It’s not hard to imagine that from the OFW perspective, financial dreams are not made of candy clouds and somnambulant wanderings between bright business ideas. They are built by wide-eyed hard work and sacrifice. Unfortunately, financial security at home – the dream of almost every OFW I know – gets trumped by many things, not least of all the inability to start a small business.
Nielsen Media Research simply described this inability as a tendency to depend on monthly remittances for daily expenses. Jay Mendoza, NMR says most families of OFWs prefer to have no other sources of income.
I’m not an expert on the OFW community, but I think there’s more to the story than that, just as there is more to a business than capital. There must be more to the figures than just languid dependence and zero creativity.
To thrive, OFW families cannot just rush into any “business opportunity.” Too much money from overseas workers have disappeared inside Internet café businesses, parlors, miracle virgin coconut oil and network marketing schemes.
So, the question often asked is: what is a good business to get into? Now, here’s the irony of the moment: it is the OFW that gains the global perspective and skill to build and nurture an enduring business, but he or she has to depend on the family member, who may or may not have what it takes to make good and quick business decisions.
Assuming the tough part is over. The niche has been created, the product designed finished and the business has survived its first month. The OFW-financed business still has to contend with supply chain problems, pilferage, fraud, marketing – issues that even a sari-sari store should adequately address if it is to grow beyond a sari-sari store. Now, What Cat has an interesting series all on how OFW businesses fail.
If it’s hard to begin, it’s even harder to know when to end a fledgling business. When things don’t go exactly as planned, how do you know when to cut losses or when to persevere? Capital is no longer the issue here. The things that make a real entrepreneur – pure gut feel – come into play. Most OFW families just say ‘I don’t want to get burned any more. This is a lotta work.”
So, what happens? Back to just waiting for remittances. Wala pang lugi.
This is one of the stories behind the figures, another way of looking at the survey results that may give us reason to poke at possibilities for change. OFW families, heck Filipinos in general, need help to set up their businesses successfully. Who will give assistance?
Should it be the government? Should it be private companies wishing to do good in their communities? I have found many government entities and corporate foundations with “entrepreneurship” as their gilded missions. If you belong to these groups, don’t just do good in your little corner. Broadcast your message and reach out to more OFWs, to more communities, to more Filipinos who have the dreams and the tenacity to hold on to them. This country needs more than just slogans and missions. Our entrepreneurs are waiting to blossom and they need your help.
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Romeo Tena
Noble purpose needs steely nerves. Be a capitalist to the letter. Demand checkable performances (bank deposits towards the puhunan) from your relatives. Limit the amount you ‘loan’ a relative. Threaten them that such loan will be your last help towards the person. Try and emulate the methodology of the Bangladeshi ‘Grameen Bank’. I do.
myra ramos
i guess it’s really hard to open up a business in the Philippines, generally, not only for those OFWs. my husband and i tried several businesses, thinking of focusing on it and leaving our regular jobs. but sad to say, the return on investment is not as rewarding as we expected. the business is earning but not enough to support a family.
Jon Limjap
Myrna,
That’s sad. My wife and I have tried opening a business ourselves, likewise funded by a loan from an OFW relative, and it really helped that nowadays there’s the BMBE law. I could say that after a year the operations have somewhat stabilized, not enough to support a family but it definitely earns much more money than my wife’s previous job.
I continued working, and hopefully I can leave my job too and set up my own business if the earnings of our business get high enough.
The Ca t
Thanks for the link.
That was only part 3
In case they’re interested, here’s parts 1 and 2.
http://cathcath.com/?p=2987
http://cathcath.com/?p=2995
Lea
We should stop blaming the common tao for being afraid to venture into business (I’m sure many have tried and failed). We should instead pressure government to come up with policies that are conducive to small businesses. The President for instance (where in the world did she get her economics degree) had no reason to brag that the peso is so strong. This is not a measure of a growing economy: job generation is, and
hopefully in the near future, there will be no need for our country’s mothers to leave their young children to clean toilets
in other parts of the world! A high peso only entices market-seekers who come to sell, but penalizes our own exporters who
have to compete in the open market. And anyway the peso is only high relative to the US dollar which is really low (and kept low because of the housing crisis). Government should be made to come up with a programme to keep people at home, instead of relying on remittances to keep the country afloat and bragging about it! If we let our government just sit around and wait for remittances, we should not blam OFW families for doing the same. Let us get rid of this culture once and for all.
jomus
I think majority of OFW’s are not business oriented, being business minded i think we should live in a simple life, huwag masyadong maluwag sa paggastos ng pera. also dapat ituro sa school from elementary to high school ang halaga ng business.
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Deo Calma
Many OFW really thirst to help Philippines by putting up business and ask relatives to manage it. Its 95% failure! I suggest investing it in stocks!
Gem
Too much red tape, taxes are too high, everything is so expensive in the Philippines and no support from government or any entities that will encourage entrepreneurship, if there are any, they are not properly being netwroked or channeled to be accessed by OFW’s like myself. These are just some of the reasons why we are hesitant to put up a business much less to continue to back it up once its there and its not earning the ROI we expected. Simply put, we need to take care of ourself in another country, look after our families and then a business??? That’s going to be just too much to handle.
INQUIRER.net Blogs » Teacher who blogs, Snooky vs Kimerald, and OFW families’ businesses
[...] Duplito examines why many OFW families’ businesses don’t thrive in Open for [...]
Jojo
problem is culture shock, problem of suddenly having money and the talangka mentality of relatives around single ofw
Pierre
I also suggest investing it on stocks or in bonds for the cautious ones. The best thing is that it does not wait to earn unlike in businesses (ROI) and it compounds.
Lily Ann
I’m a full-time entrepreneur myself having just quit my full-time job in a corporate world (though still working part-time in the same company upon their request) recently.
I could say that for any business to thrive, the owner should be hands-on. Otherwise, everything will turn into dust. Simply because of “kawalan ng malasakit”. Why should people even (own relatives) sacrifice on something he/she did not spent a single sweat? Hindi naman nila pinaghirapan iyong perang ipinuhunan, so why do they care kung malugi? It’s only the owner of the capital who will really care and get hurt when business suffer.
I employ my own relatives in my own small business just for the good intention of helping them earn a living and stay away from idle lives - sort of give a man a fish and you just feed for a day, but teach a man how to fish, you feed him for his entire life, but nothing happened. I ended up the bad guy and the whole clan talks about me when I dismissed my cousin from my employ due to wrongdoings and abuse. They have even become the thorn in my flesh.
So, I realized, good intentions is not enough. You ned to protect your hard-earned money invested in the business.
So, my suggestions to OFWs who wants to have a business as additional source of income (which should be) in preparation of their retirement from working abroad, do a business which you can do by yourself wherever you are. When you are finally ready to jump and take the risk to the unpredictable journey of being an entrepreneur, that’s the time you plunge into a full-time business. At least, when you failed, you can still say head on, that you tried. Then, try another one. That’s business. As I told my friends, “if you are not ready to die”, don’t go into business, coz there’s a lot of nightmares - from the staff, to the clients, suppliers, the government red tapes, especially, etc.
By the way, not all are called for business. So, pray to God where you are really called for. Everything, though, in life is a matter of calling.
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john
Problema sa atin mahilig tayong manggaya, kung ano yung uso dun tayo. Isa pa iniisip natin malaki yung kikitain. Kulang tayo ng tiyaga. Tingnan nyo yung mga Chinese sa atin. San ba sila nagsimula? Dapat yung gobyerno natin tulungan kaming mga OFW na mga alternatibong pagkakakitaan kung halimbawang magretire na ang isang OFW. Puro nalang silang pakabig.
Mark
Me too , I suggest to invest in stock. As a former OFW a tried having different business. Usually if you’re a novice, you’re excited with the money that’s coming in but in reality expenses outweights the income.
Rent, electricity, supplies etc… will drain your earned money for just few months. I tried investing in stocks. Here no space to rent, no employees, no competition all you need is fraction of your time , internet connection (or go to internet cafe) and online account for the stock. thats it.I started with 5T and it earned 200 in just 2 weeks. Then I gradually add my investment until it reaches 50T. Within 1 year I earned a net (less taxes, commission, etc.) of 12T.
Now What, Cat? » Blog Archive » Why small businesses fail part 4
[...] reading my previous blog entries on why OFWs’ businesses fail that were linked to the Inquirer’s article , I thought that there should be a follow-up entry. Having been a business consultant myself, I feel [...]
Jon Limjap
“We should stop blaming the common tao for being afraid to venture into business (I’m sure many have tried and failed). We should instead pressure government to come up with policies that are conducive to small businesses.”
It still takes two to tango.
Why do businesses started by the Chinese thrive even if it’s difficult to start a business here?
It’s not because they never fail.
“Dapat yung gobyerno natin tulungan kaming mga OFW na mga alternatibong pagkakakitaan kung halimbawang magretire na ang isang OFW. Puro nalang silang pakabig.”
Lahat naman kasalanan ng gobyerno, diba?
flor
its true that it isn’t easy to think for a good business that would immediately thrive.besides ang bansa natin hindi istrikto sa mga migrants businessmen even if they are staying illegal in our country.lets try to wander in baclaran or divisoria alone.we can see many vendors na mga migrants.i dont think if the immigration dept is keeping track of their legal status of residency here.in this way tayo tuloy na mga filipino nawawalan ng opportunity dahil sa competition.
DOMING
I think we should be detail or be informative enough before getting into whatever business that we like,we should be specific.then counting the cost?remember in engaging ourselves in any business it not only the capital we rised but we also involved risk.Thats why we should be careful to chose in what kind of business we want. there alot of time and information to gather b4 we start.
Sean Bellones
For me, there’s no business that can make you millionare in one day. Business is like growing a plant. It should be nutured everyday.
The only fastes way to get rich is the slow process.
Before you esablish any business you need to know the trading system of that particular venture to be.
Their’s this one business I have read in a newspaper(sunstar daily) Yeeha Internetan owned by a british national has helped many OFW in setting up i-cafe in Cebu City. Guiding them in every decision they make. Proper management training, and very low franchise fee. Their company is like a foundation who’s vision is helping Filipino to establsih business with proper guidance. You can visit their website at http://www.yeeha.ph or you can email their corporate General Manager at mikhail@yeeha.ph
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