Candidate Number Seven: Konsepto (updated with video)

Melani and Marvin Natores have a very nice problem – demand for the product and services they have been selling for the past two years is TMTH. That’s American Idolish for “too much to handle” in case you haven’t heard.

An accountant and a chemist by profession in their early thirties, the couple set up an event-souvenir business that provide onsite creations as take-home gifts like photo magnets, bag tags, key chains.

The way Filipinos have gone crazy over the digital revolution, it’s not that hard to understand why their company, Konsepto, is very much in demand. Divisoria giveaways for weddings are uber-tacky, chocolates are nice but you can buy them anywhere. Now, instant photographs of the event itself…that’s kewl!

Even for corporate events and big seminars or symposia, these digital lootbags meet the craving for personalization and customization so widespread these days. People are always looking for something that is uniquely theirs. I tell you it’s a rebellion from mass production, China-style.

So Melani and Marvin are applying for business mentoring to learn from Willy Arcilla how to make sure their unique ideas are protected, and yet be able to expand their business to Visayas and Mindanao. It’s a bittersweet place to be – they want to keep the technology safe but know they have to let more and more people see the technology so they can expand.

Their new product, Fotoloco, for example, is a Fotome-ish type of contraption that many yuppies are now getting familiar with. It’s the product itself that they can’t hide in the backroom, and yet putting the booth itself out in the public eye raises the chance of getting whammed by a serious copycat.

Watch a video of Melani and Marvin on their young business. If you think Melani and Marvin have what it takes to be part of the business mentoring project of INQUIRER.net, vote for them by commenting on this blog. You may also want to check the previous articles for my blog posts on the first six contestants.

Pat’s Floral Supplies
Comteq Computer & Business College
Mandilu
Jyouhou(joho) Technology Inc.
Fountain Cool
No More Slipping, Inc.

(Business Mentoring is a one-year project by Open For Business of INQUIRER.net. We are choosing eight businesses from the ones that applied by email, who will be mentored by Willy Arcilla, regional director of ZMG Signium Ward Howell and president of Business Mentors Inc. Willy is an industrial economist from the UA&P-CRC with a 25 year career in corporate planning, marketing, sales and general management across Asia-Pacific, and is a recipient of the Agora Award for Marketing Excellence.)

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