Why many OFW families’ businesses don’t thrive

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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