FACEBOOK application Farmville can now be experienced in real life with actual chickens roaming on your computer screens.
Such is the concept of business magnate Vicente Lao of Maharlika Agro-Venture Corp., dubbed as the "Virtual Poultry Farming Program." Simply put, the concept is to invest in the farm and monitor it online.
Under the virtual program, Filipinos, particularly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), will now be able to invest in a poultry farm and be able to monitor the farm in real time anywhere on the globe.
By merely logging into the Internet, investors of the projects will be able to see live feeds of the farm, updates on stocks equity, and proposed expansion programs.
"What we will be making available right now are preferred shares which wil have a guarantee return of 7 percent," Lao said.
The farms will be managed by the Maharlika Agro-Venture Corp., one of the largest poultry farm managers in Southern Mindanao, and owned by North Star Asia Holdings Corp., a newly formed company for the sole purpose of handling the investments made through the virtual farm.
Also, San Miguel Foods Inc. is set to buy the poultry produce of the farms set up by North Star Asia Holdings Corporation and to be managed by the Maharlika Agro-Venture Corporation.
"The arrangement will be that 49 percent of the shares will be made available to the OFWs while the remaining 51 percent will be owned by North Star, just to maintain majority shares," Lao said.
North Star Asia Holding Corporation is yet to be publicly listed, a move that Lao is still pondering on.
"We do not want to subject the investments of the OFWs to the risks that the stock market faces with perception," Lao said. "We want to minimize risks as much as possible."
"From overseas Filipino Workers, we want them to be overseas Filipino investors."