A Realization Not To Late in Coming (hopefully)

All it took was changing the way I search our database and I found myself neck deep in unprocessed supplier applications that need to be taken of ASAP. Around 2,902 of new supplier applications, 75$ of which I think are going to be China based companies.

This made me realize something, China, despite being a socialist country may one day be one of the richest country in the world and not because they might someday discover that they are sitting on a an oceanful of black gold. Nope, China's greatest asset are its people, all one billion of them. Majority of whom thinks entrepreneurship is the way out of poverty.

If you come to think about it, when a Chinese immigrate to another country, they work hard so that they could one day own their own business. But when Filipinos, travel to another country, they also work hard, but that's the end of it. Few strive to put up their own business. The dream ends in buying a house and sending the kids to good schools so that they too will one day find good jobs so that they could buy their own house and send their kids to good schools, and so the cycle continues!

Very few strive to go beyond that, what's worst is that children today are being raised and educated to be just like that, a good employee. Excellence are based on how good you are at memorizing your lessons, doing your homework and reciting in class. Gone are the days when you graduate from high school with real tangible skills you can utilize to your advantage if your one of the many who can't afford college. Very few parents encourage entrepreneurship, all think that selling wares on the street is a lowly job. I tell them....excuse me, but I know a street vendor who earns around 800-1,000 a day (this is net income) selling fishballs, buko juice and qwek-qwek. He works Monday-Friday from 3pm to 7pm. How many clerks and call center agents make that much? working less than 8 hours a day with weekends off and very little overhead? Yes its hard work, specially during the typhoon season when he is exposed to the elements. But last I heard, he has fully paid for a brand new motorcycle he uses for his business and his almost finish paying off his house mortgage. If he were a minimum wage worker, even if he works 7 days a week, it would still take him years before he could afford a down payment for a low cost house.

So what am I saying here, the Filipinos are by nature entrepreneural, just look at how Multiply.com was forced to finally change their business from a social networking site to a social networking site and online marketplace. The year round bazaars are also a testament to that, not to mention every manongs and manangs out on the street peddling everything from ice cold mineral water, candies, mani and chicharon....and yes, how I forget the balut and penoy and tahoooo!!!

I think for us to go from being a third world country to becoming a first world country, we should stop thinking of creating workers and start thinking of creating entrepreneurs! How we think about poverty alleviation must change. Its time we start teaching kids, that no matter what you do for a living you could be an entrepreneurs. Farmers are not just farmers, their entrepreneurs engaged in the manufacture of food.

Just look at the Chinese, many of the most successful Taipans today started out on the street selling their wares. But they refused to stop at just merely earning a decent living. They strive hard and worked harder to grow their business. They value hard work, is not ashamed to sweat it out and are proud of their roots. And when they go overseas, they don't just aim to earn a decent wage, they aim to conquer the world and turn the tables around by being the master instead of being the slave!