expats then would say they don’t have much respect for President “Arowyow” and snidely ask, “Does anyone ever get to work around here in the Philippines?” Employees of that company should whisper their bosses’ names to Governor Gwen and even President Arowyow.
For people in search of improving their lives, the Franchising track held many answers. With sheer guts, some capital, industriousness and a never-say-die spirit, one can be a business owner, from high-end McDonalds, Kenny Rogers, Jollibee and Chowking, to the lower-end Les Reyes Haircutters and herbal products.
Upfront, some lessons learned were also shared with interested participants. Among these were (1) Never offer more than what the franchise allows; (2) Don’t think you will always immediately succeed; and (3) Never think your store can look better.
At the ICT Conference, a question kept repeating. Is Cebu ready for ICT infrastructure? The answers were a unanimous yes from all panels.
Responses from one panel, however, got stuck in the power supply situation. What a waste, considering the powerhouse panel of guests consisting of Innove’s CEO Gil Genio, Subic Enerzone’s Jaime Jose Aboitiz and my good friend engineer Roger Lim. It must’ve been frustrating for them, to be so prepared from their fields of expertise, and yet see the discussion not leaving the launching pad.
If attendance were to decide, the track’s question would’ve been a qualified yes. Compared to the other tracks, the ICT track had the lowest attendance (a sad commentary about Cebu being the IT hub of the Philippines), and audience participation was limited to just two or three questions.
But resource speaker Joaquin Quintos of IBM shared some nuggets. While innovation and invention are taken synonymously, innovation at IBM means asking “What if we combine this and that?,” always with the aim of spurring progress. One can get into a process long and arduous, or stumble on another’s failure and convert it into one’s success.
Take the story of one of my favorite things. Arthur Fry’s company had invented a glue that failed. While it stuck to paper, it could easily be peeled off. Poor at organizing his things and always losing his notes, Fry found the answer to his problems. He repackaged the idea and presented it to his company 3M. Thus was born Post-It.
For his idea, Fry got one percent of the sale for life. Annually, 3M sells $100 million of Post-Its and Fry gets $1 million a year.
(lelani.echaves@gmail.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 26, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
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