Starting this week, you can read selected SME Insight articles in INQUIRER.net on top of getting easy access to teasers through their blog, yet another gift from the Philippine Daily Inquirer group publication’s convergence model.

SME Insight is a magazine for serious entrepreneurs who want to bring their businesses to the next level. It sells for P120 in magazine stores, but its value can be so much more to business-minded people looking for solutions to business challenges.

For those who have been reading SME Insight, you will notice that the magazine got a makeover for its November-December issue. Check out the cover and it’s inside pages. I love the new look! New editor Karen Galarpe has a long relationship with the magazine publishing business, having been editor of Good Housekeeping before. Former editor Art Ilano is focusing on his dissertation, but has thankfully decided to continue writing articles for the magazine. 

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Some eye-popping figures came out of Cartoon Network’s latest study on Filipino children and their lifestyles.

P37 billion – spending power of kids in their “tweenies”, or kids seven to 14 years old

46% — of Filipino kids are now using the Internet versus 26% in the 2005 study

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One of the most interesting rags to riches story in the country is that of John Gokongwei. You are all familiar with how he became one of the Philippines’ top billionaires. He started selling peanuts from his backyard and now sells snacks to the world. He is now worth $425 million and is the 34th richest man in Asia. Gokongwei’s empire touches every Filipino household – from food and drinks, transportation, telecommunications, real estate, and malls, among others.

His message, which received a standing ovation at the Ad Congress going on now in Subic, has this as his main message:

Why serve 86 million when you can sell to four billion Asians? And that’s just to start you off. Because there is still the world beyond Asia.

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Being the jaded journalist that I am, I find myself cringing whenever I hear the phrase “Anything is possible.” It sounds too much like an opening speech gone bad.

Yesterday, I heard it again during a Go Negosyo even that I covered. This time, however, I couldn’t quite argue against the motherhood cliché with my usual skepticism. The subject of the speech spoke more than the three-word-phrase that I usually scoff at.

Picture this: five persons with disabilities who have successfully run their own businesses for many years against all odds.

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Here’s the video I took of the press conference on muscovado sugar. Enjoy!